“Oh, okay.”
“I’ll swing by after work.”
“Wait... Shouldn’t I go to work too?”
“Just wait until tomorrow. Take the night and get settled in.” He stepped over to me and gave me a kiss. “I’ll have one of the guys bring you over a car.”
“A car? What happened to my car?”
“It’s gone,” he answered casually. “I wasn’t sure it couldn’t be tracked back to Peter and Sally, so I had the guys get rid of it.”
“Seriously?”
“Just covering all our bases, babe.”
While I didn’t like the idea of losing the car Peter had given me, I couldn’t really complain. Jared had gone above and beyond to make sure that I was safe, so I simply nodded and said, “Okay, I understand.”
“We’ll get you another car.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it.” I eased up on my tiptoes and gave him another kiss. “Now go take care of things at the clubhouse and at work, then get back here as soon as you can so we can get a little practice in on this whole living together thing.”
“I like the sound of that.”
He winked at me, then walked out of the apartment, leaving me alone to get unpacked. I spent the next few hours washing clothes and putting my things away. It was just starting to get dark out when I heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, I found Marlowe standing on my doorstep with a big smile on her face. “Welcome home, stranger.”
“Hey, girl.” My heart started racing wildly in my chest. I kept thinking it was only a matter of time before she recognized me from the news. I feigned a smile and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I brought you these.” She held up a set of keys in one hand and a large bag of Chinese food in the other. “I thought you might be hungry.”
“I’m starving.” She didn’t seem to be acting any differently than usual, so I motioned her inside and followed her into the kitchen. “You are so sweet to bring me dinner like this.”
“Well, I had my own self-interest at heart.” She laughed as she said, “I’ve been craving Chinese for days, so I got enough for both of us. I hope you don’t mind me joining you.”
“Are you kidding?” Relief washed over me when I realized she didn’t seem to know anything about Parker Weston. If she had, she would’ve already asked me about it, so I said, “I’d love the company.”
Marlowe dropped the bag on the table and started unloading all the food she’d bought. “So, how was your trip with Menace?”
“It was good.” I didn’t know how much she knew or what I was allowed to tell her, so I tried to be as vague as possible. “It was nice to have the chance to get to know him better.”
“So, you two hit it off?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
“I’m not surprised.” She offered me a container of sweet and sour chicken, then said, “It was pretty clear he was into you from the start.”
“Oh, really?”
“Well, as I recall, you seemed pretty interested in him too.”
“I was. I am.”
“I thought so.” She was practically beaming as she started opening her box of fried rice. “I like it when I’m right.”
“Well, you definitely were. I’ve never felt like this with anyone.”
“It’s kind of crazy how that happens, huh?”
“Was it the same with you and Rafe?”
“Pretty much, but it took us a little longer to figure it out.” She went on to tell me how she worked at a bar Country’s grandmother owned and how she’d had a bit of a crush on Rafe for quite some time before she realized he felt the same about her. When Country’s grandmother sold the bar, Rafe got Marlowe a job at the club, and then her story took a wild turn. Apparently, her sister’s boyfriend was up to no good and was out to take down the club—something her biological father had tried to do several months before. “It got a little crazy, but everything ended up working out.”
“I can’t believe all that happened to you.”
“Well, I’m not the only one who has a crazy story. Delilah and Hawk had an interesting start too.”
“Oh, really? Do tell.”
“I don’t know all the details. It was long before I started working at the club, but they actually met because of her brother, Danny.”
“The one who got patched in a few weeks ago?”
“Yeah, that’s him.” She took a drink of her soda, then continued, “I don’t really know what happened between Danny and the brothers, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t good, and Delilah was caught up in the crossfire.”
“So, the brothers are used to a little bit of drama where their women are concerned.”
“Oh, yeah. They certainly are.” She reached into the paper bag and started pulling out more food. “We should plan a get-together with the other ol’ ladies so you can hear some of those stories firsthand.”
“I would love that.”
“Well, there’s no time like the present. I’m off tonight. I could see if the other girls could meet us over at the club in a couple of hours.”
“I don’t know.” Just because Marlowe hadn’t recognized me, it didn’t mean the same would hold true for the others. She’d always referred to Rafe by his road name, so I figured I should do the same. “Menace is supposed to be coming over after work.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” She grabbed her phone from her purse and started texting the others. “You’ll be home long before he gets here. Besides, he’ll see you at the club.”
“Oh... Okay, that sounds great.”
“You are in for a real treat, girlfriend.” Marlowe giggled as she went on, “Hanging with the girls is a blast.”
“I can’t wait.”
Menace
“Good to have you back.”
“Thanks, Prez. It’s good to be back.”
Viper motioned me to sit as he asked, “You feeling better about the situation with Parker or Aubrey? Or whatever we’re calling her now?”
“Aubrey, and yeah, I feel much better about it.” It was going to take me some time to adjust to the fact that Parker’s name would now and forever be Aubrey, but if she could do it, so could I. I sat down in front of Viper’s desk. “So, what’s been going on with the club while I’ve been gone.”
“Seems some of the new girls have been running into a little trouble after hours.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“They seem to think someone’s been following them home from work... watching them at odd times of the day,” Viper answered. “No one has actually come face to face with whoever’s harassing them.”
“So, we have no idea who’s behind this?”
“No, but I’ve been wondering if it has anything to do with Gary from the Pink Pony.”
“I don’t know, Prez. From what the girls have told me, the guy’s a real tool, but they didn’t give me any reason to think he’d have the balls to cause trouble for us.”