“Seriously?” I questioned.
He just blew a kiss at me and mouthed, “Mooo!” I couldn’t stop the laugh from exploding free and Charlie turned narrowed, suspecting eyes on Rabbit.
“Don’t encourage him, he’ll only keep it going once you do.”
“That’s okay, it’s just the stress relief I needed after studying so much lately.
“When do you take it?” Charlie asked.
“One week from today.” I smiled at her then because it felt so good to have a new friend I could count on in my life. Charlie had become one of the best people I’d met in South Dakota so far. “I’ll probably keep working part time at the bar too, just so I can get ahead and hopefully move into a larger place before the baby gets here.”
“Girl, you can’t work yourself to death while you’re pregnant,” Charlie admonished.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” I insisted.
“Why do you need a bigger place?” Rabbit asked.
“The apartment over your brother’s shop is only a one-bedroom. It’s fine for now, but once the baby is here, it’ll get cramped pretty quickly.”
The topic dropped after that in favor of some peace and quiet for the rest of the trip home. My bra shopping had been fruitless, but one of the women who had overheard Rabbit make the crack about my boobs outgrowing VS, mentioned a website I could probably find the right sizes on. I just hoped they weren’t ridiculously expensive and that they had fast shipping.
Rabbit, who insisted on driving, dropped Charlie off at the clubhouse first, which was odd since he lived there too. When he got me back to my place, he got out of the vehicle too. “Can I help you?” He asked.
I glanced down at the one bag I had with a couple of cute baby things I’d seen. “What exactly do you think I need help with? This isn’t even heavy.”
“No, I mean with everything. Do you need help? I hate thinking about you being pregnant and having to work two jobs just to get by.”
“Lots of women do it. I’m no different from the rest of them,” I insisted.
“You are though. You don’t have to do this. They don’t all have a Rabbit to pull out of their hat,” he told me with a sexy little wink.
“I don’t either. We barely know one another. I can’t accept help from you.” I turned and carefully headed up to my apartment, noting that I’d probably need to salt the steps again before evening fell and they iced over. Rabbit locked my truck up and made his way to his brother’s truck. Figures, he planned to take his brother’s truck again, and that’s why he drove me home. I had to laugh as I watched him steal Spinner’s truck without even a single thought. I hoped he at least texted him to let him know. Oh well, it wasn’t my problem. That was between the crazy ass brothers who had somehow stepped in to make my life a tiny bit better. Warmth settled deep in my chest as I thought about him offering to help me out. It was sweet, even if it was an overstep coming from him.
Chapter 14 - Rabbit
Stoneridge Raiders MC. That’s the club that Myra grew up in. Since I knew the town Cherry and Chastity had been from, it wasn’t too hard to find out. Hell, I wasn’t sure why it took me so fucking long to check in on things. Myra had said enough, the girls had filled in some blanks, and now I was beginning to get the whole damn picture of why the woman came here and wants her location to remain secret.
“Yo, Rabbit, someone here to see you.”
I got up and went out to the front to find a man standing there who shouldn’t have been. He was wearing a Stoneridge Raiders kutte, which was pretty ballsy of him, considering he was in our territory flying his own colors. “Can I help you with something?”
“Rabbit,” he said, as if he knew exactly who I was.
“You got me!”
“You’re the one that owns Renegade Rosy’s?” I nodded my head, waiting to hear what came out of his mouth next. “The place where Myra Chase works?” He asked, letting me know his real agenda. I crossed my arms over my chest, widened my stance, and just stared at him for a minute.
“Lots of people work for me, I don’t tell anyone who they are for any reason. I also don’t tell people when I’ve never heard of someone before, so don’t get your hopes up.”
He rolled his eyes at me and grinned. “I don’t need you to tell me she’s here. I already know that much. Listen up, Myra doesn’t get to know that I was here, so you need to honor your claim in reverse too. Don’t want her to know that I am aware of where she is either. Her family won’t find out.”
“What’s your game here then? Why are you coming to me, and what the hell makes you think I’d be your secret keeper? I don’t know you, and sure as fuck don’t owe you a thing.”
“I’m Phoenix, by the way, the unofficial tracker for the Stoneridge Raiders. “Myra’s whereabouts have never been a mystery to me. The thing is, I’m rooting for her to stay away from the bastards she left behind. They’re no good for her or that kid of hers. Let’s have a seat, and I’ll tell you a little story.” He broke it all down for me, what Blaze – Myra’s ex – had been up to, how Phoenix himself was involved and silenced by an MC order, and how Myra blew up when everything came out. I had to hand it to her, when he started telling me what she did in order to make a clean break from her hometown, family, and old life, I admired her even more than I had previously.
She hadn’t even taken half the money from their joint account, the furniture, nothing. She just packed up her personal belongings, her personal savings, and took off. I was still finding things that were missing from the house I once shared with my ex, that Chastity no doubt took just to pawn off.
“Storytime was really nice, but why are you telling me?”
“I’m letting you know because she might need someone to have her back one day. Those people are toxic. She’s going to need strong people in her corner. Besides, I actually wanted to tell you that if you betray her, if anyone from your club brings her family down on her, I will personally see to it that every single last one of you dies for doing it.”
Well, shit! Either this guy was crazy or he was seriously determined to keep Myra away from her family. It made me wonder what else they might be guilty of, because that seemed to be a pretty incredible and extreme measure to take for what happened.
“There’s more to the story, isn’t there?” I finally asked.
“The only thing more is my own story to tell, and that’s not for you. Let’s just say it’s best for everyone if she stays here, unseen.” He stood and moved to go to the door. “I meant what I said, you keep her safe or you will deal with me. She’s family.”
The man hadn’t been out the door for two minutes before I had someone on him and checking into the club Myra had come from. This was a surprise visit, and we didn’t need anymore popping up. It already felt as if I’d been gut checked, and now I had the worry of Myra’s ex coming to collect her and their kid. For some reason, it made me feel a rage like I’d never felt before, not even when Chastity had left the way she did. Even then, the rage had been internalized because I wondered why I never listened to all the warnings about her. The thought of losing Myra was more crippling, and yet we were barely even friends. ‘But you want to be more,’ that annoying voice inside my head taunted me.
Chapter 15 - Myra
While driving to work, a few days before my NCLEX, I thought I saw Phoenix passing by Renegade Rosy’s as I pulled in, but that couldn’t be the case because he would have stopped when he saw the Beast. Yeah, there were a million and one Suburbans out there, but mine happened to have some pretty easily identifiable stickers on it. Including the lovely one an old friend had slapped on it that says, “Nurses know where to stick it!”
I almost let that sighting get into my head and trip me up just before the test. Hello, paranoia, my old friend. Good to meet you! Not really, go the fuck away! I became anal about locking doors, checking again, and once more for good measure because nothing helps you feel more paranoid than adding a little obsessive compulsive traits t
o the mix. Still, I shook it off, took my test, and then the worry kicked in again. This time it switched from the sighting that wasn’t to wondering if I pass my test. In all the time that had passed in between, I hadn’t laid eyes on Rabbit. Our shopping trip was the last time I saw him. I wondered if he felt slighted when I refused to accept his help? Even knowing that was possible, it didn’t change my stance on the fact that I wouldn’t accept money from people to get by. I knew what it meant to rely on people and have them let you down completely. For me, the proof needed to be there that I could handle this, even if no one else was by my side to help.
Rabbit wasn’t at the clubhouse when I met the girls there. Charlie, Liza, and Cherry all sat around a table with books in hand when I showed up. “What exactly are we doing?” I asked while glancing around for any of the men to show up and tell them to get their own space. My father and the men in his club certainly would not have allowed the women to take over their space, especially for what appeared to be a book club meeting.
“We were just discussing the latest book we’re all reading,” Liza pointed out as she held her iPad up that was opened to the ebook version of what Charlie had in paperback. Cherry also had the paperback.
“I didn’t know.” Maybe I was still suffering from residual paranoia, but I took another look around the room and the girls finally caught on.
“Lord girl, the big, bad, bikers aren’t going to pop out of the woodwork to kill us for having books in their space. We’re waiting on them to get back. There’s a lasagna in the oven, but it won’t be done for another fifteen minutes.” Liza grinned at me then. “So, that means we have time. What’s new with you and the little bun in your oven?”
I smiled down at my stomach. “The little one is fine, but I have other news to share!” Cherry’s phone rang, interrupting what I’d been about to tell them.
“Hey honey, no just us girls still. I don’t mind speakerphone, you know that.” She leaned over and whispered to me, “Go ahead and share your news. He’s just checking in.”
“Okay. Well,” I paused to catch my breath because I couldn’t believe I was about to announce this, or that I had people around me who would even care. “I did it!” Everyone started clapping and shouting their congratulations. Cherry tipped her head to the side, stared at me and then started speaking into her phone.
“Hold on, Spin,” she said into the phone before turning her attention to me. “What did you do, Myra?”
“I passed! I’m officially a registered nurse now!”
“Oh my God! I’m so happy for you!” Cherry yelled.
“Oh! It’s too bad we can’t get some male strippers out here at a minute’s notice like the guys can get the female dancers. That’s what we need for this celebration. Myra needs to know she’s still a woman with working parts and that she can celebrate this, while looking forward to whatever the future holds in her personal life too!” Of course it would be Charlie to suggest strippers for my celebration. She saw everyone’s slack-jawed expressions. “What? The poor thing can’t drink to celebrate. The least we could offer is something nice to look at!”
Liza burst out laughing. “Only you, Charlie!”
“I thought it was a great idea!” I told Charlie. “It’s too bad there aren’t any male dancers at Ruby’s.”
“No kidding, I would throw down some money there if there were.”
“You better not let Rage hear you say that,” Liza teasingly warned. Although, if we were being honest, those poor male dancers wouldn’t last long around these guys. I didn’t think they’d handle their women ogling some nearly naked dudes on the stage.
“We might not have dancers, but you are coming out with us tonight to celebrate!” There wasn’t a question in that. Charlie was telling me about what I was going to do.
“I don’t know, it’s been a long day already. Truthfully, going out to celebrate doesn’t sound like much fun.”
“What if I promise it will be? Maybe we can get some of the girls there to give us some dance lessons?”
That had me intrigued. “Now, that might be fun, and I’ve been wishing for a good way to get some exercise in, but with the constant snow, ice, melt, snow, thing going on outside, I haven’t been able to come up with anything feasible that wouldn’t involve me possibly falling on my ass.”
“I feel that,” Cherry said as she hung up with Spinner.
“Everything all right?” I asked her.
“Yeah, he was just checking in to see if anyone was bothering us here.”
“That’s so weird,” I told her.
“What? Why? Are you saying my man is weird for asking if I was okay?”
“No, just that it’s weird that you ladies are allowed to use the clubhouse this way.” I swished my hand around to indicate them and their books. “My parents, well, my mom and her friends would never even think to ask because the answer would be a resounding no.”
“That’s kind of sad,” Charlie said.
“Yeah, it is. I’m not sure why my mother put up with the shit she did, or for that matter, why I thought it was okay too. It wasn’t. There’s such a world of difference between their MC and this one. It makes me wonder just how toxic our situations were there, because this is definitely a much healthier place for women. Even the club girls here are treated with more dignity and respect.”
“Come out with us tonight?” Liza asked.
The smile on my face could not be contained and I couldn’t deny her. Liza had never asked me for anything since I’d moved here. The least I could do was show up to lady’s night and celebrate my own damn achievement with them. “How can I say no, when someone actually asks?”
“I didn’t need to ask,” Charlie insisted. “I always knew your answer would be yes, eventually.”
“Okay, well then it’s your job to keep me awake long enough to celebrate.”
It was exceedingly difficult to keep my eyeballs from drooping, even with all the noise around me. I was used to the ambient sounds of the bar, if you could call them something so innocuous. It wasn’t until the emcee came over the sound system, rather loudly, that I realized I’d gotten lost in the midst of a very long, slow blink. The girls were all laughing at me.
“Ladies in the house, you’re going to want to come up a little closer to the stage, because Renegade Rosy’s has a treat for you tonight!”
“You didn’t?” I asked, turning to Charlie, because if anyone could pull off having a male stripper at the club on a few hours’ notice, it would be her. She shook her head though.
“I didn’t do anything, I swear,” she told all of us.
“Welcome to the stage, Electric Bunny,” the emcee shouted.
“No!” Charlie shouted before she burst out laughing the moment the curtains parted and the spotlight hit none other than Rabbit.
“Oh. My. God!” Cherry stated as her jaw dropped.
“I’ve seen it all,” was Liza’s contribution.
I was speechless as I watched him glance around before his eyes landed on me and the music started in. It sounded a bit familiar, but wasn’t something I could place right away. The music didn’t matter in that moment, because Rabbit was taunting me with his eyes while wearing something resembling a tux, but instead of a top hat to go with it, he had on a bowler hat, and a cigar hung from his grinning lips. That sexy swagger of his as he moved his lithe body across the stage made it impossible to focus on just one part of him.
That was about the time my ears tuned back into the music blasting from the speakers. Rabbit grabbed hold of the pole, and started rolling his hips forward as he lip synced the chorus with every bit of big dick energy it was sung with. “All I wanna do is fuck! Fuck! Fuck myself tonight.” It was one of those ridiculous songs by Steel Panther, but I’m not going to lie, as hilarious as the lyrics were, Rabbit made it just the funny side of sexy, and if I hadn’t know what tripped my sexy-brain trigger before, I did now. That man, gyrating his junk on stage to the most ridiculous song ever, the co
mbination of humor and sex, that was it. That had my panties dampening at an unhealthy rate for a pregnant woman.
“Oh my God!” Charlie screeched while clapping her hands. “I don’t know if it’s okay for me to look, he’s like a brother to me.”
“He’s really up there doing this?” Liza asked, seeming shocked that Rabbit would stoop to this level.
“Oh, he is so doing this!” Cherry laughed out while clapping along with everyone else.
I just stared at the spectacle before me, not really in disbelief considering the state Rabbit had been in when we met. The man had zero shame when it came to his body. Then again, he had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. The man took damn good care of himself. I had to laugh when he moved from the pole and started to hump the microphone stand that was set out as a prop for him. He continued to lip sync a song about being completely in lust with himself and that was all she wrote. I threw my head back and howled with laughter at Rabbit as he stood straight, did a little pelvic thrust, and then off came his tux jacket.
My laughter dried up a bit then. He had nothing on underneath of it, but the tatted up, tanned, and ridiculously toned muscles. Another hip thrust, and his tux pants ripped away from his body leaving him in only…
“Holy shit!” I screamed. “Is that a banana hammock?” I had been so distracted by the muscles before that I totally missed the two strips of fabric going up his chest and over his shoulders. Yep, he was definitely wearing what should have been the least sexy thing on a man. Only, Rabbit was rocking every little bit of fabric that kissed his skin.
Charlie finally answered me after she calmed down from a hysterical fit of laughter. “It’s fucking yellow too!” That started off new peals of laughter from her and the other women present.
The Restart and the Remedy (Aces High MC - Dakotas Book 3) Page 10