by Laura Wylde
Sandra just shook her head at me. “You don't know how lucky you are sometimes Bree. Do you know how many people would kill to have that sort of control over men? I don't know what you do to men, but ever since I have known you, it seems like you have always been a heartbreaker. I don’t even think you mean to be. It’s just in your nature. Maybe it’s the fact that you dangle the goods, but never give in.”
“Ouch.” Sandra was hitting below the belt tonight.
“Well…if it looks like a duck.”
I waved her off and told her that she was just being silly. I don’t think that it was me just being irresistible, more than I just had a knack to date those type of guys. I was nothing special, not really, so her comments weren’t warranted. It didn’t make sense to me, but what was happening with Greg was the norm. I find big guys with short tempers that are a little dangerous. I don’t know why I’m attracted to that sort of guy. I drew the line when I found out that he was the head of one of the motorcycle gangs that ran up and down the coast. No matter how much I was attracted to Greg, I wasn’t going to be able to make that okay in my head. I just couldn’t, no matter how much fun we’d had when we were together.
“I'm just saying very hot. You are like a walking hard on to men. I don't really know what you do to them, but I know you do something. Maybe if you would move on, Greg would see it and move on as well.”
While I liked to think that she was right, I wasn't ready to move on. It wasn't like I was clinging on to some sort of love from Greg, it was something else altogether. I didn't want to find another Greg, so I would rather be alone than have to worry about that again. It felt like Greg was never going to let it go. He called, texted, emailed, sent flowers and was generally sort of stalkerish.
“I'm not going out to look for a man, Sandra. I am perfectly content without one.”
She looked at me and rolled her eyes like it was impossible feel that way
“Uh huh. You are going to find a man that makes you eat your words.”
“That may be so, but I'm not going to hold my breath about it.”
Chapter 3
Bree
It took Sandra another twenty minutes of painting my face and putting on these crazy fake eyelashes before she was ready to go. I knew that it was going to be hard to slow her down once she got started, and I was right. Once she was done with my makeup, the next thing I knew was she was pulling my hair down and trying to style that as well.
“Hey! It took me like ten minutes to put that up.”
“It’s crap Bree. Your hair is so thick and pretty. You need to leave it down.”
I hated my hair. It was brown, much like my eyes. It was a dark chestnut color, but I would have preferred to be blonde. That was mainly because I was sure that they had more fun.
Sandra flipped and flopped my hair until I finally ran my hands through it and told her that it was as good as it was going to get. She pouted.
“Why don't you ever let me play with your hair? You know that I love it.”
“If you want to do that, maybe we can just stay in and drink some wine instead of going out.”
I was hopeful that she would take the bait, but I should have known better. Sandra saw the right through me and told me that it was time to go. I don't know why really, but I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I didn't know which bar we were going to, but I was hoping that it would be one out of town that was a bit high scale. I wouldn’t be bothered near as much over there.
Sandra drove because she knew where the place was. I had been tempted to take my own vehicle, because sometimes I was ready to leave long before she was. I didn't do it because I knew that it would just tempt me to leave sooner. I told her that I was going to go out and have some fun and I was determined to do just that.
“So, don't freak out…”
Just her saying that kind of made me freak out a little bit. When a person like Sandra said something like that, there was usually a reason to freak out. I just didn't know what it was yet, but I was worried that she was trying to set me up with someone again. It was something that she kept doing even though she failed at it miserably every time.
“What?”
“I know that you think we're going to Bellio’s but we're not. I was thinking that we could go somewhere else.”
There weren't many places left to go and I didn't like where this was going. There was no telling with Sandra. she could have heard about a party at the college the next town over and we're on our way there. I really just never knew with her.
“So where are we going then?”
I was really starting to regret the fact that I didn't have my car with me. We hadn't even gotten to the place yet and I was already ready to go home.
“I was thinking that we would go to Doc’s.”
Sandra was telling me this as she was pulling in. I don't know why, but it was in a place that I'd even thought was an option. It was certainly not our scene, or at least not mine. I worried that Greg would be there and knew that he would think I was there for him. It was one of the worst places that I could think to go, and I was a little shocked when she actually turned the engine off.
“So, you're serious?”
“Yeah, why?”
I wasn't sure if she was messing with me or not. Did she not think that this would be a horrible idea? I kept waiting for her to tell me that she was just joking and for her to start the car back up, so we could leave, but that didn't happen. I was more surprised that we didn’t leave than anything else.
“This is just not really my thing. I am certainly not going to find a man here.”
Sandra just shrugged her shoulders and smiled at me.
“Well you did say that you aren't looking, right?”
I just shake my head and I feel like I've been bamboozled. She had known that we were going here and the idea of running into Greg made my heart beat a little bit faster. It wasn't the good kind of hypertension either. This was the kind that came from stress and the worry about what was going to happen next.
“You really want to go in this place? I mean look at it.”
We both looked at the outside of the bar and it was hard to be impressed by then exterior. Half of the front was covered with bikes in rows and the other half was covered with pickup trucks that looked like they had out of seen better days. There were a few men outside and every single one of them was wearing a leather jacket and looked pretty rowdy. I was attracted to that sort, but I knew better now. I knew that they were good to look at it, maybe have a few kisses with, but it certainly wasn't something that needed to go further than that. This wasn't my world and it it's hard to pretend it was.
Sandra felt more at home at the bar because of her brother. Her brother had been in a game a long time ago and Sandra had fallen for several of his friends. While she had never been able to do anything because her brother would kill them all, she had always liked the look of leather and the look of a man on the back of a bike.
I was going to have to pull my mind out of the gutter because we certainly weren't there for that. Sandra may be here for that, but I wasn't going to find what I was looking for if I was looking for something here. She finally got out and started to walk towards the front. It’s like I didn't have a choice. This is what we were doing and that bad feeling was back in full force.
Every step towards the door, made me look at the group of men on the outside looking at me. A few of them made some cat calls and I just ignored it all. It wouldn’t be the first time that I'd heard such things but in a small town it was usually men in the club that acted that way. Everyone else would have a little bit more dignity to them.
I told her again under my breath that I really didn’t want to be here, but she assured me that it was going to be fine. She asked me what the big deal was, and I didn’t want to tell her. I just shrugged finally and kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t going to do me any good.
If we were going to go, I definitely wasn’t going to bring up Greg. I was afraid
that if I did, then he was going to pop up all of a sudden and I would be left to deal with him. Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as I thought, though I was already hoping that she didn’t fancy any of the men in here. Then we could maybe go somewhere else after too long. It was too early for Greg to be out, but he would be soon, and I didn’t want to be at Doc’s when he came.
The place inside was no more impressive then it was inside. The interior was dark, and I could barely see anything. This was certainly not the place that I would have considered a good time. But that was going to have to be okay. I walked up to the bar convinced that if I had a drink in my hand, I might be able to wing this. Without it, I didn’t think that I had a chance.
The bartender looked us up and down and I ignored the lust in his eyes. It wasn't like I hadn’t seen it before, but it wasn't worth my time to comment. I wasn't attracted to him in any way and the burly man with the green eyes was not even on my level. He was a lot older than me and when told me it was on the house, I put down enough for the drink anyways. I didn’t want to invite any future attention and some men bought drinks for that reason.
Sandra was looking around and I saw that something or someone had already caught her eye. She kept looking in one direction and I groaned inwardly. This was not going to be a quick stop over apparently and I was here for the ride..
I tried to see what it was that had her attention, but the place was just too packed and I couldn't figure out who it was that she was given all the attention to.
“Do you see that guy over there?”
As I turned my head, she gestured in the same direction as she had been looking in and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. There were several men over there, but none of them really caught my attention. I was still too worried about finding Greg here that I just wanted to get out of Doc’s before I ran into him.
“Come on. Come on. Let's go over there and say hi. He's really cute.”
I was dragged over there forcibly and then I was willing to go when I realized that I had no choice. My friend was freakishly strong.. I don't know what Sandra was thinking, then again, there was a good chance that she wasn’t. She knew that I didn’t want to go, but she kept pushing and I finally just gave in to save a scene.
I was frustrated and called her a bully. Sandra just agreed and waited. “Fine, let’s go.”
She grinned at me and I groaned out loud so she knew I was irked. Sandra just didn’t get it or she just didn’t care. I felt like she had a reason for pushing me here tonight, but I still didn’t know what it was. If meeting a couple of guys was going to get me home sooner, I was down for that.
Chapter 4
Sandra
While I was thankful that Bree decided to come with me, even if there was not a lot of happiness in her face. I don't know what it was about her, but she acted like she was in her sixties. She was young, beautiful, and she didn't even seem to realize it. I would have killed for her body and I have told her that a million times, but she doesn't believe me. She doesn't see all of the guys that are looking at her right now, especially the two that we were walking up to. I wish that they looked at me the way they looked at her.
I was a dime a dozen, blonde and skinny. It wasn’t hard to find one just like me, several in this very room, but Bree was something special. She had this look to her that always drew the men in, even though she was oblivious to it all. It wasn’t an act, she really was or just really good at controlling her reaction.
“So we are just going to talk to them for a few. You don't have to get all nervous. You just need to calm down. This is no big deal.
Bree looked like she wasn’t so sure and I tried to tell her that everything was going to be okay. We are getting close to the other side of the bar and to the two guys that were looking our way. I already knew which one I liked, but he was looking at Bree, not me.
“Hey beautiful.”
The blond guy was talking to Bree and didn’t even look my way. I should have been upset, but I was actually used to it from going out with her. If she was as active at looking as I was, Bree would not have been single for all these months. Greg had really messed with her head a little bit and I wish that she had never met him. If she hadn’t, she wouldn't be the way she is now. That man really killed herself esteem.
Bree finally said hello but she would barely look him in the eye. It was almost painful to watch. I would never understand why she was so shy, especially because of the way she looked. She had nothing to be shy about.
I said hello to the dark haired guy and tried to ignore the fact that he was into Bree as well. It was sort of funny to me because neither one of them realized that they didn't stand a snowball’s chance in hell of her giving them the time of day.
While Bree liked to believe that she liked good guys and she wanted to find a good man and get married, she was actually attracted to this sort just like I was. There was something about a guy in leather and I could tell that Bree was the same way. She just didn't want to admit it because she had been warned off of bad boys her whole life because of her mother.
The two guys asked if we wanted to drink and I agreed, sitting down next to the dark haired guy and asked him his name. His name was Dyson and I told him my own.
I looked back to see that Bree was still standing up. She hadn't taken a seat and I didn't know she was actually going to. She was looking at the blonde guy like he was an alien and I just kind of shook my head. She was painfully shy and awkward sometimes.
Calvin was the other guy’s name that was trying to get with my friend, but he wasn't having much luck. We finally sat down but she was so far away it was almost like she was afraid of germs or something. It really was hard to watch. I almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost.
“So what are two fine women like yourselves, doing in a place like this?”
He was talking to Bree, it was pretty obvious, but Bree wasn't giving him any attention whatsoever. She kept looking at the throng of people around us, looking for someone. I had a good idea of who that someone was.
“We were just checking the place out. We have never been here before. This place has a sort of reputation.”
Calvin agreed and told me that it was pretty quiet at the moment.
“There used to be another motorcycle club around here that didn't get along with the people on the other side of town. This used to be a place where they would all end up and things never seemed to go well. There used to be a lot of fights in here, but now that one of the clubs folded, it is a lot more peaceful.”
I really didn't know much about motorcycle clubs, except for what I learned from my brother.
I would like to call them biker gangs because it just sounded sexier. A club didn't seem to be a good name for a bunch of tough looking guys in leather jackets riding motorcycles. When I thought of a club, I thought of chess or a book club. Motorcycles, not so much.
“Well I am glad that it is a little calmer here now. My brother used to come in here a lot, but he’d never let me go with him.”
Dyson kind of shook his head and then looked over at Bree. He really didn't want to talk to me and I tried to get to know Dyson. He didn't have much to say though, and his attention was somewhere else. I don't know why but I was starting to get a little flustered and instead of sticking around and being ignored I told her that I had to go to the bathroom.
While I would like to say that I wasn’t jealous of my friend, I kinda was. Even if it wasn't her fault. I was hurt because she really had no clue.
“Bree, I am going to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a minute.”
She looked over at me like I was going to abandon her with a pack of wolves. I look from Dyson to Calvin and I could kind of see her point. The guys were huge and by the look in their eyes, there was only one thing that they were looking for. Problem was, I knew that it was something that Bree was not going to give up. Bree was not only completely unaware of the men sitting around her, but she was also a virgin. While it made her awkward,
it was almost like the men around her were drawn to her because of that. It was the only thing I can think of.
“Well I will go with you.”
Bree started to stand up and I told her that she didn't have to go.
“I'm just going to be a minute. Really.”
She shook her head and I could tell that she really wanted to go with me. Maybe it was because I didn't really want to be around her at the moment or maybe it was something else, but I told her that I was going to be flying solo, so she should stay. I didn't give her a choice. One way or another, Bree was going to get out there, even if I had to do it a little underhandedly by abandoning her with a couple of hot bikers. She would be okay.
I made my way to the back of the bar and I didn’t look back. I literally did not want to see her pouty eyes, as she looked at me. I knew that is was what I would see and I didn't want to. It was only going to make me feel bad. but I had to tell myself that there was no reason for it. Bree wasn’t going to get out there until she was forced to.
When I got back to the bathrooms, there was a bit of a wait because there were several women in line and only two stalls and it appeared that one of them was being used for extracurricular activities. I was more surprised that nobody said anything. They could've gone anywhere else and we would have had a bathroom stall open. It just didn’t seem to make sense to me. Maybe part of me was a little jealous that somebody was getting some and it wasn't me.
After a couple of minutes, I was sick of waiting and I was kind of getting sick of the moaning on the other side of the bathroom, so I went over to the stall and knocked loudly.
“Hey! You guys need to finish up in there. We have things to do and there's a whole line waiting for you. Go somewhere else.”