I stopped what I was doing, threw the truck back in park and just stared at her for a minute.
“What?”
“I’m taking you,” I explained.
“I just, I was trying to spare you the trip.”
“I offered.”
“You don’t even like me,” she muttered.
I felt like the complete dick that I was. She had every right to think that was true after the way I had treated her when she’d done absolutely nothing wrong. “Nah, see, that’s where you got it wrong. The person I don’t like very much right now is me, and I’m making up for some of that, so how about you let me do it?”
Myra nodded her head, buckled her seatbelt, and didn’t really say much else until I needed directions to the doctor’s office. It took about thirty minutes to get there, but once we were parked, she turned to me and finally spoke again. “Did you want to come in and wait, or just stay out here?” She glanced around at the snow that was still piled up on all the curbs and she visibly shivered.
“You not used to the snow?”
She shook her head. “I’ve seen snow before, obviously, but I lived on the coast in Oregon. We always got more rain than snow in the winter.”
“I’ll come in with you, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure,” she responded as she unbuckled and opened the door. My brother’s truck also sat up a bit higher, and I felt like an asshole for not remembering that when she had climbed into the damn thing.
“Wait,” I told her as I jumped out and made my way around. “Let me help you down so you don’t slip on this slushy shit out here.” When I reached my hand up to grab a hold of her, Myra just stared at me in awe. Then she shook whatever she’d been thinking off, and allowed me to help her out of Spinner’s truck.
“Thank you,” she whispered as her feet touched the ground and my arm stayed around her waist until I was sure she was steady on her feet.
“You don’t have to thank a man for having manners,” I told her.
“Yeah I do, because there aren’t enough around anymore who have any. If women don’t reward the nice guys for doing the right thing, then they stop doing it.”
“That’s kind of a load of shit, if you ask me.”
“Oh?” She answered back, honestly sounding curious.
“Yeah, because if the only reason a man helps out a woman in need is to get something on the back end, even a compliment, then he doesn’t have manners, he has an agenda. There shouldn’t be a need to reward common decency.”
Myra didn’t have a response to that. We just slowly made our way into the building that housed her doctor’s office and I ended up sitting in the waiting room until she was done. Honestly, I kind of wanted to go back there with her and see what a baby doctor visit was like, but she didn’t invite me, and I wasn’t about to invite myself. If it had been Charlie, I would have in a heartbeat. Myra hadn’t exactly been given the best impression of me to start out with though. That was a fact that I continued to beat myself up over. Fuck, I could be a stupid dick sometimes. I made myself a promise while waiting for her to finish up though. She wasn’t coming to another one of these appointments alone. It didn’t matter if all she allowed me to do was sit in the waiting room like a chump, she’d have someone here for her.
Chapter 11 - Myra
It had been a week since Rabbit took me to my doctor’s appointment and I couldn’t stop thinking about the way he’d helped me out Spinner’s truck, or tucked me back inside it when I was done. As if taking me hadn’t been completely out of his way, or a waste of his time already. His words kept rolling through my head, and I’ll be honest, they probably stuck there because it was the first time I saw the Rabbit everyone else claimed he was. “…if the only reason a man helps out a woman in need is to get something on the back end, even a compliment, then he doesn’t have manners, he has an agenda.”
The text I was studying was in front of me, but it wasn’t. Rabbit’s words were rattling around in my brain as I thought of all the times Blaze needed me to thank him, or validate his efforts in some way. Then there were the times he outright requested, almost to the point of requiring, a reward for his actions. He stopped and bought me roses one day, ‘to be nice’ but then he demanded I show my appreciation for his effort. I was allergic to those damn roses and ended up throwing them out the next day. Maybe that was a sign, I should have thrown the whole relationship out with those thoughtless flowers. It was crazy how one little sentence could completely mind fuck a person. I wanted to be angry at Rabbit for ruining some of the memories I once thought of as good. I couldn’t be mad at him for opening my eyes to reality though. All of those times Blaze had done something out of his way, or nice, for me… they had always come with strings attached. At least I would know in the future that it wasn’t okay. So in that respect, my anger dimmed and instead, I found myself wanting to thank the man for his insight.
I tipped my head back, rocked it from side to side, then in a rounded motion to the left, and back to the right, trying to knock the tension kinks out of the muscles there as I sat at the bar. You’d think Renegade Rosy’s would be a shit place to get study time in, but just before opening, everyone was doing their own thing to get ready for their shift, and the music was off. The bar actually had an entirely different atmosphere to it. While I wouldn’t call it a library-like space, it definitely helped me to focus more so than my comfy, well-worn couch back at my apartment that kept putting me to sleep when I looked at the words on the pages for too long.
“What are you studying so hard over here?” His voice startled me. I’d just been listening to it, playing his words from a week ago on repeat in my brain, but I realized that the memory paled in comparison to the real deal. I turned to see Rabbit smiling down at me from just over my right shoulder. “Looks complicated,” he added.
‘I have my NCLEX coming up, I’m just trying to get all the extra study time in that I can before I have to take it.”
“Your N-what-now?”
I grinned at him, then patted the barstool next to the one I was occupying. “My nursing exam, in order to be licensed.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that’s what you were doing. You already went to college for that and everything, or is this the last step?”
“I have the degree, just need to be certified.”
“Beauty and brains then?” He asked as warmth filled my cheeks. I hated that the compliment made me blush because I didn’t want the man to think he affected me in any way. I may have forgiven him for being a dick to me, but that didn’t mean I trusted his sudden personality change.
“So, that’s what you want to do with your life? Be a nurse, help people, and stuff?”
“Yeah, something like that,” I told him as I laughed at his assessment.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“What made you want to do that?”
“I grew up around a club. Some of the guys were always getting hurt, mostly from taking spills on bikes, and they were stubborn shits too. So, my mom would end up being the one to patch them up and I watched a lot of time because they’d come to our house instead of the clubhouse. I think they just didn’t want to be seen as a bunch of pussies when they hissed and hollered as she poured peroxide over their wounds.” He laughed with me then.
“I bet that was it. Or if your mom looked anything like you, they probably enjoyed her playing nurse.”
“She was taken,” I told him on a shocked gasp because I’d never thought about it like that. She was my mom, I’d never once thought of her as some hot commodity my dad got lucky enough to land, but thinking back… “You know what, you’re probably right,’ I told him. Thinking of her and those times made me miss my mom. I almost opened up to him about it, but he’d been a dick to me before so the trust still wasn’t there. Instead, I decided to turn the tables on the conversation.
“What is it you want to do with your life, Rabbit?”
He laughed, glanced around the bar nervously
, and then turned back to me and grinned. “Don’t you already know?”
“Beyond the fact that you’re a biker who doesn’t mind nudity and showing off what you got, you’re a dick to new women you meet, and everyone seems to have a high opinion of in spite of that, I don’t really know a whole lot.”
He winced at my description. “I guess you’re nothing, if not honest, huh?” If a person could shrug with their eyeballs alone, that’s the response he got from me. I just waited for his answer. “Well, I guess, from your eyes, I’d say that was a fair assessment. Unfortunately, you’ve seen me at my absolute worst, so I can’t deny any of that except to say, the behavior you’ve seen is almost all out of the norm for me.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t answer the question. What are you planning to do with your life?”
“You’re sitting in it,” he told me. I glanced down, for some stupid reason I couldn’t name. As if I was physically sitting in something he wanted to do with his life. Rabbit chuckled. “Well, I guess you can count it literally since your ass is parked on my barstool, but-”
“Wait!” I stopped him. “Your bar?” His grin widened then.
“My bar,” he confirmed. “After my parents death, pretty much all I had was my brother and the club. I wanted to make sure neither of them ever had to go anywhere again. Certainly didn’t want my brother taking off to the Army again, so I used my portion of the money I got from their insurance policy and I bought this bar. Unfortunately for me, the building and the liquor license were where I ran out of money. It still needed some updates, all the logos and marketing, the actual liquor beyond the small stash that was here, and of course the up front money to pay salaries for employees until the cash started flowing.” He laughed as he told me about his past.
“You needed investors,” I told him.
“Yeah, I had big dreams, but a too-small wallet as it turned out.” He glanced around and the pride shone on his face as he took in what all his hard work and money had made. “When Spinner found out what I’d spent my inheritance on – the fact that I’d spent all of my inheritance on it – he flipped out, at first. Hell, I was just 21 at the time. Barely old enough to drink and this is where I sunk my money.”
“Obviously, he had a change of heart about it at some point,” I told him.
“Yeah, he realized I wasn’t going to let it go, so he kicked in some of his own money to help me out. It still wasn’t enough though.”
“That’s where the club stepped in?” She guessed, accurately.
“You got it. So, we’re partners. Since I took the brunt of the financial burden, I pretty much get a 60 percent return on profits. Spinner and the club each take a 20 percent cut for their contributions.”
“That’s amazing, that you were able to put in so much and keep that much of the return.”
“It is.” I watched as a frown marred her face then. “What?”
“That first night, you didn’t want me in your bar, and Spinner took me in anyway. I feel horrible now, because this is your place.”
I shook my head. “Seriously? I was being a dick. Don’t even worry about it. If I had known your situation before we met, I would have offered the same thing my brother did.”
“Still, that wasn’t exactly fair to you. I honestly thought the bar was fully club-owned and that Spinner managed it.”
“He does manage it, which bumps him up from 20 percent to about 35 percent when we factor in the time commitment that he puts into the place.”
“Oh, well, that’s at least a little better. Why don’t you manage it?”
“Do I really strike you as a numbers and business-sense kind of guy?”
I shrugged my shoulders that time. “I don’t know. I try not to judge people based on looks alone.”
“Fair enough. I’ll just tell you that I’m not. At least, I’m not with the day-to-day stuff. I help out around the bar some nights when they’re short staffed. I do the same at the clubhouse too. If not for Charlie, I’d probably be the only full time bartender in the clubhouse, truth be told. Those assholes can’t mix a simple drink to save their lives.”
“Everyone keeps telling me you normally don’t drink. Why a bar?”
He laughed. “I don’t know, it’s where people come to be social, to have fun, forget their worries, and I just wanted to give them the best damn place to do that. Plus, this was a strip club and the women weren’t exactly treated well by the previous management. I wanted to make sure they had a safe place to go to work, and make the money they need to get by.
I smiled at him. “So, you’re a caretaker and a people pleaser too then?”
He laughed. “I suppose you could say that. Not quite as noble as patching people up though.”
“We all have our place in the world. There are many ways to make a person’s life better. No one thing is better than another.” I smiled at him then. “So, that’s what you did with your life, where do you see it going? You just going to continue on with the one bar? Add more? Start a family? How will the future Mrs. Rabbit feel about all the naked women you’re around constantly?” I was oddly curious about that last one because I don’t honestly know how I would have handled knowing Blaze was headed to work with naked dancers. It was hard enough to think about the available pussy he had on tap whenever he wasn’t with me at the clubhouse, or when they went on runs to other chapters. Granted, I was stupid enough to think he wouldn’t cheat because my family would be around to stop him. Silly me, they didn’t care enough about me to stop him.
“Actually, I have plans to expand the bars out to some of the other chapters. We already have one set up near Charleston that’s doing pretty well. I get a small percentage from that bar’s profits since they’re using all of my branding. As far as family goes, one day, I plan to have a big one, and the future Mrs. Rabbit will be just fine with it, because if she doesn’t want me there when the dancers have their clothes off, then I won’t be there unless there is a work emergency. That’s the great thing about being the initial investor in your own business. You don’t have to be there to run the day-to-day stuff. Everything I have to do can be done from the outside looking in, so long as I trust the person running the business.” Wow, he really had thought about that. It also nearly knocked me off my feet to know he would put his woman’s concerns above his business like that.
“The reality is that I would hope my woman would trust me enough to know it would never be an issue though. Also, she can’t be the type of person who would be embarrassed by the fact that I pay the bills with money that comes in from a strip club. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, and anyone standing by my side should be too.”
“You’re not wrong about that.” I noticed the time on the new burner phone I’d obtained for all of the local people in my life, my friend, work, my doctor; and reached over to close my book. “Well, I better start getting ready for my shift. Don’t want the boss to think I’m slacking off,” I told him and then winked as I took my things to the back.
“I saw you out there talking to Rabbit,” one of the dancers, Mindy, mentioned as I stuffed my book into my locker.
“Yeah,” I confirmed, not really wanting her to make a big deal about it.
“He’s a mess,” she told me.
“He’ll be all right. He just needs some time and perspective.”
“Is that what you needed after your breakup?” She was fishing. Most of the girls knew I was pregnant, a few of them had seen me tossing my lunch here and there, but I hadn’t really bothered to tell my story to any of them. “No. I needed a whole new life. Hopefully, I found it here.”
“Well, Cherry seems to think the world of you.” I said nothing, wondering where Mindy was going with her observations. Finally, when she realized I wouldn’t respond, she huffed as if I was stressing her out by not answering. “It’s not my business, or my place, but these guys gave me a shot when I didn’t deserve one. They helped lift me up enough that I was able to start helping myself. We all saw the w
riting on the wall with Chastity. She was always going to leave him heartbroken. Those twins may look alike, but they are not the same person.”
“That’s for certain,” I agreed.
“You have unfinished business out there somewhere. I’d hate to see you break his heart when you go back to it,” she continued on with her warning. That’s what it was.
“My business was just as heart wrenching, more so, and it’s so done, it was another life. I won’t ever go back to a place where everyone I knew betrayed me.” I glared at her because I didn’t like feeling threatened, especially in my place of work. “But make no mistake, you have it all wrong. My actions will never affect Rabbit because he doesn’t give a damn about me anyway. The man barely tolerates me.”
She shot me a knowing smirk. “We’ll agree to disagree on that.”
Chapter 12 - Rabbit
Spinner moved in closer, as if I didn’t see him in the mirrors on the wall. He leaned in and whisper-yelled into my ear. “What are you doing here Bunny Boy?” I ignored him for a moment as I watched Myra pass a beer to another local who couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
It wasn’t even a little bit surprising that men were interested in her, even with the slightly protruding baby bump. Hell, most of them probably didn’t even realize that was what she had going on, not that it would matter to most. Myra was gorgeous, always nice to everyone, and let’s face it, the male to female ratio in these parts meant that there simply weren’t enough women to go around. Many wouldn’t care that she was already knocked up by someone else.
“Seriously, Rabbit, what’s going on with you?” My brother asked again. Then he followed the direction of my gaze and said, “That’s a bit of a surprise.”
“Why?” I asked the question without taking my eyes off of her.
“I didn’t think you two got along that well. Plus, she’s pregnant.”
“So?”
“So!” Spinner mocked my question. “So, it’s not like you to take on someone like her with a past that could rear its head at any time.”
The Restart and the Remedy (Aces High MC - Dakotas Book 3) Page 8