"You both have outies?" Bobbie asked with surprise. "Outies are rare."
"What? No way!" Annie laughed, waving Bobbie off. "How would you know that?"
"I'm more than just a pretty face," Bobbie joked. "Besides, in high school I had to do an essay in biology for extra credit because I was failing. My teacher said she wanted me to choose a unique topic, so I picked innie vs outie bellybuttons."
"Boy, that must have been a riveting paper." I smirked. "Did you pass?"
Bobbie's mouth turned down at the corners. "Apparently an essay is more than a hundred words." Everyone laughed. "But she gave me another chance, so yes, I passed with a high D." This resulted in more laughter all around.
Ava seemed content on my shoulder. Every so often I inhaled her scent deeply into my lungs, and the world was right again. I caught Raven watching me with a big smile on her face, her hand rubbing her baby bump. She was positively glowing in her pregnancy. I remembered those days. Despite everything else that was happening in my life at the time, being pregnant had been the happiest time of my life.
"So, I take it the job with Crickets fell through?"
I gave Bobbie a nod. "Yeah. Someone called representing me and told them I was no longer interested."
"And they said their name was Sax?" JoJo inquired, arranging some blocks with Samuel. "Talk about a coincidence! Two men called Sax in the same city." Her tone was skeptical.
"Yeah. He swears it wasn't him. He's going to find out who it was."
"Sounds like someone who doesn't like you, honey, someone who wants to cause you grief." I couldn't disagree with Annie.
"Have you pissed off anyone lately?"
"Not on purpose," I snorted. "But…" I cut myself off, unwilling to put my suspicions into words. I didn't want to cause any more trouble.
"But?" Raven encouraged.
I set Ava down in front of me, holding her hands to help her balance sitting up. "I'm afraid to say. I don't have any proof. And it's just a feeling."
"What is it, honey?"
I chewed on my bottom lip. I could hear the concern in Raven's voice. It matched the worry in her eyes. I really didn't want to start anything, especially if it turned out that my suspicions were wrong. I let go of Ava's hands and watched her wobble to keep from falling.
"If it's someone in the club, we should know about it."
I laughed at Bobbie's attempt to get me to open up. "You're just nosey bitches," I joked. I looked around to see who might be listening, but it seemed like everyone was minding their own business. I shrugged and spoke low. "It's just a feeling, but when I was going off on Sax, I noticed a, um, look on Goldie's face that seemed a little, I don't know, suspicious to me. As if she was pleased with herself over something."
Annie leaned in as if she didn't want anyone outside of the group to overhear. "You think she had someone call Crickets posing as Sax?"
Before I could answer Bobbie hissed, "I wouldn't put anything past that bitch. She's been sleeping her way through the guys, and it doesn't matter if they're taken or not. I caught her coming on to Demon the other day and tore her a new one. Made it clear that she needed to keep her fucking hands off my man."
"I don't know," JoJo said in a thoughtful tone. "She's been clinging to Sax like a leech. If she wanted you out of the way, she wouldn't do something to keep you around."
That was true. But doubt still lingered.
"Did you mention this to Sax?" Raven questioned.
I shook my head, remembering that Sax had told me that said he hadn't been with anyone else since we’d broken up. "Like I said, it was just a thought, and he's going to look into it."
"Speak of the devil--I mean ‘bitch.’"
I turned in the direction of Ellie’s gaze and saw Goldie coming down the stairs with Loco. She was clinging to him, which seemed to be her MO, as if they were a loving couple instead of a club girl with a satisfied customer. I shook my head with disgust. Loco chose that time to catch my eye and grinned, shooting me a wink. He was such a man-whore, but I couldn't help but return his smile.
"Who's doing dinner tonight?" It was getting close to that time again.
"The club girls are doing the honors tonight." Ellie gently ran her fingers through her daughter's soft curls while the toddler slept, splayed out on her folded legs.
"If I know Lulu, she'll do most of the work. The others don't put any effort into anything but fucking." There was bitterness in JoJo's tone.
"I wish Lulu would see that she's way too good to be a club slut," Raven murmured. "She's so sweet and giving, and she would make a great old lady."
"Too late for that." This came from Bobbie. "You know these men won't make anyone who's slept with his brothers an old lady."
No one mentioned the fact that Bobbie had come to the club as a club girl, but Demon had taken a liking to her from the start, so none of his brothers would sleep with her. Demon hadn't known that at the time. It had turned into a big mess, but it all worked out in the end.
"I think she was in a bad place when she first came here," JoJo quipped.
"Well, it's their loss," Ellie spoke up. "I bet if she were to leave here or find someone outside the club that one of these jerks would be sorry they didn’t make a move on her."
I nodded, believing the same thing. But which brother would it be? Certainly not Loco, he liked variety, and swore he'd never be pinned down. Chewy didn't seem to give her a second thought, unless he was in the mood. Snake? Spider? Dancer? For a while she'd been fond of LD, but that hadn't worked out.
Raven sighed. "Guess time will tell."
I saw Cherry, Mitzi, and Lulu heading toward the kitchen, minus Goldie. I searched the bar and found her rubbing all over Snake. Did she think by keeping herself busy with the men that she was going to get out of helping with the food? It wasn't my place to speak up.
"Huh!" Once JoJo got everyone's attention, she nodded toward the table where Goldie and Snake were making out. "Guess she thinks she's too good to help the others with dinner." Disgust was thick in her voice.
Bobbie immediately stood up.
"Where are you going?" Ellie asked, her eyes growing wide.
"To remind that bitch that she's here for more than sucking dick."
As the president's old lady, Bobbie had every right to say something to Goldie. In fact, all the old ladies did, but they rarely used their power. Bobbie stormed over to the table and put her hands on her hips. Whatever she said broke Goldie and Snake up. I wished I could hear what was going on, but I smiled anyway, knowing that Bobbie wouldn't hold back. Judging from Goldie's expression, she wasn't intimidated by whatever Bobbie was saying and looked ready to mouth off to her, until the door opened and Demon walked in. It was as if someone had flipped a light switch, and suddenly her expression softened and became more receptive to Bobbie's interruption.
Demon, seeing his old lady confronting a club girl, pivoted in their direction. He put his arm over Bobbie's shoulder but remained silent, letting Bobbie handle the situation. Within seconds Goldie scooted off Snake's lap and disappeared into the kitchen. Demon whispered something down at Bobbie, and gave her ass a hard slap before walking away.