Oh hell no. I wasn’t comparing myself to her.
No way.
“Dusty, hey.” Courtney stepped up with a smile and her one-year-old on her hip.
“Hi, Court. How are things?” She was State’s woman, and they were set to get married in a couple of months. To me, they were the perfect couple. Courtney had been a godsend with the club girls. Since she became an old lady, the bitchiness was cut down, a schedule was made for cleaning and cooking, and she was so nice it hurt my teeth sometimes.
“Court, I have a question for you,” Gun said.
“Abort. Run, Court, run.” I gently shoved at her side, but she only laughed.
“What question?”
“Do you prefer to give or receive head?”
“Receive,” she said instantly. “State does this thing with his tongue that—”
Saint covered her mouth. “Dear God, woman, we don’t need to hear anythin’ about State and his tongue. Especially not in front of young ears.” He dropped his hand and turned to Gun. “Still, I appreciate your honesty.” Saint crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at his husband.
Gun shot him the middle finger. “I’m gonna ask some more first.” He quickly walked off and called out to Country. I didn’t want to hear Country’s answer, so I excused myself. When I didn’t see Tech anywhere, I went up to the rooms supplied to the club girls and entered my own. I didn’t have the energy to drive home to an empty house, knowing my parents would be either away on a trip for work or in their offices. I liked staying at the compound because there was always noise in the background.
I hoped Tech would finish whatever Country had him doing soon, and when he did, he’d come to my room. I had to move on. I had to let go of this infatuation and how it had controlled me for far too long.
The first step to get over him would be to sleep with another brother. If that didn’t work, maybe, just maybe, it was time for me to move on from the compound. I worried I was sticking around here for all the wrong reasons. Like this place was the only way to fix my loneliness. Could it be possible I was going about things the wrong way? Was I supposed to be out in the world finding friends and dating someone who had nothing to do with the club?
Maybe.
Chapter Two
Dusty
Kill the bastard,” I yelled, clicking the buttons on the PlayStation controller. “There, get him. He’s right in front of you.”
“I’m trying.” Quake bumped my shoulder with his before his character died. “Fuck.”
I groaned and slumped back on the couch. “You weren’t fast enough.”
“Babe, we’ve been at this game for hours. My fingers are going numb.”
Snorting, I knocked my knee into his. “You’re such a weakling.”
He grabbed me and flipped me over his knee before smacking my butt. “Take that back.”
“Quake, don’t be,” I said, laughing, “such a baby.”
“Baby now? Baby? Right.” His fingers dug under my armpits and tickled me.
“Shit, no, stop.” My already full bladder was about to give. “I’ll pee. I will,” I cried, gasping for breath.
He paused. “You won’t call me names when we lose then?”
“No… b—”
“Dusty,” he warned.
“Buddy, I was going to say buddy. Now let me up, or I will pee all over you.”
His hands released. “Yeah, I ain’t into golden showers.”
“Eww, me neither.” I climbed to my feet and glanced at the clock on my wall. “Shit, I’d better get to work anyway.”
“Guess it’s lucky I got shot then.”
“For once.” I skirted around his grabby hands and went into the bathroom connected off my room, which I shared with another club girl who had her bedroom on the other side. After relieving myself, I walked back into my room and stopped.
Country stood in my doorway, and the conversation he and Quake were having died.
He tipped his chin up at me. “Dusty.”
“Ah, hey. What’s going on?”
“Just needed to talk to Quake for a second.”
“Cool, cool, cool.” I nodded. “I’ll leave you two to it, since I’ve got to get to work.” I grabbed my bag off the dressing table and started for the door, where Country stood. “Quake, get those fingers stronger for next time.”
My face ignited when I realized how dirty that sounded.
Before I could fix it, Quake chuckled and said, “They’ll be ready for you, babe. Have fun at work.”
“Right, ah, yeah.” Damn Country for making me flustered. I stopped in front of him since he hadn’t moved out of the way. “Work. Got to get there. In the car. Vroom-vroom.” I blanched, shocked and a little sickened that I’d gone with car noises. Country’s lips twitched while Quake, the ass, laughed. I ducked a hand behind my back and gave him the finger.
Country shifted to the side, and I quickly made my escape, but not before I heard Quake call, “Later, vroom-vroom.” He wasn’t going to let me live that down anytime soon. Great. It was Country’s fault. I hadn’t been close to him for a while, and his scent got into my nose, all but drugging me. He always smelled good. All male.
It’d been about a week since the night I nearly slept with Tech. I hadn’t seen him since, and I wondered why. Was he super busy or dodging me for some reason? Did he regret hinting at a night together? Had I read into that conversation wrong? No matter what it was, I’d thought we were close enough that he’d say something or text, but nothing.
I could have asked Quake about him, as they were good friends, but I didn’t. Maybe I was scared what the answer was, since it seemed I had no luck in the bedroom department. Well, more that I couldn’t keep a man around.
Still, I refused to let Tech eluding me get to me. When I saw him next, I’d smack him around the head a few times and tell him his chance to get in my pants was gone. I needed Tech and Quake in my life. They were good to have around and made the loneliness seem not as suffocating.
Pushing all of my confusion to the back of my mind, I walked through the front of the florist shop and smiled at Henri Duolle.
“Amour, you’re late. Did you have a hot date?”
Pulling out my phone, I looked at the time. “I’m one minute late, Henri. How did you determine I was on a date? Not that I was.”
“You’re always early, and you don’t have a life. I thought you got lucky.”
“If you call hours of playing Halo getting lucky, then yes, I did.”
His face screwed up. “That is not lucky, amour. It’s bringing tears to my eyes with how boring it sounds.” He shook his head and then brightened. “I know what you need.”
“If you tell me I need cock—”
A throat cleared behind me. Henri smiled. “Mrs. June, it’s lovely to see you.”
“You also, Henri. Thanks for the call about the new roses in.”
“Oh yes, of course. I’ll go and get them for you.” He quickly ran out the back and left me alone with a regular customer, who was in her seventies at least, after I used the word cock in front of her.