The door to the kitchen opened and Cheryl came out with Ember and Stori. She was dressed in a black leather mini-skirt and wasn’t wearing a top. Ember and Stori only had on t-shirts.
Rider reached out and grabbed Cheryl’s hand, tugging her down on his lap. Bliss, who had climbed onto his lap after finishing his blowjob, reached out and lifted one of Cheryl’s breasts to Rider’s mouth where he sucked a bared nipple.
“I don’t think Cheryl’s missing Jared,” she remarked impassively.
“No.”
“You’ve participated in these parties?”
“Yes. Fridays, we let the women from town in, but unless they are going to become members, they don’t come out during the week.”
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“How do they become members?”
Cash was silent for a moment. “There are eight original members. The women have to get six out of eight votes. They get the vote by having sex with the member—or they used to. Now, the ones who are married give their vote to another of the men to vote, usually Crash and Nickel.”
“You’re an original member?”
“Yes.”
“Have you given Cheryl your vote?”
“Yes.” She could hear no emotion in his voice. “She only needs one more vote to become a member. Lucky hasn’t given her his vote yet.”
Rachel paled; she had forgotten Dean, her former pastor…
“Lucky does not participate in the club activities where Lily can see, nor would he in front of you.”
“Thank God.” The irony of the situation brought a hysterical laugh to her lips. She put her hand on her mouth to stifle the sound.
“Rachel?”
She gathered her failing reserve, removing her hand to her side before getting to her feet. He reached out, taking her hand, but she jerked it from his grasp.
“You bastard. You’re surrounded with a freaking smorgasbord of women.” She gave a bitter laugh. “I wondered which ones you had been with. I never thought you had been with them all. That you shared them all!”
Her hand swung out, slamming into the side of his face. “You fucked me with no condom!”
“You’re the only one I haven’t used a condom with; it’s a hard rule here. We also have regular blood work done. We’re not irresponsible.” Cash’s face hardened as he rose to his feet.
Rachel backed away from him, refusing to cry. She wasn’t hurt; she didn’t care about him anymore. This had merely confirmed everything she’d already known—they had no chance together.
When Cheryl paled and sat up straight on Rider’s lap, she realized she had been screaming at Cash.
“Did you get a laugh when you saw how I was dressed tonight? How lame I was? I hate you…” A broken sob escaped her.
Humiliated, she ran from the room before Cash could stop her, running down the long flight of steps and nearly falling in her heels before she tore them off and threw them at Cash as he chased after her. He almost caught up with her, but she darted between the bikers standing at the bottom of the steps, running into the woods before he could stop her.
“Rachel! Come back. I’ll take you home.”
Rachel ignored his yells, running through the forest as if a monster from Hell was after her.
* * *
Cash squatted down, reading the tracks on the ground. She wasn’t heading back to Mag’s house; she was heading home. He followed behind her as quick as he could, furious at himself that he hadn’t handled telling her the truth about the women better. Lily had warned him when Shade had told her the women’s punishment included not attending the party.
He had known Rachel would be furious. He had even figured that she would be hurt, but what he had witnessed had gone beyond what he had thought her reaction would be. He should have guarded the doors where she couldn’t get out. Now she was heading for her brothers’ home and would have an arsenal at her disposal.
He followed her trail until he found her not far from home. She was sitting under a tree, crying into the neck of her huge-ass dog. A loud growl alerted her to his presence.
“Go away, Cash. Please, just go away.”
Cash remained still. “I can’t, Rachel.” Slowly, despite the dog’s growl, he moved toward her, kneeling down in front of her then brushing her damp hair away from her cheek.#p#分页标题#e#
“I’m sorry that I’m an ass. I thought it would be easier for you to deal with if you saw it like it was.”
“Ripping a band-aid off?” she asked sarcastically.
Cash winced. “Yeah. I’m not going to lie and pretend I don’t like the life I lead, or that I live it because I’m fucked-up. I’m not. I like to fuck, and I like to fuck a lot. I like sex, the raunchier the better. I could have hidden it from you, pretended that part of my life never happened, but the truth would have eventually come out.”