Scenic Route

by D. D. Prince

  “No one’ll steal you from me, though, Sunshine. Only thing I’m gonna be addicted to is you.”

  I snuggled in and absorbed the feel of his arms around me, his chest against my cheek. God, this felt good. I was drunk. Definitely drunk. But, this felt damn good.

  As the song ended, there was the sound of shouting. And then a high-pitched shout of “Deacon, no!”

  Uh oh. What was that?

  He hurried toward the side of the building where there was a bit of a crowd gathering. I rushed behind him and saw Deacon take a swing at Sax, that jerky prospect. Deacon’s fist connected, and Sax went down. Total knock out. Ella had her hands in her hair, looking distraught.

  Jojo was screaming at him. “Deacon! Fuck. Fuck this shit!”

  Deacon pointed at her. “I’ll deal with you in a minute.”

  “Deacon, come on…calm down.” Ella rushed up and reached for Deacon’s arm. Deacon glared at her.

  “Get this piece of shit outta my face.” Deacon turned his glare on Scooter and pointed at the prospect on the ground.

  Jojo stormed off in another direction. Jenna ran after her.

  I pulled away from Spencer who caught my hand questioningly.

  “She’s upset. I’m gonna go help.”

  He let go of my hand and I caught up to Jenna and Jojo in the hallway.

  “Jojo, talk to me,” Jenna was pleading. Jojo was storming down the hall angrily, pulling keys out of her jeans pocket.

  We kept following.

  She finally stopped at a door and fumbled the keys into the lock and pushed the door open.

  We followed her in.

  She spun around and growled in frustration.

  “What happened?” Jenna asked.

  “I need a fucking drink.”

  “We’ll get you one.” Jenna was texting on her phone and then looked up at Jojo. “What was that?”

  “Deacon caught me fooling around with Sax. Beat him up. As you saw.”

  There was a loud hammering on the door.

  I opened it.

  Deacon burst in, Ella behind him, looking horrified, looking like she’d been trying, yet failing, to calm her man down.

  “Babe…” she tried to pull at his shirt.

  He ignored her and got in Jojo’s face.

  “What in the name of fuck is wrong with you? You gonna throw yourself at a little puke like that in the shadows with your fuckin’ family just feet away? Like club fuck meat?”

  Jojo smacked Deacon across the face.

  He did not even flinch.

  Ella jumped in and shoved Jojo back. Jojo landed on the bed. Jenna and I watched in horror.

  “That’s enough,” Ella snapped at Jojo, and then she turned around to face Deacon. “Don’t talk to your sister like that!”

  “What the fuck would you call it then, Kitten? He had his hand down her goddamn pants. She’s actin’ like a club whore.”

  “Mind your own business, Deacon. What I do with my body is my business!” Jojo screamed.

  There was a knock and Jenna opened the door, letting Spencer and Rider in the room with us. The room was now packed solid and the Valentine testosterone vibes filled it to bursting as the three brothers glared at their sister.

  “This is bullshit, Joelle. You’re better than that,” Rider snapped.

  “Yeah, I am. Because I got no choice but to be. All ‘a you guys can fuck, can party, can get as lucky as you want, but I get blocked at every turn.”

  “Why the fuck would you want that little shit?” Rider demanded. “Some nobody prospect you’ll never see again unless it’s at other club functions and he then thinks you’re nothin’ but a piece of ass ‘cuz you put out the day you met?”

  “You ever have sex with someone the day you met them?” Jojo demanded.

  Rider clenched his jaw and looked to Spencer, as if volleying to him to take over the argument.

  “And who judges you for it?” Jojo pushed.

  “Honey, you’re in a lotta pain because of Luke, and---” Jenna started.

  “Shut up! You have no fuckin’ idea how I feel,” Jojo hollered.

  “Hey!” Rider shouted at Jojo, “Watch it.”

  Jojo threw her arms up in the air. “I’m sick of this shit. Everyone out. I’m goin’ to bed. Sorry I was a bitch tonight, Pippa. I hope you forgive me. The rest of you can fuck off. Now if everyone would just fucking go, thank you very much.”

  “Baby sister, we gotta talk this out,” Spencer said softly.

  “You guys block whoever even looks at me. If you three didn’t, Luke and I would’ve gone public. I wouldn’t have had to sneak around. Maybe we wouldn’t have been on that road that night…”

  “Honey,” Deacon said gruffly.

  “And if you guys hadn’t been so protective, I would’ve probably not been still a virgin that he felt like he had to handle like a precious china doll. And maybe he wouldn’t have even fucked that skanky, Kailey.”

  Jenna winced, looking at Rider.

  All three Valentine brothers were quiet.

  “You guys have to let me live my life. Yeah, maybe it was slutty of me to let that guy get his hand into my pants, but I’m so tired of all this shit. I just wanna move on. Stop feeling so fucking lonely. Stop missing him so fucking much when he went and fucked that girl and got himself killed, and…” she broke into sobs.

  The pain in that room was palpable.

  “So, I was stupid tonight. I get it.”

  “Honey, you’re lucky you’re still a virgin. You can save it for someone who matters. I wish I’d saved it,” Ella said and looked at Deacon. “I’d love nothing more than to have been able to give that to someone that mattered. Someone who would love me.”

  “Bet Deacon doesn’t wish he’d have saved it for you. Why do women all have to cope with that double fucking standard?” Jojo wiped her eyes.

  I chewed my lip.

  Spencer was staring at the floor. Rider’s and Deacon’s eyes were on their sister.

  “Can you all go, please? I want to go to sleep now. Can we pretend tomorrow when we head back to Aberdeen that this didn’t happen, please? And I’m sorry, Pippa, about what I did tonight. I’m off the rails.” She sniffled.

  “I’m not mad at you anymore,” I choked out, eyes filling up for her.

  Her eyes met mine and her chin trembled.

  Spencer moved in and kissed her on the forehead. “Love you, baby sister.”

  She hugged Spencer and wiped her eyes.

  Rider moved in and hugged her next.

  He spoke softly into her ear. She nodded a few times.

  He moved away and looked at Deacon.

  Deacon was still breathing fire. “That little puke is outta the club. Everyone knows Joelle’s off limits.”

  “Yeah, and that’s the problem. How the hell am I supposed to find happiness when you guys keep me off limits?” Jojo asked.

  He glared at his sister a beat, and then stormed out.

  “Deacon?” Ella called after him. He kept going. She followed.

  Andie stepped in with a big jug of beverage and a stack of red cups. “Sangria?”

  Spencer gave me a look. “Be back for you in half an hour. Gonna try to talk to my brother, calm him down, make sure he doesn’t find that prospect and finish the job.”

  I nodded.

  He kissed me and left. It was just us girls.

  Andie poured glasses for Jojo, me, Jenna, and herself and we sat there on Jojo’s bed.

  Jojo had a few mouthfuls of her drink and looked at me. “So, what happened in the bathroom?”

  “He talked me into it,” I told her.

  She gave me a watery smile. “Did you drink the rest of your shooters?”

  “And then some,” I replied.

  She held her sangria cup out with a smile.

  I touched mine to hers.

  “Yay. New sister. Now I have three. If Ella is still speaking to me… Three awesome sisters.” She was tearing up again. “You guys, tha
nk you for being here. I’m an idiot. What was I thinking letting that guy get his hand into my pants? He’s a jerk. It didn’t even feel good. It was like he was digging to get all the peanut butter out of the bottom of the peanut butter jar with his index finger. Yuck.” She shuddered.

  “Well, he sure got the sense knocked into him,” Jenna muttered. “Deacon hit him hard. Lights out.”

  “Whoever spotted us and ratted me out, I owe them a drink. I wasn’t enjoying it, but I was trying to make a point. I’m so destructive right now. I need to be locked up in a convent or something.” She gave her head a shake.

  There was a knock at the door. Andie jumped up and answered it. Ella was back.

  She stepped in cautiously.

  “You okay?” she asked Jojo.

  Jojo nodded. “I guess. Deacon still steaming?”

  “A little. I told him off for the way he talked to you. He’s gone to the gym to beat up a heavy bag for a bit.”

  We all winced.

  “Better a heavy bag than a poor smitten prospect,” Andie mused.

  Yep.

  “We should go out and have some more fun,” Jenna said. “Let’s go dance. End the party on a high note.”

  I’d been hoping the party was over. It was getting late, for one thing. Anticipation had been building between me and Spencer, for another. Though with the way things had gone tonight, who knew if we’d even seal the deal. He seemed a lot calmer than Deacon. I guess that was likely because he wasn’t the one who’d caught Jojo with some guy’s hand down her pants.

  I followed the girls back to the party zone, which was happening mostly around the fire pots, though some people were also inside at tables shooting the breeze, eating dessert, some drinking coffee rather than boozing it up.

  Deke and Laura had been standing there by a coffee machine talking to Rudy and Delia when Deke’s eyes met Jojo’s.

  “Joelle,” he called out and crooked his finger at her. He looked angry. Dad mode.

  “Uh oh,” Jenna whispered.

  Jojo stared at the floor as she approached her dad and the two of them walked down a hall together, Deke’s arm around her shoulder. They stopped a few doors down and we could see him speaking to her, her against the wall, his hands planted on his waist.

  “Yikes,” I said. “Let’s go. It’s rude to watch.”

  We headed back outside and to the bar beside Scooter’s DJ table where another two prospects were mixing drinks.

  ***

  I went from yawning to absolutely sloshed and energetic in no time flat. Second wind: it took two more screwdrivers. Ella had left to check on Deacon and when she and Deacon returned, she held up jump ropes and exclaimed, “Double Dutch!”

  Deacon sat down by a fire pot with a beer, next to Rider who was beside Spencer. Spencer watched me kill it at Double Dutch with avid interest. Jojo had not resurfaced.

  Beyond jump-rope, we also decided on hopscotch. Delia found us a brand-new pail of sidewalk chalk, which was stashed for when kids were here. The pavilion area was perfect for it and people cleared out to give us plenty of room to draw three hopscotch courts. A bunch of the women got into it and most of them were terrible, kept tripping, screwing up drunk, but me? I was rockin’ it and we were all having a blast.

  ***

  Things began to wind down and I spotted Ella on Deacon’s lap at the fire, playing with his hair, whispering to him. His eyes were closed, and he was smiling. Evidently, she had the power to bring him calm, even if it took a little while. That was sweet.

  Jenna and Andie were behind the bar, making a new batch of some sort of booze punch mixture they were calling “Liquid Courage.” Scott was standing off to the side, looking concerned.

  Jenna was trying to convince Andie that if she drank enough, she’d muster up enough courage to make a pass at Brady, who was inside, talking to some bikers by the bathroom, drinking a bottle of beer. Andie just kept laughing at Jenna’s ideas, but she was there, doing the mixologist thing, with both of them pouring from various bottles into a big glass bowl with a lid and a metal tap on the front.

  I was playing hopscotch with Tracy and Leah when my eureka moment hit, eyes landing on the trampoline off to the side, beside some playground equipment.

  “Look!” I pointed, and me and Tracy ran that way and climbed in, zipped up the netting behind ourselves, then started jumping.

  A big spotlight was pointed at us and the music (switched promptly to Flo Rida’s Right Round) was jacked up and that made us giggle and jump as high as we could. I could see Jenna pumping her fist at us, encouragingly. She was at the DJ booth. Evidently the Aberdeen girls had taken over not only the bartender duties, but also the musical duties, too.

  Tracy’s guy, I didn’t know his name, and Spencer (My guy. Wahoo!) were both suddenly outside the net. Tracy’s guy had an unhappy look on his face.

  “That’s enough jumpin’, doll,” the biker talking to Tracy said. “You two bouncin’ is givin’ the whole club a show.”

  I flopped onto my butt and Tracy kept jumping, giggling.

  I crawled, bouncing all the way with her jumps until I got to the entrance. Spence unzipped it and helped me out.

  “Hey,” he said, smiling.

  “Hey.” I climbed into his arms. He lifted me down and set me on my feet. “You mad?”

  “Nope,” he said with a smile. “Anticipation’s at an all-time high, though, baby.”

  I pulled his head down so I could lick the ridge of his ear. I felt him shiver.

  I giggled, and pulled his hand to head back toward the pavilion.

  “I had fun,” I informed him. “So much fun tonight. Thanks for bringing me. I really needed this.”

  “You ready for bed, baby?” he asked, kissing my ear.

  “Oh yeah,” I said. “I was ready for bed hours ago.”

  He laughed. “Shit.”

  “Some party,” I remarked.

  “Always is,” he agreed.

  I giggled and swung his hand as we walked.

  But when we got to the pavement, that girl, Alison was standing there with a beer to her lips. She looked at Spencer and then twirled her tongue around the rim of the bottle of the beer and shot me a dirty look.

  “Spence!” Rudy called from a group of bikers. “Two secs?”

  “One sec, baby,” Spencer let go of me and moved to Rudy.

  Instead of moving back to where Jenna and Andie were, by the bar, I looked at Alison and folded my arms across my chest.

  “Are you stupid or something?” I asked her.

  She looked at me like I was a piece of dirt.

  “How dare you flirt with him right in front of me?”

  Spence spun around, and looked at me instead of heading the rest of the way to Rudy.

  She scoffed and put her beer to her mouth again.

  “No, really. I heard you have plans to scoop him off me. Well, you try anything else, and I mean anything, and I’ll wipe the floor with you.”

  I was channeling my brand-new inner biker-bitch. I had to do like Tracy suggested, make sure these bunnies knew to keep their mittens off my man.

  “Right,” she laughed.

  “I’m not joking. You’re doin’ yourself no favors acting like that. You want a man, get a man. Don’t go after guys who are obviously with someone.”

  “From what I hear, you’re pushin’ him off. You’re the one that’s stupid, or somethin’.”

  “What’s happening between him and me is none of your business.”

  “Yeah, well, you go ahead and play your games,” she flicked her fingers at me in a sweep off motion. “I’ll be here the next time he’s got an itch. And believe me, every time he visits Sioux Falls, he’ll be scratching that itch with me while you sit at home thinkin’ about your man, who might soon become my man, and wonderin’ who he’s fuckin’ when he’s away from you, which’ll be often ‘cuz of you and your games.”

  Games. I wasn’t playing games.

  “You don’t know me, and
you’ve got no fucking right to assume anything about me.”

  “I assume you’re a dumb bitch, that’s what I assume,” she rolled her eyes. “Spencer, I would not push you away. Ever.”

  I lunged and shoved her. She went back on her high heels and fell to her ass.

  She then jumped to her feet and let out an ear-piercing feral scream and came at me, hands gnarled into claws. I hauled off and punched her in the nose before her claws got to my face. That’s what she was definitely aiming for.

  “Sunshine,” he said from behind me. I ignored him and went for her ugly bad-dye-job hair.

  “Ali, off!” Spencer snapped.

  “Don’t fuck with other girls’ men, you little skank.” I used her hair to swing her sideways, let go, and kind of elbowed her in the nose. She went right back to her ass and her nose was gushing blood.

  Scooter was there, helping her up. The girl stumbled off in another direction with a bloody nose. Spencer’s arm was hooked around my waist, not like he wanted to hold me back, though. I could feel him against my backside and he was turned on.

  “What am I gonna do with you, my little wild woman?” he whispered into my ear and licked the ridge of my ear.

  “Take me to our room and fuck me,” I said back, not whispering.

  There were many stunned and amused faces pointed at us.

  “Fuckin’ finally,” he whispered.

  “I’m gonna go fuck him now,” I hollered. “Because he’s mine! Not yours. Have fun bleeding and sleepin’ alone, you dollar store box dye bitch!”

  I heard snickers.

  Ella and Jenna were both laughing, in shock.

  I waved. “One night show only! And I bid you all goodnight!” I rolled my hand and took a bow, then grabbed Spencer’s hand and tugged him along.

  “Wrong way, Pip,” Jenna called out.

  “Maybe it’s not. Maybe we’re gonna make out on the trampoline.”

  “Vic ‘n Trace are already doin’ that,” Edge called out, grinning.

  “Hi!” I waved at him.

  He laughed.

  “Okay, this way, Trouble.” I said to Spencer.

  “I’m trouble? Me?” He was laughing at me.

  “Yep. You’re in trouble, too.” We changed directions and went inside. “Which way is our room?”

  “Why am I in trouble?” he asked, humor in his voice.