“We'll take care of our business, but thank you,” Austin says, looking back at the club as they start to disperse. Nobody crosses the curb and leaves the area of the parking lot. Austin told them if they did, they may as well leave and never come back. That, and the promised I'd break their faces in. He doesn't want anybody going vigilante on Margot. I watch as he gets out a cigarette. “I guess we have some free time?” Austin shakes his head. “Though I don't know how I'm ever going to enjoy it. Don't think I could relax again, not after what happened in Korbin.” He looks up at me and we exchange a glance. “I guess I could look into this clubhouse shit.” I whoop at him and cause poor little Miss Amy to jump as she approaches us. I toss her a wink and a grin and grab Tease around the waist. I don't really mean to do it, just happens. Casual touching. First sign you been bit by the bee and are about to drown in honey.
“Clubhouse?” she asks, pausing next to us and looking at Tease with interest. That's a good sign in my opinion. Amy seems to have a knack with other women. I watched her with Mireya at the pool a while back, watched her damn near charm the pants off the bitch. Hell, she even got both Mireya and Melissa to read her fuckin' romance novels. If she likes Tease, then I think I'm on the right track here. Makes me feel like less of a pussy fairytale reading bitch – like Gaine.
“No promises, sugar,” he says, smiling around his cigarette. “Just an idea. Personally, I can't imagine life stuck in one place, but … I'm starting to see the advantages. A fucking chance to breathe being one of them.” Tease smiles that magnetic little half-smile, and my fingers tighten on her flesh.
“Darren – ” Tease starts to talk and then stops abruptly. “Tax,” she corrects herself. “Is hardly ever at the clubhouse except for church and a get-together once a month.” She stops talking and takes a deep breath, her eyes going blank for a moment, like she's not sure if she's even supposed to be saying this. Tease blinks her eyes to clear them. “I wouldn't worry about getting stuck there. Eventually, you'll just be praying for a couple nights in a row.”
“That right?” Austin asks, giving her a strange look and then lifting his eyes to mine. I raise my brows and then shrug. We've been bachelors forever together, hunting girls down with Kimmi while Gaine tagged along in the background, pretending he didn't give a fuck about Mireya. And in the span of what, a friggin' month, we're dropping like flies? Shoot, son.
“If the girl says so, it must be God's honest truth.” I grin. “My momma taught me that. A real man never questions a lady.” I tip a pretend hat to my friends. “Now if you'll excuse us, we got burgers to grab.”
Tease
Chapter 23
The meeting is set. Monday. I don't know that I've ever looked forward to a date with such trepidation. And that girl, Margot … I want to call my brother and beg for her life. She just looked so … trapped. I can relate to that. I know he won't be wickedly cruel, but I doubt he'll spare her life either. The whole thing is just sad. I think of Oren and glance over at Beck, at his hands, those fingers carved with the word Hopeless, and I imagine him thrusting a knife into Oren's body.
“I want to forgive you, you know,” I tell Beck as we start down a trail that begins near the back doors of the hotel. Behind the building, there's a whole sweep of wild forest with dirt trails winding through it. I found the advertisement for it in the box at the front counter. It seemed as good as anything for what I'm starting to feel like is a first date. A first date with someone I already had sex with. Multiple times.
“Yeah?” Beck asks, not bothering to ask what about. He knows. I know he knows. I sigh and twist my fingers together, trying to find the right words. Swept away, kidnapped, burned. My time with Beck has been a whirlwind of activity and probably the wildest couple of days in my entire life.
“For Oren, for the others. But I can't. Only the club can forgive you, and they won't. For a long time, if ever.” Beck is nodding, glancing up at the trees and the speckled spots of sunshine.
“That's alright, Emilie. I get it. I understand you got your loyalties, same way I got mine.” He looks over at me and winks. I smile back. “So don't worry about that. I'm just glad you're still talkin' to me.” He reaches up and laces his fingers together behind his head. “And I'm sorry to lay all that heavy shit on ya, but I wanted you to know.” I don't ask him why. I can't know that. I can't hear him say something I'm only thinking in the back of my head. Could we work together? Even though we just met? Even though I'm eighteen and he's thirty? That he's from Triple M and I'm from Seventy-seven Brothers?