Have sex with someone.
Just not him.
It didn’t matter that he was attracted to me. I still wasn’t enough.
Straightening my shoulders and lifting my chin, I strode back out into the main room. I refilled my tray with drinks, and I did what I’d come here to do.
Work.
Sex was not on the table.
Well, it was. There was a couple going at it right on the table to my left.
But not for me.
27
WAR
“So, we’ve got everything set for Tuesday. All the clubs have been notified, and everyone is coming.”
I glanced over at Hawk while we stood in the line outside of Psychos, waiting to get in. “All of them?”
He cringed and nodded. “Yeah, man. All of them. They should start arriving Sunday.”
“Where the hell are we going to put them all?”
Hawk shrugged. “We’ve got plenty of room for camping. I ordered a couple of those portable toilets with the showers too, ‘cause fuck, having everyone trying to use the one bathroom in the clubhouse. That thing would get clogged in about ten minutes flat.”
“Food?”
“They’ll sort themselves out except for the night of the funeral. I figured we better handle that.”
I sucked on my cigarette and let the nicotine smoke fill my lungs. I blew it out so slowly it burned. But it helped relieve the pressure ticking away inside me like a fucking time bomb. “Get Aloha to smoke some meat. Heaps of it. Queenie will get the girls making some sides, but as long as there’s meat and beer, that’ll keep most people happy.” The line inched forward, and I went with it. “I can’t believe they’re all coming.”
“Your old man was well-loved. Everyone wants to pay their respects.” Hawk glanced at me. “And…”
“And they want to gawk at how I’m handling being prez.”
“Yeah. That.”
“Assholes.” We were all Slayers. Different chapters of the same club. We were supposed to be one big happy extended family.
We weren’t.
Half the men who arrived at our complex this week would shake your hand in one second, then stab you in the back in the next. Literally. Then they’d pull the knife out of your bleeding body, wipe it on their T-shirt, and use it to cut their dinner.
Some would have been genuinely upset to find out about my old man’s passing. They’d be here to pay their respects and mourn. But there’d be just as many looking for a weakness.
Because knowing other people’s soft spots was the best way to manipulate them into doing what you wanted.
I didn’t trust anyone as far as I could throw them. Especially not the men outside my own chapter.
I stubbed my smoke out beneath my boot as we reached the door. “No more club shit tonight, yeah? Let’s just have a good time. The rest can wait.”
“I’m all for that.” Hawk eyed Rebel, standing at the door with her tits out and her toned, flat belly on display beneath them.
She grinned up at him, holding out two black strips of cloth. “Evening, boys. Ready to have some dirty fun?”
Hawk eyed her little tits with only the nipples covered by stick-on tassels. “Always.”
“Mask up then. Keep ’em on all night, or you’re out the door.”
“You’re all of five feet. Good luck throwing anyone out.”
I chuckled, nudging Hawk. “You clearly haven’t seen Rebel when she’s pissed. People run out, just to avoid her wrath.”
Rebel beamed like I’d given her a compliment. “I’m so glad you noticed!” Then she scowled at Hawk. “And for the record, if you aren’t scared by my wrath, which you really should be, I got my new buddy, Vincent, over there. He’s more than willing to throw down.”
Hawk and I both glanced over at the new bouncer. He was a lot smaller than the last one, though not a small man by any means. He was over six foot, but he was slimly built, though muscled for sure. He didn’t look particularly threatening. He didn’t acknowledge our presence with anything other than a steady stare.
“Hey, you got any private room keys left?” I asked Rebel.
She raised an eyebrow but picked up a key from a hook on the wall behind her. It was on a thick gold chain with a little tag that had the number thirteen on it. She dangled it in front of me. “You and Hawk wanna get freaky in private?”
I grinned. “Hey, Hawk. Wanna blow me in private or out in the middle of the floor where Rebel can watch and get jealous?”
“It’d be like blowing my brother. Hard pass on both the private and public oral sex offer.” He rolled his eyes at me. “Thanks so much for thinking of me though.”