by Kiki Leach
"Did he say anything to you?"
"Nothing but 'shit' before hanging up. If he's really in New Orleans at this point, good riddance. Even if he somehow manages to find out sooner before later that I married his brother, it doesn't really matter. It won't change anything between us. He's still the asshole who cheated with a club whore in my house and bed."
She crossed her legs and tugged at the hem of her skirt and plain white blouse, then turned to look directly into my eyes. "If I ask you something, will you promise to be completely honest with me about it?"
"That depends on what it is and why you're asking."
She deeply inhaled and blinked once. "Why did you go out to that compound to see Roman about this in the first place last night? Were you really looking to chew him out for that Cherry woman or were you just looking to use him as a nice distraction from Jeremiah?"
"Use him as a nice distraction?"
"Were you looking to sleep with him last night, Colette?"
I knew what she meant, but was hoping to stall in answering.
"Mmm..." After a few seconds of thinking, I tried responding as honestly as I could. "I don't know," I told her. "Maybe part of me was hopeful that it would happen but the saner part of my brain said it was crazy as hell and to just give it up."
She leaned in and snickered. "Give it up? As in--"
"Give it up, as in forget about it," I said.
She smiled. "Well, is that also part of the reason why you're not so eager to call it quits? Outside of you being 'madly' in love with him, I mean," she mocked. "Because truth be told, no matter how good he might be able to give it to you laying down or even standing up and against a wall, it doesn't make a man like that a qualifiable husband."
"No offense, but as someone who's never actually been married before, you're not really much of an expert on the fact."
"I've turned down three proposals," she countered, showing her left hand and wiggling her index, middle and ring fingers. "I know a dud of a man when I see it, especially when it comes to being husband material. Just because he shows you the ring, it doesn't mean that you have to actually put it on and wear it with pride if there's none to be had." Her eyes drifted and she leaned away from me. "And speaking of 'the ring', I don't see one on your finger. Are you sure this thing is legal? Did he even bother to buy one for you?"
"I told you that I was in the shower earlier which means that I took it off before I got in."
"So, where is it?"
"I left it in the bedroom."
"Well go and get it, let me see it," she said, snapping her fingers at me. "You can tell a lot about a man by his choice in diamonds for his woman."
"Is that why you turned down all of those proposals?" I asked her. She sneered.
I quietly snickered and jumped up from the couch to grab the ring from the nightstand in the bedroom. When I came back, I found Maxine on her feet, moving around the room and staring at the various pictures scattered along the walls and shelves. She seemed completely fixated on one in particular that featured Roman by himself, standing inside the club with a beer in one hand and his cut in the other. Taken nearly six or seven years ago, his muscles weren't nearly as defined as they are now, but he still managed to look absolutely delicious all the same.
"You know, I never really knew what he looked like until now," she said, rolling her index finger along the edge of the frame and clucking her tongue. I frowned. "All I had ever seen was Jeremiah, but dayum. He's got absolutely nothing on his brother. This picture alone just oozes walking sex." She peeked over at me and wagged her brows. "I might be able to give you this one."
"What are you talking about, Max?"
"The fact that I can semi-understand your judgment going to shit when it comes to a man looking like that standing in front of you. Do any of the rest look like him? The other members of his club?"
There were maybe one or two that I could have pictured her having a good time with, but no way in hell was I giving up their names so soon. So, I made a point not to respond and instead showed her the ring.
Her eyes nearly flew out of their sockets as soon as the giant yellow diamond in the center caught the light in the room. "HOLY SHIT!" she hollered out, snatching it from me.
"That's what I said."
"He got you this?" she asked, rolling it around between her fingers. I could see the color of the diamond shining in her eyes. "I mean with his own actual money -- he bought this for you?"
"I assume so unless one of his 'brothers' rode out there in the middle of the night to give him the cash for it. Or, he could've broken into a local jewelry store out there and stolen it -- I don't know." I was half joking and half serious at the possibility of it happening.
"Wow." She slid it on her own finger, ignoring me, and held her hand high above her head. "Oh honey, I would recommend staying in this until the very end if you can. Mm-hm, yeah."
I chuckled, partly unsure, partly curious. "Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Because." She yanked the ring off her finger and placed it into the palm of my hand. "The man clearly loves the shit out of you to purchase a ring like that and on such a short notice out in Vegas of all places. Unless he already had it and last night was just luck for him."
"He didn't, and it wasn't." At least, I didn't think. I slid the ring back on my finger and shook my head at her, confused. "Why are you saying all of this stuff to me now anyway? Two seconds ago, you were just waving annulment papers in my face and saying that I needed to end it--"
She waved her hand between us, cutting me off mid-sentence. She closed her eyes for less than a minute and wagged her head, then lowered her hand down to her side and said, "Forget what I said two seconds ago." She looked me in the face and grinned; it was sincere, which almost threw me for a bit considering her earlier stance on the matter. "Right now is all that matters. Right now, are you happy?"
I suddenly found myself scrambling for an answer. "I guess, maybe," I told her. Then after giving myself a complete minute to think, I said, "Yeah, I am. At least so far."
"Then that's all that matters. He makes you happy and this is what you wanted."
I crinkled my nose. "It’s not exactly what I wanted, but--"
"When is he coming home?"
"I don't know, he said that he had to be out there for a bit. Why?"
"We should head out and maybe get you a few things for him."
"What?" Her 360 degree turn in all of this was continuing to make my head spin on its axis.
"Some other clothes and things for you to wear around the house. Something that's sexy and makes your boobs look higher and your butt look firmer. Not that you don't look good already, but it might be time to finally toss out the flannel pajamas that roll up to your neck, and the knee socks."
"Jeremiah didn't have a problem with me wearing them," I said.
"That's the point. I might not know Roman all that well, but this picture alone screams that he's not the kind of guy who's into his girl wearing PJ's that cover her from neck to toe like some kind of two-year-old child." She leaned back on her heels and folded her arms, then eyed my wardrobe with a scowl. "And what is this that you're wearing right now?"
I looked down at myself and shrugged while shaking my head. "I didn't have anything else until just now. It's Roman's and I don't want to change out of it just yet."
"Why, because it smells like him?" I instantly darted my eyes across the room, refusing to answer because I didn't want to admit that she was right. The clothes smelled just like him, his skin, his cologne; his natural male scent, his hair. And somehow, as crazy as it sounded, I felt closer to him by wearing them. "Alright, it's fine," she said, realizing I had taken too long to give her a response, "but you should at least go and put on a bra. Those things are just too damn big for you to go walking around town without having something to hold them down."
I snatched up my bag from the floor and quickly headed back to Roman's bedroom to put on the first bra I found insi
de. While latching each hook, I remembered that I still had to cook dinner, but figured we wouldn't be out too late so that I could get back and start putting things together before I had to climb in bed for work the next morning.
"Let's go, Colette!" Maxine hollered out.
"Alright!" I shot back. I reached inside the bag for a pair of my favorite flats and slipped them on as quickly as I could, then headed back out into the living room and grabbed my purse. "Do you still have that charger in your car?" I asked her.
She nodded. "Why?"
"Because I need to plug in my phone on the way to where we're going."
"And make a quick call to your man about it too?" she teased.
I opened the front door and pushed her outside ahead of me. "Let's just go," I said.
Chapter Eight
Roman
After swallowing back my fifth beer, I tossed the empty bottle in the garbage behind the bar, then moved across the club as Poker turned up the music just before grabbing the ass of a random sweet butt and plopping her down on top of his lap, and sat down on one of the couches in the corner near the chapel. Axel was at the other end, curled up and damn near naked with one of the other regulars who had been looking for a few years now to not only take a brother's cock in her mouth but the last name of one as well; never realizing that her only purpose would be to do just what she was doing, along with cooking, cleaning and keeping the place up to par when the old ladies weren't around to do it for us.
Sweet Butts asking for more than they were tasked with never typically lasted longer than a few years at best within the club scene. A brother looking to hook up during a pussy party was looking for just that, pussy. No heart or soul was ever put into it and definitely no feelings of whether she enjoyed it or not because it didn't matter. Getting laid was about making sure that we came, not the other way around. And considering most of the pussy around here had been passed back and forth over the years like a bottle of beer, blunt or cig, the last thing we needed was to wife a chick that each of us had already known the literal ins and outs of from the time she first started coming around.
As the one whose name I could barely remember dropped down to her knees in front of Axel and took his bare cock in both of her hands before shoving it between her tits, jerking it up and down and preparing to wrap her mouth around it before he could bust one in her face, I pushed myself up from the couch and headed outside to the front of the club. I leaned back against the wall and looked out into the parking lot, eyeing each bike belonging to the members within my own charter along with the fifteen or so others from the Washington Reapers who had made their way down here just a few hours ago after being invited by Riggs and Tracker. This time a year ago, shit even a month or so ago, I would've been inside with the entire crew drinking 'til I was damn near blind just before making my way to one of the rooms in the back with a sweet butt of my own, one looking for nothing but a good time and a chance at wearing my cut while we fucked on the floor.
Instead, I was wrapped up in thoughts of my now wife and the message she had left me earlier about hanging out with her attorney friend Maxine; the same one she had thought about seeking out in getting this marriage between us annulled before the ink on the certificate declaring us husband and wife was even dry. I had tried calling her back right after hearing it and left a few text messages, but there was no answer on her end from either one.
I even tried sneaking out of here before the girls and other brothers showed up, hoping to catch up with her before she got too far away from my house. I didn't have a clue as to what I would've said had I seen her, but the initial instinct I had was to snatch her out of Maxine's car, toss her over my shoulder and put her on the back of my bike just where I knew she belonged. She would've probably hated me for that shit; probably would've wanted to curse me out and scream at me just like she did in confronting me out here last night. But I probably would've just shut her up with a kiss, thrusting my tongue inside her mouth while rolling my hands around her tits before moving them down to her panties, forcing her legs apart and slipping my fingers inside that soft, sweet cunt just like I knew she liked.
Shit. Just the thought of it made me go rock solid in less a second. I had to stand up straight and adjust my jeans to keep my cock from being seen through the print.
If it hadn't been for Tracker keeping a close eye out on me after I had finished talking with Atom earlier about Lorenzo, there's no way I would've stayed here for this long. But he was given that name for a reason when he first joined up and none of us could ever dispute that he hadn't taken it just as seriously as a corporate banker taxed with looking after million dollar funds.
I thought about leaving again given the current distractions taking place inside, with damn near every brother either getting laid or looking to be that way soon, but paused even moving away from the wall when I saw Cherry roll through the gate in her old school but tricked out Camaro. The rims were silver; the seats were custom made pink and white leather, matching the paint of the car, and the covering around the wheel was made of pure gold. At least that's what she was damned determined to make everybody think once Patch was finished hooking it up a few months back.
After she pulled into a spot near the back and hopped out, she leaned down and shoved her seat forward, allowing a few girls from the back to jump out along with her. Once they started making their way toward the club, she slammed the door shut, pushed a tiny black button on her keychain to make sure her car was all locked up and tossed that red Kool-Aid looking hair of hers over her tanned shoulder before making her way over to me. I folded my arms over my chest and leaned my head, looking her straight in the face as she parted those paper-thin lips, blotted in orange lipstick, and gave me a smile that said she was looking to get laid tonight, and was hoping that I would be the one to make sure that shit happened before it was over.
After stopping just before reaching the door, she turned to the other girls at her side and bobbed her head. "Go on inside," she said, her normally high-pitched voice cracking between words. "I've got some personal business to take care of out here with this one." The girls nodded at her, then looked over at me. I noticed right then and there that they were identical twins; matching blond hair that reached their stomachs and blue eyes that a motherfucker looking at for too damn long could find himself getting lost inside for a few hours if he was lucky; a set of fake tits for each that spilled out over the rim of her ripped up crop tops, shorts so tight that I had no idea how the hell they were even able to move their legs in walking, and heels so goddamn high that they looked about six feet tall when they were probably just a few inches past five feet. Their eyes expanded and their mouths dropped open when I gave them a quick smile.
"Hey," I said, my attempt at being friendly.
"Jesus, who the hell is this?" one of them asked, sounding out of breath as she leaned forward and curved her lips into a smile. "You didn't tell us that they had Greek Gods like that running this place. Might make that decision a little bit easier for us."
"Yeah," said her sister, though she sounded more out of breath than the other one. "If they all look like him, then we've just hit the hot guy jackpot!" They high-fived each other and laughed.
Cherry raised her hands to her hips, tapping those thin looking nails alongside what I took to be the edge of a garter belt beneath that short as hell skirt, and grimaced. "You both need to get in there and check out what's going on already, make yourselves known to the rest of the brothers."
"Okay, Cher--" the first one started.
"Hold on." Cherry threw her hand up before they could take another step and scanned the lot. "Looks like some of the Washington Reapers are here too, but stay away from them. We're only looking for the boys in black leather cuts tonight like this one here -- she pointed at my chest -- "not the others wearing those jean looking ones, get it? And if you happen to see one of them walking around with a patch that says PREZ on the front, leave him to me for now." She turned back to me and
grinned with a wink. "At least until I figure on what's going on out here first. Now go."
"Yes, ma'am." They spoke at the same time before wiggling their fingers at me and heading off inside the club.
Looking after them, two sets of tits not worth the trouble, I shook my head at Cherry and chuckled. "Christ. You mind telling me just what the hell that was all about? And what are you doing here anyway after telling Prez earlier that you couldn't make it out tonight?"
"I wasn't sure if I could, but plans changed for me right after I spoke with him on the phone, so here I am. And those girls are my new protégés at the D&C."
"Yeah?"
She nodded. "At least I'm hoping so once Tracker and Riggs get a good look at them in those shorts. They just rolled in from Miami this morning and could really bring in some money that the other girls you all hired have been failing to do since the place opened."
"You know that Tracker's gonna want one riding his face and the other on his cock at the same time before he agrees to any new girls coming in and spreading wide across a pole."
"I know." She shrugged. "But listen, these two are up for just about anything as long as they get to see some Benjamin’s at the end of it, so I'm sure it'll be all good for all three of us. Maybe even four." She laughed, then turned to the door of the club and nodded. "What the hell are you doing out here by yourself anyway instead of inside with the others?"
I wagged my head at her and looked out into the parking lot again. "I just needed to be alone for a bit; give myself some time to think about some shit."
"Shit like what?"
I brought my eyes back to hers and paused before answering. "Like what you pulled last night with my brother," I said.
"Oh. That." She wrinkled her nose and brows at the same time and folded her arms, wrapping her hands around the muscle of her small but visible biceps, and lowered her eyes straight down to the ground. "You know, I actually wasn't expecting Colette to show up at all, contrary to what you might be thinking."