“She’s not my woman,” Axe grumbled.
“Really? Would’ve guessed she was.”
Axe glowered at the prospect; he was out of line with that comment. “Go.” He waved his hand, dismissing Puck, and the prospect ambled away.
In his mind and heart, Baylee was his woman, but he wasn’t ready to admit it to the brotherhood, not until he knew how she felt about him. He doubted she wanted anything past the summer. The way he saw it, she wouldn’t have gone out with Palmer for dinner if she cared anything for Axe. It was a slap in his face, and it pissed him the hell off. Since she’d broken their date to go out with Palmer for the fucking permits, he’d felt funny, like a small piece of him shattered. He’d never felt like that before. She did wrong, and she should have called or texted him, telling him so.
Axe scanned the great room, checking to see if Rock had come back yet from some club business—the dude owed him a pool game. A busty blonde caught his eye, and she headed his way, her hips swaying, licking her lips. He grabbed his beer and slipped away, snaking through throes of people until he reached his room.
After he finished his beer, he took out a bottle of Jack and poured it into a water glass. His aim was to get good and drunk so he could forget about long, dark hair falling down an elegantly curved back, soft, full lips, and big, hazel eyes that pulled him in every time. He wanted to hear her voice, should call her, but he didn’t. This was all new to him. For so long, he’d numbed himself on mindless sex, never giving himself enough time between fucking to think. Up until Baylee, the only one he had to care about was himself. Love and tenderness had been dead inside him for such a long time, he’d forgotten how they felt. He hated change, and this was change in a big way. The wall he’d built around his heart a long time back was crumbling, and he couldn’t fucking stop it even if he wanted to.
Chapter Nineteen
Baylee turned left into the clubhouse parking lot, relieved to have found it after thirty minutes of driving up and down the same stretch of highway. It was only after Banger had guided her on the phone as she drove that she’d discovered it down a narrow road off the highway. It was set so far back that no one could see if from the road.
She’d filed the permits with the court earlier in the morning, but Banger needed to sign a few documents before the construction crew could start breaking ground. Since she’d agreed to go to the clubhouse to see him, her stomach had been rolling and gurgling. She hadn’t heard from Axe, and she wondered if he’d be at the club. She hated she’d taken extra time fixing up before leaving the hotel; she’d even curled her hair, and she hated doing that. In her pretty coral dress and strappy wedge-heel sandals, Baylee looked amazing. The high-low hem showed enough leg, and her sleeveless arms were toned and golden from the spray tan she’d had the day before. Finding a salon that offered spray tanning had made her day—a bit of cheer in an otherwise “Axe-less” day.
Her gold bangles jangled as she opened the heavy front door. For a few seconds, she couldn’t see anything. Then, as her eyes adjusted to the low lights, she saw men in jeans and leather on bar stools, at a couple of pool tables, and at a few regular tables. The minute she locked eyes with a couple of them, the hoots and wolf-whistles began.
“Fuck, what a hottie,” a tall, bearded man said as she passed.
With head down and cheeks flaming, she made her way to the bar, praying Banger wasn’t one of the men in the room leering at her. As she waited for the bartender to finish serving some of the men, she surveyed the room and noticed a few women kneeling in front of a few guys, their dicks in the women’s mouths. Baylee turned away in embarrassment and focused on a pretty dark-haired, busty woman who wore a scrap of material which barely covered her rounded butt. The woman, hunched over a seated man, was saying something in his ear, her breasts practically in his face. He turned his face away then his dark eyes locked with Baylee’s. Covering her mouth with her hand, she watched as Axe leapt out of the chair, knocking the brunette against a tall man who caught her, his arms wrapped around her waist.
Baylee spun around, her back to Axe, a lump forming in her throat. “You.” She pointed to the bartender. “Where is Banger’s office?” Her breath hitched, her voice cracking on the last word.
He tilted his head toward a hallway. “Last room on the left.”
“Hey, aren’t you gonna say hi?” Axe asked from behind her.
“You seem busy.” Her eyes darted to the brunette straddling the tall man while he sucked her breasts.