Watching me.
"Welcome back," Tommy said, offering me a hesitant smile.
I met his eyes, smiling in return. "Thank you. Are you still mad at me?"
Surprise flashed across his face. "I wasn't mad at you. I was disappointed."
I could understand that. "Do you know what happened?"
He nodded. "Yeah, boss explained it to me later. I'm glad you and Holly are okay."
"Thanks to Moody," I mumbled beneath my breath. "Has, ah, Martin been back since that night?"
Tommy shook his head.
Good, I thought. Maybe he was gone. But then I reminded myself that he wouldn't leave without that damned card.
I forced a smile and went straight to work. Tommy and I had been able to develop a good work flow almost from the start, and it was easy falling right back into it. We'd unconsciously drawn a line down the center of the bar where he took care of one end and I the other. Once in a while we overlapped, but it was done with smooth efficiency and little interaction that got in the way of keeping our customers happy. The servers were good at dividing up our time, too, which sometimes allowed Tommy and me a much needed break.
After a while, I forgot about Moody. Okay, that was a stretch. Let's just say that I put him in the back of my mind so that I could focus on my job. He remained in his office for the most part, which I was thankful for.
"I'm glad that you're back," Alisha smiled, setting her tray down and taking a moment to catch her breath during a lull. Alisha was one of the newer servers, having been hired a couple of months before I had. A natural blonde with big blue eyes, she was beautiful. "It makes it easier for all of us when you're back there helping Tommy and Marnie can be out on the floor with us."
I laughed, not taking offense that she was glad that I was back because it lessoned her work, and not because she'd missed me. I couldn't help but notice that her eyes kept shifting toward the hallway that led to the restrooms, stock room, and Moody's office. Was she interested in him? Had they fucked? Suddenly I was having a hard time keeping the smile on my face. And then, speak of the devil, Moody walked into the room.
I heard a low moan come from Alisha, and then, "Yummy!" She licked her cherry red lips suggestively. "What I wouldn't give to get a taste of him." She leaned in close. "I've been after his dick since I caught him fucking Fawn." Fawn was one of the strippers. She turned her attention back to me. "I've heard that he fucks most of his employees." She brought her hand up to her mouth and nibbled on her thumb nail.
Was she waiting for me to confess? Her revelation gave me the answer to the question about whether they'd fucked or not. Her blue eyes were practically eating Moody up. She was so obvious in what she wanted, and I couldn't stop myself from glancing at him to see if he was interested. So far his eyes were on me, and then I watched them shift to Alisha. She perked up, fluffed her long, blonde hair, wet her lips, and took off without a word.
Would Moody take the bait? I watched as Alisha made her way over to him. She'd packed her tiny little body into a tiny little dress that looked as if it had been poured over her, outlining her every little curve. Moody could break her without trying. He watched her approach, but I couldn't tell if he was interested in her as a woman or his employee. Alisha got close, and he leaned in as she said something to him. When he turned, she followed him.
She shot me a look of triumph before disappearing.
Something inside me clenched. Not jealousy. I refused to believe that it was jealousy. What did I have to be jealous about? If Moody fucked his employees, that was his business. I took a deep breath and tried to push the image of him and Alisha out of my head. I needed a distraction, and I was thankful when one showed up in the form of Layla, who walked up to the bar and set down her tray of dirty glasses. Her smile was genuine.
"Whew! It's busy tonight," she complained. "My feet are already killing me."
I smiled. "What do you need?"
"A foot massage," she joked. "Four Coors and two whiskeys."
Tommy came over and took the dirty glasses off her tray while I prepared her order. "How are your boys?" I knew that she had an eight and ten-year-old that she was raising on her own.
"They're good. Miles is into chemistry sets now, and Porter has dug up the yard thinking that he's going to find dinosaur bones." The look on her face revealed how much she loved them. "They keep me hopping."
"I bet." I set the last drink down on the tray.
"I couldn't live without them," she said cheerily, grabbing up her tray and spinning around to leave.
The door opened and three bikers walked in. I could tell right away that they were trouble. I shot a look at Tommy and found that he was also observing them, carefully taking in the way they puffed out their chests and straightened as they walked through the room in a loud and threatening manner. Tommy and I exchanged looks. He rushed over to me.
"No matter what, ignore them. I'll serve them."
"You know them?"
He shook his head. "No but they've been in here before. Loud, obnoxious. They like to bother the ladies."
"Tommy, handling assholes like them is part of my job," I reminded him. He opened his mouth to argue, but snapped it shut when they reached the bar.
"Well, ain't you a pretty lady," one of them said, a nasty smirk on his bearded face. His gaze raked over me. He reminded me of Chewbacca because he was so tall and hairy. "How come you ain't naked like the sign says?" All three of them laughed as if it was the joke of the century.
I rolled my eyes. It wasn't the first time that I'd been asked that particular question. I was sure the servers were asked it, too. "What can I get you?"
The shortest, youngest of the three leaned over the bar. "Got any pussy juice?" His friends began laughing again.
I kept my calm, hoping that once they realized that I wasn’t bothered by their crude comments they would just order and move on. "I'll have to card you for that, you don't look old enough." It was true. He couldn't have been more than twenty, and still had that gangly, teenage-body-thing going on.
His two friends guffawed. He didn't.
"Do you even shave?" I could see straight away that my comment had pushed him over the top.
His face flushed red. "I'll show you what I'm old enough to do, bitch!" He made a move to come over the bar when his two friends grabbed each of his arms to stop him. I'd jumped back just in case. Sensing trouble, Tommy rushed over.
"Cool it, brother; Prez doesn't want us getting into trouble."
"The bitch disrespected me," he snarled, glaring at me.
"Let it go for now." There was a definite warning in his tone. A chill went through my body, because there was a clear undertone to his voice which promised that there would be retribution.
"What'd you say to him?" Tommy whispered down at me, keeping his gaze on the three bikers.
I told him, hearing his snort of laughter through the noise in the bar. I moved back up to the bar as the two men continued to try and calm down their friend.
"Look, I'm sorry if I disrespected you." I spoke directly to the guy I'd insulted, meeting the anger gleaming in his brown eyes. "How about a beer on the house to make it up to you?" I gave him my best smile.
The offer seemed to calm him down somewhat, though his expression revealed that he was still pissed. He jerked his arms free from his friend's grip and growled, "Three beers. One for each of us."
"Done," I said without hesitation. I'd gladly buy them a beer to keep them in line. I'd learned a long time ago that a free beer took care of a lot of issues. I turned to get the mugs, making eye contact with a surprised Tommy. I winked, pleased with myself. As I swung back around with the mugs, I noticed that the three burly men--well, except for pipsqueak--were still standing there. "If you gentlemen will find a table, I'd be glad to get these out to you." I wanted them away from me.
"I think we'll stay right where we're at," the man who hadn't spoken yet grumbled. He settled his heavy bulk onto the nearest stool. His friends f
ollowed suit.
He was a big man, not muscular, but overweight. I made eye-contact with all three, recognizing the grit on their smug faces. A smart girl knew how to pick and choose her battles, so I filled their frosty mugs and slid the beers across the bar towards them. "Enjoy."
"Sure will."
I'd been in the process of turning away when the inflection in his cold voice caused me to stop and glance back at him. The biker I'd insulted had said it, and there was a look in his eyes that worried me. Was he threatening me? I wasn't sure how to take it, glancing at his two friends on either side of him. Their eyes were just as cold and indifferent as his. I decided that I must be imagining it.
Behind them I saw Alisha enter the room, and Moody was right behind her. I didn't want to think about what they could have been doing in his office all this time. Looking her over, she didn't look any different to me. She certainly didn't have that freshly fucked glow going on. With Moody it was hard to tell, he was such a cold-hearted asshole. He only had one expression. Alisha went toward the hallway that led to the private rooms, while Moody turned my way. Our eyes met as he neared the bar.
"Hey, Moody, brother, long time no see," the man I'd dubbed as Chewbacca greeted him.
I noticed that they didn't do the man hug thing, which was telling, in my book.
"Bear," Moody acknowledged. "You brothers are a long way from home."
"Just making a stop on the way back," Bear replied. The name suited him."Had a job to do in Arizona. Thinking of staying somewhere in town overnight."
Moody nodded, but I got the impression that he didn't really care.
"Hey, brother. You still have private rooms?"
Moody gave the younger biker a long, hard look before saying, "You want time with one of the girls, Peewee, get with Marnie, and she'll set you up if one is available."
His name caused me to snicker, and I brought my hand up to cover my mouth, but I could immediately sense from their expressions that it was too late.
"She's available, brother, and I'm looking right at her," Peewee snapped.
"What?" It was clear that he was delusional and holding a grudge over my earlier remarks. "There's no way I'm going into a private room with you!" I snorted in a half-laugh. "I gave you free beer and apologized."
Moody narrowed his eyes at me briefly before looking back at Peewee. "Pick someone else."
"Since when do you hire bitches that insult your customers, brother?" The heavyset man asked. "She disrespected Peewee. He should be allowed some private time with her."
I opened my mouth to blast him. "You're crazy—"
The warning look Moody shot my way caused me to shut up. I crossed my arms, glaring at him.
"That right, Peewee?" Moody asked. Peewee nodded. "I'll deal with her, then, she works for me."
"I'd rather take her ass back in a room and dish out my own punishment," Peewee snarled.
"I don't allow my girls to be mistreated, brother. You know that."
I recoiled at being included as one of his girls, but remained quiet.
The three bikers laughed, but it was Bear who said, "He's not going to mistreat her. Just show her there are other things she can do with that sweet mouth besides disrespect your brothers."
I was ready to storm out of there. They were discussing me as if I weren’t even there. I shot a look of irritation at Tommy. He'd moved back down to the other end of the bar when Moody had appeared. He grinned and shrugged. I rolled my eyes.
"Not going to happen," Moody said firmly, crossing his arms. The way his feet were planted on the floor, his long legs slightly spread apart; he looked like a warrior facing down the enemy. I felt a moment of excitement.
His stance didn't set well with the three bikers. They recognized that he wasn't buckling beneath their overblown indignation.
"You choosing pussy over your brothers?" Bear grumbled with a heavy frown between his eyes.
"This woman," Moody responded with a tight mouth, his eyes glittering black coal, "she's strictly a bartender."
"Ain't right," Peewee voiced. "I'm willing to pay for a little time with her—"
I wanted to remind them all again about the free beer.
Moody bared his teeth at him. "You're a fucking fool, Peewee. If she insulted you, I'm sure you deserved it."
"She your woman?" the man whose name I still didn't know asked. His overall appearance was dirty and unkempt, his teeth, what was left of them, were crooked and brown.
Moody pinned his cold eyes on him. "I think you brothers better finish your beers and find another bar to spend your money at." It wasn't a suggestion.
I watched the three down their beers; wipe their mouths with the backs of their hands, and leave. Half-expecting a fight to break out, I was surprised that it had been that easy to get rid of them. I couldn't take my eyes off Moody. He stood there, watching them leave, looking so formidable and ruthless, an alpha in his prime, self-confident of his place in the male species. When he finally placed those soulless eyes on me, I felt my pulse jump and sucked in my breath, suddenly hot with arousal.
I didn't move.
I couldn't move.
And I knew that I was in trouble.
Chapter 21
Moody
"What the fuck did you say to Peewee?" I moved around to the other side of my desk and sat down. It was the only way I was going to be able to keep my hands off Bailey. She looked so damned sexy, but I was pissed, and that was a bad time to put my hands on her.
I could tell that my question caught her off guard. First her face revealed surprise, and then slowly colored with a pretty blush as anger took over. She slapped her hands on her hips, drawing my eyes to the swell of her tits above her blouse. I ground my back teeth, waiting for her answer while trying not to imagine biting those juicy mounds.
"Nothing he didn't deserve!" she hissed, the green of her eyes turning hard and bright. "When I asked them what they wanted he said pussy juice!" Her tits were rising and falling rapidly.
I knew there had to be more. "And?"
"I said that he looked too young and I would have to card him. And then I asked him if he even shaved."
Damn, I felt a grin trying to break free. That was fucking cute, but Bailey needed to realize that bikers weren't men that enjoyed being the brunt of a joke, and the Dirt Devils were a seriously bad outlaw club with a reputation for being deadly. Right now they were being looked at for the murder of a cop, but since the whole fucking club had been in public when the hit had gone down, the law was having no luck finding any evidence to pin on them.
"You know this is a biker's bar, right?" Her lips were shut tight, but she nodded. "You don't mess around with these men, Bailey."
"I can't help it if Peewee doesn't have a sense of humor," she said stubbornly.
"He would have been at the laughing end had I let him take you to a private room," I snapped, imagining what he'd probably had planned for her.
"Had you let me?" Bailey hissed, removing her hands from her hips and stepping closer to my desk. She leaned over, placing her palms against the hard surface. "You do not own me, Moody. I work for you, period. You do not get to make those kinds of decisions. If I want to go back to a private room with a customer, I will decide, not you. As for insulting that asshole, I apologized and offered them a free beer to forget it. I thought they had, until you showed up."
"The beer isn't yours to give freely."
"I plan on paying for it, you jerk!"
I was about to tell her to settle down and step back, but the view from where I was sitting was fucking spectacular. Her blouse gaped open, revealing those luscious tits, and it was all I could do not to lean forward and pull one out. My dick was hard as fuck right now, remembering how it felt to sink into her slick heat. Alisha had been in earlier, offering herself up in a not-so-subtle way, while pretending that she was there to discuss working more hours. Marnie handled that kind of shit, and she knew it.
I hadn't even been tempted to fuc
k her.
I wanted to fuck the hell out of Bailey, though.
She was the first woman in a fucking long time that has gotten to me on that level. Not since Maggie, anyway. Maggie had ruined me for other women in more ways than one. The spitfire in front of me was nothing like Maggie, though. She was gutsy, if not stupid, for facing off against any biker, yet I couldn't explain why my protective instincts rose when she was near. I didn't give a fuck about anything.
When you didn't care, you didn't get hurt.
"I don't want you getting mouthy with the customers. You're here to serve alcohol, nothing else. I would have thought that the two weeks you worked here would have made that clear. These men are unpredictable on a good day. They don't like bitches—"
Her eyes rounded. "Bitches!" She hadn't let me finish, so that was on her. "You--you—"
"I'm your fucking boss, Bailey, and you'll follow my rules. Maybe Tommy didn’t take the time to go over them with you, so I'm doing it now."
"So are you saying that when the customer orders pussy juice, I should just smile sweetly and give it to him?"
"I'm saying watch your mouth, or you may bite off more than you can chew. I don't want to worry about any of my girls getting hurt, and these men are dangerous. They tend to say shit to shock you, don't take it personal."
She released a loud breath and stood back. "Fine, boss. Am I free to go now?"
Damn, her Irish temper turned me on. I motioned to the door with my hand.
With a huff, she turned around to leave, pausing at the door to say over her shoulder, "I'm not one of your girls."
I let her have the last word.
****
Bailey
I finished out my shift with a smile on my face, avoiding Moody any time he ventured out of his den. I knew he'd be taking me home on the back of his bike, and I was dreading it. The giant vibrating dildo between my legs, a hot man cushioning my lady parts--what could possibly go wrong? Maybe I should take advantage and have another orgasm on his bike, at least then I'd go to bed relaxed.
"I'm taking the trash out," I told Tommy, who was busy removing dirty glasses from the bar top and polishing it down as he went. He acknowledged me with a glance, and then went back to what he was doing. I went to the back door, flipped on the outside light, and pushed the door open to go to the dumpster.
Furious (Nomad Outlaws Trilogy Book 3) Page 16