"Yeah, he beat the crap out of that guy tonight. The one who was after me." I sipped my vodka. It burned a pleasant trail through my esophagus and into my stomach, and I was glad to have ordered it.
"Exactly. He could beat anybody in a fight, no problem. But when it comes to women, he's not like the others."
The look of surprise on my face made them laugh, and I blushed. "He's not gay, if that's what you think she's saying." Brett giggled. "He's a nice guy. A gentleman. He treats women with respect. Not like the rest of these bums."
I frowned. "Then … I mean, I'm sorry if this is super personal … but why are you here?"
The three of them exchanged glances and shrugged. "What else is there?" Tyler asked. "My dad was one of them, years ago. He got killed. I was practically raised in the club."
"And my brother was in the club," Brett said. "He died, too. But I was already too deep into it. I like this life."
"One of my girlfriends started following them when we were in high school, and I started hanging around here with her. It just sorta got to be, like, normal life. Now I don't think I could live in the real world, you know?" Samantha looked at me with her big brown eyes, and I felt the sincerity in her words. The real world. What did that make this world?
One of the guys in the other room stuck his head into the lounge. "Yo! I need my good luck charms in here with me!"
Samantha and Tyler giggled and slid from their stools. "We've been summoned," Tyler joked, and the two girls walked into the room. I remembered Vince saying something about a poker game. Was he in there now? Did he have a good luck charm sitting on his knee? Damn it, why did I care? I turned back to the camera, more intent than ever on opening it so I could end the nightmare my night had become.
"You're not the first person he's brought in. From the outside, I mean," Brett murmured.
I looked up at her. "What do you mean?"
"The first girl. Not in this situation. Like, he doesn't cruise around, looking for girls to save." She chuckled to herself. "But he's brought girls in. He meets them everywhere. He's like a magnet."
"I guess so." I kept my eyes on the camera. It was clear she had a crush on him, from the quiet way she spoke. Trying to sound like she didn't care, when she clearly did.
"You're the prettiest, though."
I looked up at her, then. She was a little heartbroken. I smiled at her.
"Believe me, and I don't mean this as an insult, but if I never had a reason to be here, I'd be okay. This wasn't the way I saw my night turning out. Or my life."
"What do you do? Like, for a living?"
"I'm a photographer."
"Duh." Brett giggled, slapping her palm to her forehead. "The camera. Obviously."
I grinned. "It could just be a hobby. What about you?"
"I don't do much of anything. I hang around here, keeping the place clean. I serve drinks. They pay well."
"Hey, good work if you can get it, I guess."
"I guess." She didn't look so sure. I wondered if she really wanted to be here, or if she believed it was the only choice she had.
"Can I ask you something?" I put down the camera, looking seriously at her. I whispered, too, in case anyone came out of the room to ask for another good luck charm.
"Of course." She was so sweet, and so trusting. She just about broke my heart.
"What's the bad blood between the gang at the Vicious Wolves?"
Brett's face fell. "Oh, that bunch of assholes."
"So it's pretty bad, then?"
She nodded, frowning. "They got three of our guys killed a week ago."
I gasped. "No way. What happened?"
"Drug deal gone wrong. I really don't know the specifics. All I know is it was set up by the Wolves. They don't even try to hide it, you know?"
"Wow. Did you guys do anything about it?" Dear God, I didn't want to be around for some war between them. Of all the times to get mixed up in this crazy world.
"Not yet. Vince wants to wait, get a plan together. Guys were pretty torn up about. They still are. He said he doesn't like the idea of them going out and getting themselves killed because they didn't think about a plan first."
I wondered how much more information she could tell me about Vince. There was a note of pride in her voice. She liked knowing what was happening in his head, and was proud to be an insider. I wondered how much time she spent with him, and in what capacity. She was a very pretty girl, if a little bit lost. I could see him going for her easily.
I told myself to stop thinking about things which made no difference to my life.
"So I guess that's why he beat that guy up so badly tonight," I mused.
"Well, that, and if he saw you were in trouble, I know his knight in shining armor side came out. He has to help a damsel in distress." She shrugged. "It's just how he is."
I shifted uncomfortably. "I'm grateful, believe me. I just hate to think of him getting himself-or any of you-into trouble because of me."
"Listen," she said, looking me square in the eye. "It's not your fault they're a bunch of assholes. A woman should be able to walk the street at night without apologizing for it."
I smiled. "You're right, dammit." I swallowed back the rest of my vodka. "Pour me another, please."
Chapter Seven
Vince
I sat in the game with a beer in front of me and a pretty decent hand of cards. The rest of the guys had been playing for a while and drinking as they did. They were all pretty sloshed. The odds were in my favor.
But I was playing like shit because I couldn't get my mind off Erica.
I kept wanting to go out there and see how she was going with the camera. I wanted to be sure she wasn't uncomfortable, but then I reminded myself I wanted her to be uncomfortable. I didn't want her to make herself at home. Keeping her a little scared, a little off-kilter, would be the best route.
Then the door opened, and I looked up, thinking she was coming in.
"What are you so jumpy about?" Axel grinned at me from across the table. He was a massive guy, almost taking up two chairs. Sometimes I wondered how his bike managed to move while he was on it. But he was a teddy bear at heart, and the most perceptive of the others. He saw how jumpy I was, and he knew why. But he would rather screw with my head than come out and say it.
"I'm not jumpy," I said, shooting him a dark look. "It's been a long night."
"Yeah, kicking a Wolf's ass!" Bobby raised his beer in salute, and we all joined him.
The rest of them loved the story of how I knocked the Wolf unconscious. I'd told the tiniest details over and over. Yeah, I think I broke his nose. Yeah, probably a rib or two when I was kicking. No, he was breathing when I left him. I was sure he had to come to at some point. I got a few disappointed looks when I told that part-my men wanted a life for a life. I wasn't willing to go that far yet.
"What about that little piece of ass you brought in?" Frankie asked, whistling. "She's smokin' hot."
"For real, buddy. I'll take care of that for you, if you want. Since you had such a long, hard night."
Everyone laughed … except for me.
"I'll take care of her, don't worry," I said, my voice quiet. She wasn't like that. She wasn't one of the girls outside in the lounge, or any of the other club groupies, for lack of a better word. She was smart and beautiful and genuine. She was classy. How long had it been since I knew a classy woman? Since Mom died.
"What's the story with her? Like, she movin' in or somethin'?" Frankie was trying to play it cool, like he didn't care either way. I made a note to myself to keep him away from Erica.
"Nah. She's here 'til she gets the pics off the camera. Then we find out what she knows and go from there. If we have to kill the bastard from tonight, we do it."
None of the others seemed to mind, except Axel. He was looking at me very strangely.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said, looking at his cards. But a little smile played over his mouth.
"I mean it," I said. "What?"
"It's just that, ya know, you're all ‘let's not kill them, whatever.' Then this girl comes along and you wanna start taking lives." He wasn't complaining. He was grinning at me. I told myself to have a talk with him later on about keeping certain things to himself.
Randy and Joe got in a bluff war, and I let myself zone out for a minute while they faced off. Axel was right, the son of a bitch. Just hours earlier, before the shit with Erica went down, I went off on Onyx when he said we needed to start building an attack plan. I reminded him I was at the head of the club, not him, and I was disappointed in the way he was changing his opinion on me. I relied on him to have my back with the other guys. I couldn't have him flip-flopping.