I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I have to go get ready to head to the shop. Let’s make sure the guys know about that cunt, and to watch your back for you before I head out, okay?” She smiled and nodded at me as I grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her behind me to find Whiskey and Fox. Amy may not have been my girl, but she had become a good friend, and I had no doubt that Whiskey and Fox were planning to keep her around, so I felt the need to see that she remained protected while she was with them.
Chapter 4
Tango
(4 months, 5 days ago)
I picked Amy up and spun her around in a circle causing her cap to go flying as Whiskey chased after it while Fox laughed at the spectacle. “So proud of you, Amy!” I told her as I squeezed her hard. She had gone back to school after spending the summer at the clubhouse, but had continued to come down on weekends to visit. When she didn’t come down Whiskey and Fox usually went to her, unless we had a work obligation. I had opened Liquid Lines in September, and my busiest days were on the weekends so I never did find the time to get away to go see her during the times when she couldn’t come to the clubhouse.
Everything was about to change with her graduation though. The girls had convinced Janice to stay on until Amy could graduate, and now that she was taking Janice’s place as hairdresser to the girls that danced at Ruby’s, Amy was coming to live with us at the clubhouse until she could get her own place in town. I assumed the guys would end up spending more time with Amy once she did move into her own place, but that was still up in the air until it actually happened. I didn’t really care so long as all my friends were happy.
I put Amy down, transferring her to Fox who had been impatiently waiting for me to have my way with her in order to get his hands on her. Amy seemed a bit put off by the fact that I only kissed her forehead as I did so, but I was trying not to give her the wrong idea. I’d been getting certain vibes from her lately. Granted, I had been out of practice in regards to women for quite some time, but now even I couldn’t deny that there was something in her eyes every time she looked at me. I’d been trying to put a little distance between us since I’d started noticing, but it didn’t seem to be working.
Fox gave me a bit of a squirrely look too as he pulled her into his arms and swung her around before dipping her and planting a heated kiss on her lips right there for everyone to see. There were people openly gawking now, considering she’d just been manhandled by two bikers with a third approaching who definitely had lusty eyes roving over her graduation gown clad body.
“My turn!” Whiskey called out as he snatched a giggling Amy from Fox’s arms and planted a not-safe-for-public-consumption style kiss on her lips as well. To say some of the families in attendance were scandalized would be an understatement.
“We better get out of here, guys. Looks like we’re attracting the wrong kinds of attention,” I nodded to the campus cops that were meandering in our general direction. Honestly, they appeared to be taking their time about it while stopping to cajole people who were making complaints instead of letting them get to us in a timely manner. We all four turned and headed to the van we had borrowed from the club for the day. We had loaded all of Amy’s things in it earlier, before the ceremony, so that we could hit the road immediately after.
“We have something special planned when we get home,” Fox told her when she inquired as to why we weren’t heading out to dinner first before heading back. The club was putting on a hell of party in Amy’s honor. It was going to be a graduation-slash-new employee-slash-welcome to the family type thing. Neither Whiskey or Fox had claimed her yet, but everyone figured it was coming soon.
When we got there the lights were already low, the music turned up, and it was clear the vast majority of our brothers and their women had started the party without us. That was just fine by me. I wanted to celebrate with the guys and Amy, but I was also dog-ass tired from trying to put my tattoo studio together the way I wanted it. I had the club’s backing on it, but Iceman was gracious enough to let me take control and run with my ideas. Being the man I am, a perfectionist at heart, I take everything seriously and end up doing most of the work myself.
Amy was whisked away to the bar immediately by Whiskey and Fox to get her caught up on the celebration. I just stood there waiting to see where the night would lead.
“How come you’re not over there getting your girl trashed too?” I turned to see the club VP, Rage, eyeing me quizzically.
I tipped my head in the direction of the threesome currently laughing about something while doing shots. “Her boys have her handled.” Rage’s brow tips again in question, but I simply shrug my shoulders. What was I going to say? I just join them once in a while when they’ve pestered me to the point where I just need to shut them the hell up. Amy is a friend, but she is definitely not my girl. I haven’t needed a steady girl in my life since Camilla fucked me over. I sure as fuck wasn’t going to make the first one I try commitment with be a woman who I have to share with my two best friends.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to explain myself, or the awkward situation my buddies kept putting me in, any further because Charlie, Rage’s old lady, wandered up and stole his attention away from me with a heated kiss that caused a few hackles to raise amongst the BRATs of the clubhouse who had wanted the man long before Charlie showed up and started having them ousted one by one as they gave her trouble. I admired her for that. The woman didn’t put up with a hell of a lot from anyone, least of all our scary ass VP that most wouldn’t stand toe to toe with when good money was on the line.
“Hey there Tango,” she finally acknowledged me after reluctantly pulling away from her man’s mouth.
I grinned at her. “Don’t let me interrupt your hello, Charlie.”
She laughed at me before turning her attention to the bar as well. “Shouldn’t you be over there getting in on that action too?” I glanced to the bar to see that both Whiskey and Fox had Amy sandwiched between them, each devouring a different part of her with their mouths. Whiskey was sucking on her neck and sure as fuck looked like the only thing hiding her nipple from the room was Fox’s mouth at that moment. I crinkled my nose in disgust before I remembered I was in public and then took in the puzzled expressions both Charlie and Rage were giving me.
“Nope, that’s their scene,” I stated.
“Oh, I thought…” Charlie’s voice trailed off as Rage pulled her in a bit tighter to his body and whispered something in her ear.
“I’m gonna head on over,” I pointed in the direction of the pool tables while the couple just offered me a placating smile. Who knew what they were thinking. Probably thought there was some jealous bullshit going down, but honestly, I was just getting frustrated with always being associated with that crap. To each there own. I loved my friends, and supported their choices. Their choices just didn’t happen to fall in line with what I would pick for myself if I were in a place to be looking for anything more from anyone.
Rabbit had a woman bent over backwards on the pool table and was basically dry humping her there when he shot me an evil grin. “You wanna play too?”
“Yeah, pool, mother fucker, how ‘bout you move her ass so I can get to it?” I knew I sounded grumpy, but I’d gone from being happy for Amy and her graduation to just being tired as fuck of having that whole scenario shoved off on me like I wanted it.
“Get on out of here,” Rabbit told the woman as he pulled her lithe frame off the furniture and smacked her ass to send her on her way.
“Rabbit,” she whined and he immediately bristled.
“Club business, now get gone!” He commanded her, and this time without the playfulness he showed the first time. She snapped to attention that time, leaving us to it as Rabbit grabbed the balls and started racking them. “So what’s eating you?”
I just shrugged my shoulders.
“Have anything to do with the show your boys are putting on over there?”
I laughed, not even having to look behind me t
o see that things are probably getting a bit out of control, and knowing Amy will probably have regrets about all the public displays tomorrow. “Not in the way you might think.”
Rabbit’s smirk faded. “Not into sharing, huh?”
“Not particularly.”
“Is that a problem for you, or just not your scene?” He asked the question, legitimately concerned that I might be jealous, or take issue with my boys.
“Not my scene in any respect, man.”
“Why go there at all then?”
I huffed out a sigh before I took the shot sending the balls scattering as two solids slid into opposite corners.
“Nice shot,” Rabbit conceded, and then waited for me to answer.
“Sometimes, it’s just easier to use the situation to take the edge off. Other times, it’s a fuckin’ headache to be associated with that shit.”
“So, she’s not yours too?”
“Nah, man. She belongs to them.”
Rabbit nodded his head as though I’d just admitted something he was already well aware of. I didn’t take him for the observant type since he was the consummate joker in the club, but the shrewd look behind his eyes clued me in. He had already known where I stood with the trio, and was simply clarifying so I could blow off steam.
“Bother you that people associate you with all that?” He swirled his cue around indicating whatever was taking place behind me still.
“Nah, their assumptions are based on what they think they see, I get it. I just hope that everyone else involved actually gets what’s not going on though.”
“Lucky for you, even if she’s a clinger, she has two other dicks to fall on, huh?”
I laughed at that, grabbed the beer that Shameless handed me as he sauntered over, and took a good long pull from it. “Let’s hope,” I state when I come up for a breath, and Shameless shakes his shaggy head back and forth, grinning at me, having obviously heard enough to get the gist of what Rabbit’s statement was about.
“Bunch of men ‘round here would kill to have your problems,” he joked.
“Well, from what I understand my problems are on full display over there, they’re welcome to ‘em.” The three of us laughed off the rest of the night as I schooled Rabbit in the fine art of using a pool table for one of its other intended purposes. To play the game instead of running game, or a train, or whatever else he liked achieving with women over here.
I ended up crashing in the room I had at the clubhouse that night. I wasn’t really able to go anywhere even if I’d wanted to since I was beyond trashed. Besides that, the only place I had to go was to the little three-bedroom house the guys had rented when they knew Amy would be coming to stay. I had been crashing there a bit since they took it on, but with her there now it seemed more like I’d be intruding so I had plans to stay away.
Chapter 5
Tango
(3 weeks, 4 days ago)
Whiskey and Fox had been shacked up with Amy for a few months while I continued to stay at the clubhouse. There were nights they would invite me to join them, and once in a while I took them up on the offer when they all stayed in a room at the clubhouse. I’m not proud of the fact that I did it for a two-part shitty reason. One, I was tired of hearing them complain about how all I ever did was work. Two, I needed to take the edge off and I thought getting blown by Amy while my friends were in the middle of their usual shenanigans would be more drama free than some of the other clingy women in the clubhouse.
I continued avoiding the inevitable discussions with my best friends and Amy herself about me moving in the house with them. They swore I could still have my own space if I wanted it, but I thought it was borrowing trouble to even step foot over that threshold. I already felt enough pressure to join in with them on the regular when they partied at the clubhouse. Hell, I’d come to my room a time or two to find them all crashed out there waiting on me, and those nights I had to fight myself to stop an angry outburst, because I didn’t want my personal space invaded by anyone else, not even my own best friends. Hell, on the nights it happened I would end up staying at my shop, because I knew I blow a gasket with all of them if I had to confront the situation, and it never helped things that I would come back the following day to see Amy roaming around the clubhouse wearing one of my shirts like I’d given it to her. I knew I’d have to get it through their heads eventually that I wasn’t interested in being an invested member of their scenario, but up until then, I’d taken the path of least resistance in order to keep the peace.
My peace was fading fast though.
“You gonna be a grump again tonight, or are you going to join in for some fun?” Her voice, being made purposely sultry the way it was, grated on my nerves a bit as she came up and put a hand to my back, digging her nails in just enough to make it known she was there and wanted my undivided attention.
I grunted a half-assed response to her that I couldn’t even understand myself.
“Ah, grumpy then?” She questioned on a playful laugh.
I continued working on the sketch I was doing for a client, bent over with my attention focused. Amy didn’t take the hint though. Instead she trailed her fingers up my back lazily, as if she had every right to touch me in such an intimate way. Her fingers stopped where my hairline started at the nape of my neck where I keep it trimmed close, as opposed to the longer, inky black spikes I wear on the top.
“I just want you to be as happy as the rest of us,” she purred.
I stopped what I was doing and turned an aggravated glare up at her. “Who says I’m not happy?”
“If you were happy you’d smile more, and join us, especially on nights like last night when we celebrated the guys asking me to be their old lady. You ended up no-showing on us again.”
“That was your celebration with Whiskey and Fox,” I explained to her. “Though, I’m not sure why you couldn’t have it at your own place.” Yeah, last night was one of the nights where I found them all having another wild fuck-fest in my room. Just the thought made me straighten my back up to pop my spine in an attempt to knock the kinks out of it. The couch in my studio was comfortable, but it was still lacking what my slightly achy body needed. Once I felt the instant relief that stretch brought on I turned my attention back to Amy who had finally removed her hand and was offering up a pouty look.
I didn’t bother pandering to the pout this time. I honestly didn’t give a fuck why she was upset, and I was tired of playing therapist to the guy’s chick. “Look, I need to get this done for my client. He’s coming by later to check it out, and approve it before we get to work on his back piece.” Amy just stared at me a moment before her whole upper body seemed to crumple in on itself a bit. Nope. I wasn’t going to feel bad this time. She wasn’t mine to entertain, and if she made the other guys feel that way all the time I could see why it took more than one of them to be in a relationship with her. She was non-stop work when she wasn’t just flat out fun to be around. Here lately, she was becoming far more work and less good-time Amy.
Amy turned on her heel in a huff, and sauntered off, shaking her hips like I’d seen many of the club girls do over the years. I just shook it off and continued on with my work.
“You need anything, Sugar?” Cherry asked. She was normally a dancer over at Renegade Ruby’s, but I’d been seeing her more and more here at the clubhouse, usually whenever Rabbit’s brother, Spinner, was around.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Okay, well I’m working the bar today since Charlie had somewhere to be. If you need anything, just yell, otherwise I won’t bother you since you look busy.”
“I appreciate that, Cherry.”
“How do you always know it’s me, and not my sister?”
I smiled up at her then. “You’re far nicer than your sister.”
Cherry laughed. “Well, that’s the truth and a half.” She continued chuckling as she walked away and moved toward where the other guys who were hanging around were congregated at the opposite end of th
e bar.
“You ready for tonight?” The question was issued as Iceman sat to my right nearly twenty minutes later. I moved to put my sketch away along with all my other crap I’d inadvertently spread over the top of the bar in front of me.
“This isn’t for tonight,” I explained. “I have a client coming in, but he texted and put it off until tomorrow.”
Iceman grinned at me. “I wasn’t talking about the ink, but that’s a mighty fine piece you’ll be doing from the looks of it.”
“Yeah, it is. I imagine it’ll have to be done in a couple sittings at least. The amount of color work and detail, I’m looking at a good ten hours of work, minimum.”
Iceman nodded at my assessment. “Imagine so,” he agreed.
“What did you mean, am I ready for tonight?”
His eyebrows pinched together as if he were thinking hard, then he glanced around, not seeing what he was looking for he turned back to me. “You know, with the little patching ceremony the guys are throwing together for Amy?”
It was my turn to question him once again. “Not following.”
Iceman just started at me a moment a longer, and then he grinned. “Fuck’s sake, you know it’s not a secret from me since they had to get approval, but if that’s how you want to play it fine.” He snagged a beer from Cherry. “I’ll be in my office for a bit. Have some last minute shit to tidy up before I join the party tonight. Finally got Carol out of here, so I might actually have a good time.”
Carol was Iceman’s estranged wife and disgraced old lady. She’d shown her ass one too many times around the club to be allowed back around, and when she was banned from coming here for a short time she threw an outrageous fit and made things far worse for herself. Last I heard, Iceman had filed for divorce, and put out a club-wide mandate that Carol wasn’t allowed near the club in any capacity. She had a son that was now with the Sierra High Chapter in Georgia, but apparently she wasn’t welcome there either. I still had no clue what Iceman had been inferring earlier, but I assumed some sort of party would be happening tonight, so I finished packing my shit up and took it on up to my room on the second floor.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: Aces High MC (Aces High MC - Dakotas Book 2) Page 4