I would tell him eventually.
That I could handle myself.
That he didn't have to tell his friends to shut up when they started talking about some of the brutal things they had been a part of, didn't have to jump in and said no for me when I was offered to go to shooting practice with them.
It had only been a couple weeks.
There was time to show him that I was stronger than he thought.
I moved slowly off the bed, feeling a familiar aching in my thighs that had been letting me know on an almost constant basis lately that regular sex was the best leg workout known to womankind.
Reaching down, I slipped on the jeans Ty had pulled off of me just hours before after we came in from dinner with Thad and Colson and - amazingly - Jelly. I was sure Colson would never let those two interact, but something had passed between the men. Maybe they'd shared words when I had been out of the room at some point or something, but whatever hard feelings that were there softened if Colson was letting Ty meet Jelena.
I grabbed one of Ty's shirts, slipping it on, then going to the door, pulling it open slightly to reveal a small, pretty blonde. Who had a whole pack of dogs sitting in the hall behind her.
Blonde. Animals.
This had to be Rey. Reeve's girl.
"I'm not supposed to be here," she informed me with a glance over her shoulder. Like someone might come and track her down, make her pay for breaking the rules. "But I thought you might want a little notice. The girls are taking you out tonight."
"All of them?" I asked, feeling a bit of dread fill me. Meeting a few, I was sure I could handle that. But all of them at once? That would be more intimidating than I felt prepared for.
"Just a couple of us," she clarified. "Peyton, Lenny, Lou, and Liv. I mean, you never know if someone else might show up, but those are the only ones I know about."
"Do you know where we're going?" I asked, inviting her in as I moved toward my bag, rummaging for something to wear aside from Ty's shirt.
"To Peyton's to pick her up. Then it's, ah, her plan. And we're all in the dark."
Words like Pussy Party came to mind.
"I should be scared then, huh?"
"Terrified," Rey agreed. "I hope you're not easily embarrassed," she added, reaching down for one of her dogs - one with a missing eye - holding him to her chest as she stroked his head.
I, unfortunately, was, but I wasn't going to psych myself out of the night before it even happened.
"Should I be expecting them to come charging in with a hood to throw over my head?" I asked from the recently re-grouted bathroom, slipping on a bra and a dusty rose colored off-shoulder peasant top, gliding on some of my lipstick that Thad was right about. It had become my signature look. After trying to make my hair look less recently-rolled-around-the-sheets, then made my way back out to find Rey trying to shoo her dogs out into the hall.
"I wouldn't put it past them," Rey told me with a head shake. "But it is usually a fun time, even if it can be a bit unnerving at first. I hope you don't have problems with female - or male, actually - nudity," she added, moving into the hall.
"I spent the last ten years in a women's prison. I think I have seen all there is to see of the female body," I admitted.
"So Peyton flashing someone isn't going to break your stride," she said with a nod before walking down the hallway into the common room.
Peyton, I knew, was important for me to get along with. Not just because she was part of this girls club I had heard so much about. But because she was Sugar's woman. And Sugar was the closest thing to family that Ty had.
I'd never had much of a chance to build strong female friendships. My aunt hadn't allowed much hanging out after school growing up, so my brothers were the best friends I had. And then it was pointless to try to build those kinds of bonds in prison when people would get out at any point and try to put everything involved with their life behind bars behind them.
Hearing the stories about the girls club - both the older members and the newer ones - filled me with a sense of curiosity, wonder, and maybe hope. That I could fit in with them, get bonds like that myself, have what sounded like an amazing support system.
You needed someone to help watch your kids? Done. Drive you home after drinking too much? Absolutely. Someone to come over and make you soup when you're sick? No hesitation. Just someone to sit and ease your anxiety at the DMV while you're waiting for your new license? They'd be there too.
The stories said it went deeper than that as well. If you got in trouble, the kind of trouble that women in their lifestyles might get into, the girls came together, helped you fix it. By whatever means necessary.
I didn't plan on getting into any kind of trouble.
But that was a fascinating aspect as well.
From a distance.
I took a deep breath, going in Ty's nightstand for a notepad I knew I would find there, something he had used to write down to-go orders, as evidenced by twenty pages I had needed to rip out and get rid of, setting it on the nightstand, and scribbling a note.
I have been kidnapped by the girls club.
Then I waited.
There was no way they could sneak in with Rey's pack of dogs yipping and howling in excitement as, I imagined, the girls showed up.
Figuring there was no reason to stand in my room like I was expecting them, not wanting Rey to get in trouble for warning me, I moved out of the hall.
"They kept waking up the birds," Rey said, voice apologetic. "I figured they would be better off hanging here with the guys to keep them occupied while we're gone."
"I had the same idea," another voice said as I moved into the doorway, seeing a woman with another dog at her side, a bigger, light-colored, Pitbull. "Since Adler is on patrol tonight, Linny would be home alone."
"Well, the surprise is ruined," yet another voice announced, shaking her head. I recognized her from the party. She'd been the one to get behind the bar. Edison's woman. Lenny. "So, you're Freddie."
"I'm Freddie," I agreed with a smile. "And you're the girls club."
"Kinda 2.0," Lou told me. "We wouldn't deign to think we are quite as badass as the OGs are."
"I heard what you did to West. I think you're pretty badass," I told her.
"That little shit," she said, smiling fondly. "I like him," she added. "He just needed a little reminder that we don't take that nonsense. Anyway, I'm Lou. This is Lenny and Liv and Rey. And we are taking you with us tonight."
"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to sound like this was the first I was hearing of it.
"That is up to Peyton," Liv told us. "May God help us all," she added with a smile.
"Ladies," Reign said, walking in from the door beside the bar which I had learned was the garage. I had been given a tour of everything but the gun vault since I had been around. "I want you taking the SUV," he added, tossing the keys at Lenny who snatched them out of the air.
"Something up?"
"Not really. I just... I'd feel better if you took it. And keep an eye on your drinks," he added.
The girls shared a look, one that said they needed to have a talk with their men, that they were pissed that something was being kept from them.
"Not that anyone would fuck with your crazy asses," Reign added. "Where you heading?"
"Peyton is picking."
"Not even gonna fuckin' ease her into it, huh?" Reign asked, giving me a head shake. "Go on. Have fun. I'll make sure the mutts get taken out. Did you bring the rest of the zoo over?" Reign asked, looking at Rey.
"Just the dogs this time. I'm still really sorry about the TV," she added, shaking her head.
"The guys wanted a new one anyway. Don't worry about it, babe," he said, moving over toward the kitchen.
"What happened to the TV?" I asked, brows drawn down.
"Charlie - my cockatoo - ah, broke it."
"How does a bird break a TV?" I asked.
"He tried to eat it," Lou supplied, smiling. "Shattered the scr
een. He's basically a toddler with a can opener for a beak. You should see the poor furniture at their house."
"But he's sweet, so we love him," Rey said shrugging it off, smiling when her crew of dogs heard rustling coming from the kitchen and darted in that direction to, no doubt, beg Reign for a bit of what he was having.
I didn't know him well, but my money would be on him caving and giving them some.
"So, you ready?" Lenny asked, swinging the keys.
"Yep."
But I wasn't.
I so, so wasn't.
It was a short ride to Peyton's place where I could hear another dog inside, sounding like he was chasing a ball someone had thrown as we came to the door, Lenny fishing in her pocket for her own set of keys, slipping one into the lock, and pushing the door open.
We all got a chance to move inside, to have the door close at our backs.
Before Peyton stepped out of her room.
With a giant double dildo strap-on shooting out of her pelvic region.
"Goddamn, Peyton. How many times do I have to tell you that we are not dildo experimentation type friends?" Lenny demanded, but her voice was amused.
I had yet to get a look at the woman.
How could you look away from a double dildo strap-on?
When one of said dildos was green and pronged at the end.
And the other was a rainbow-colored unicorn horn.
"Told you," Rey said near my ear, making me shake off my surprise, my head moving up to see the woman herself.
I could see why Sugar picked her. Everything about her from her mermaid hair to her tattoos to her ridiculously pretty face spoke of an alternative type of woman, someone unique, someone to make a man like Sugar stop and take a second and third and fourth look.
"I gotta ask... what is the purpose of the prong?" Liv asked, brows drawn together.
"Aesthetics? For the dragon kink crowd?" Peyton suggested.
"I don't think we can call the dragon kink people a crowd," Lenny said with a smile.
"I could see the unicorn one being interesting," Liv decided, nodding. "Are you writing the blurbs for them or something?"
"Peyton's sister owns the local sex toy store," Rey supplied. "And the manufacturers sometimes send her prototypes. Peyton writes blurbs for them. Or just reviews them."
"Why the strap-on, though?" Liv asked, moving in casually, like this was a common conversation for them to be having. Like seeing Peyton with various sex toys attached to her was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Because I have two dicks, that's why," Peyton declared, taking a step forward, making both dildos wobble hilariously, forcing a snort to escape me at the ridiculous sight. "Oh, you're Freddie," she said, smiling at me. I didn't have a hard time smiling back since she was still approaching me and both cocks were wobble wobble wobbling away.
"I'm Freddie," I agreed.
And then it happened.
The only thing that could make this situation more absurd.
The dog I had heard running around came charging out of nowhere, lunging, and sinking his teeth into the pronged dragon dildo.
"Hannibal!" another voice called, coming out from the hall - a woman with short hair, make-up-free face, and a flannel shirt, grabbing the dog by the collar. "Drop the cock," she demanded, barely able to keep her voice sounding firm as she struggled to make the dog let go.
"Well," Peyton said, shaking her head at her dog. "That is quite the way to come out and tell me you like cock, Hannibal."
"Like mother, like dog-son," Lenny agreed, walking over to help Peyton unstrap herself.
"Who doesn't like cock?" Peyton asked, looking over at her other friend. "Even Jamie likes it. Just not attached to an actual man."
"If you're done making your usual impression," Lou said, dropping down on the couch, patting her lap for the dog to bound up on her. "Where are we heading tonight?"
"We're doing an escape room," she informed everyone, casually tossing the strap-on onto the coffee table, wiggling her hips around. "I have to give lesbians - and the spouses of men who enjoy pegging - credit. Those things get heavy after a while."
"An escape room?" Lou asked, looking suspicious. "That is rather tame for you."
"Wait for it," Jamie murmured.
"Oh, God," Liv grumbled, taking a deep breath. "What is fucked up about the escape room, Peyton?"
"It's just a normal, everyday escape room. Where creepy assholes chase you around and threaten to murder you in horrific ways."
"That is not how a normal, every day escape room works," Lenny told her, shaking her head.
"Oh, who doesn't like getting the shit scared out of them every once in a while?" Peyton asked, and I watched as all the hands rose in unison. "Well, too bad. It was my turn to pick. So we're going. Here..." she said, passing around packages.
"Why do we need earplugs?"
"The chainsaws are loud in close proximity," Peyton declared casually, like it was something we all should have known.
"Chainsaws," Lou repeated.
"I'm pretty sure they don't have the blades on them. What?" she asked, rolling her eyes at everyone's less than enthused faces. "Stop being a bunch of pussies. It's gonna be fun."
It wasn't.
It really, really wasn't.
Well, Peyton had a blast.
She was possibly the only person on the planet who could think clearly while a guy came up behind her with a garrote wire, tightening it around her throat.
The actors may have been fake, but the lines on her neck were not.
"Really, I get enough of crazy shit like that at work," Lou declared as we took up a table at Chaz's after we'd finally - thanks to Peyton's calm head, Lou's knowledge of random torture techniques, and Liv's quick moves - gotten out of all the rooms.
"It was fun," Peyton insisted, cheeks flushed from excitement still.
"Rey had to be escorted out by the owner. Reeve is gonna be pissed at you," Lenny reminded her.
"I called to check on her! She's fine."
"She went home and woke up Charlie to snuggle," Liv shot back.
"Alright, what about you? You've been quiet," Peyton said, pushing a glass of some mixed drink she'd shouted out to the bartender on the way in toward me. "Did you like it?"
"I, ah, just spent ten years locked in a room," I hedged, not wanting to say it was one of the freakiest nights of my life. That having a guy stand behind you threatening you with despicable, terrifying things felt real even if you knew they weren't actually going to do it.
"See? This is why we should be in charge of the nights out," Lou declared.
"You took us to workout last time," Peyton objected, grimacing.
"There was a short hike up to the bar," Lou clarified. "No one made you strap icepicks onto your feet then insist on wearing them on a trek up a hill."
"I vote Freddie picks the next outing," Liv decided.
"Oh, no. Don't vote for me. I have no idea what this town is like now. I've really just been working and... hanging out with Ty."
"I still can't get over the fact that his name is Ty," Lou said, shaking her head.
"So, was prison more like Oz or Orange is the New Black?" Peyton asked.
"Fair warning, she is going to be disappointed if it isn't like Oz," Jamie pitched in.
"It's... like neither. I mean... I have only seen trailers for Orange is the New Black, so I don't have a lot to reference. But they had more freedom than we did. And all those love stories..." I said, shaking my head.
"Oh, come on. There had to have been some lady loving going on," Peyton insisted.
"There was. But you were lucky if you got three minutes away from a guard or other inmates. So, usually, it was a lot of women priming themselves up then just quickly going at it, hoping they didn't get seen and put into segregation."
"Not hot," Peyton decided, clearly let down. "Why are you watching my drink?" Peyton asked when she turned to say something to the bartender, and everyone zeroed in on the drink
her eyes weren't on.
"We don't know," Lenny admitted, clearly annoyed that Edison hadn't told her yet, even if he was under orders not to. "But Reign told us to watch our drinks."
My mouth opened and closed twice. Knowing, perhaps, why Reign was telling us to be careful since Ty had mentioned date-rape drugs being sold on the street. But maybe that was something he wasn't supposed to tell me. Maybe he would get in trouble if it got back to them - by the girls telling their guys that I knew, and were mad that they weren't told.
Unsure what to do, for the moment, I bit my tongue.
"You know... I was at a club last week," Jamie said, brows furrowing with concern. "Cops had to be called twice because two girls went from fine to flat on their asses in minutes."
Lou and Lenny shared a look.
"Why wouldn't they tell us if Forget-Me pills are on the streets around here?" Lenny asked, maybe doubly annoyed because she worked in a bar.
"I don't know. But Adler is right down the street, and I intend to find out," Lou decided, dropping money on the table, moving to stand.
And when there was one determined woman in a group, there was a whole gaggle of them.
Not two minutes later, we were on the street, making our way toward the clubhouse.
"Shite," Adler said, shaking his head as we all walked along the gates.
"Shite is right," Lou agreed. "You're in trouble," she added. "How could..."
She didn't get to finish her sentence though because agitated male voices were approaching from the other end of the street.
Pagan and Sugar flanked a man they each had by the arms, only half-conscious, face bloodied.
"You can punish me later," Adler said, unlocking the gates.
"You guys need to disappear," Pagan declared as we approached. "Reign'll be pissed if any of you get involved in this," he added, shoving the man toward Adler.
"I know it's kinda your default, baby," Sugar said, wiping some blood off his cheek. "But don't be stubborn right now. Go home. We'll call."
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