"Yeah I used to be a buyer back in New York so I thought having my own store would be great, maybe not so great for my shopping addiction though." I joked.
"Oh my god, this is so great, this town needs somewhere to shop, it's such a pain in the ass driving two hours to get a half decent outfit." Lucy told me. "When do you open?"
"Well our opening is Wednesday night and I would love for all of you to come," I invited the girls.
"That would be kick ass!" Rosie beamed at me. "I'll make sure to let all the girls know, make it a bit of a girls night out, will there be drinks?"
Amy almost spat out her mouthful. "Of course!"
The women laughed. "But feel free to invite boyfriends and husbands." I continued, "I've invited some of the hunky local law enforcement as well … "
"The sex on a stick cops." Amy interrupted "Got to have some man candy there, and I think Mr. deputy is keen on our girl here." She pointed at me with her drink.
"Amy he was just being friendly," I shot a glare at her.
The women exchanged glances, "Really … do tell, which one?" Ashley asked with a dreamy look on her face.
"Although our men and police don't seem to get on the best." Rosie began, rather cautiously.
Uh oh red flags. "What do you mean?" I probed, starting to get a bad feeling.
Rosie began to say something but her answer was drowned out by the roar of motorbikes,
"Oh shit." I heard Amy mutter and I followed her gaze. Oh shit was right. A whole god damn motorcycle gang had just arrived at the barbeque. Men of all shapes and sizes round the corner, some wearing jeans low slung, with tight t shirts under their leather cuts. A couple had bandannas wrapped around their heads, I think I saw a couple of (cringe) wallet chains, and of course the amount of ink on them was insane. Full sleeves, neck tattoos, you name it, these guys probably kept the one tattoo parlor here in business. There had to be about 15 of them. I spotted Cade, and by the looks of it he had spotted me a lot earlier, he was wearing sunglasses (fucking bad ass aviators by the way) so I couldn't gage his expression, but he looked pissed off. I couldn't handle that right now though, I was too busy trying to deal with the fact 15 men who looked like they could snap me in half without batting an eyelid were swiftly approaching our little group. The men in front of me were too familiar. I began to have trouble breathing, my hands shaking, my vision blurring. Do not faint.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and a concerned voice. "Are you okay Gwen? You look really pale." Lucy asked looking worried.
Amy interrupted. "She's fine, just low blood sugar" She lied smoothly. "Rosie where's your bathroom, I need to primp, all these men approaching." She continued sounding casual, only I can hear the edge to her voice. I heard Rosie laugh through the roar in my ears, I didn't pay much notice I was too busy focusing on keeping my breath even.
"Straight inside, through the kitchen at the end of the hall, you can't miss it."
I felt Amy pull me along, holding me up. "You're okay Gwennie, everything is fine I'm here." She cooed quietly in my ear. "Keep walking we're almost inside."
I focused on putting one foot in front of the other and struggled to keep from collapsing. We finally reached a bathroom and I fell to the floor as soon as Amy shut the door.
She sat down beside me, stroking my hair. "It's okay hunny no one is here to hurt you, just breathe." She spoke calmly, having dealt with me like this, soon after my accident when I could hardly stand being out in public.
I took long, slow breaths and after a couple of minutes I returned to some kind of normal state.
"I think I'm okay." I told her shakily.
Amy smiled at me then stood up extending a hand to me, I grasped it unsteadily getting to my feet.
I splashed water on my face, completely ruining my makeup, but who gives a shit?
"I'll go out make an excuse and we can leave okay Gwennie?"
I grabbed her hand. "No." I said firmly. "Those girls are really lovely and I will not let some fucked up fear stop us from having a good time and making new friends. He cannot take that away from me." Tears welled in my eyes but I refused to let them fall.
Amy stared at me a beat then smiled, but it was tainted with sadness. "You are one strong bitch Gwennie." She whispered proudly.
"No I'm not, I've got you." I smiled sadly back. "Now help me fix myself up so we can go back out there." I tried to sound strong.
After some quick emergency makeup procedures, Amy and I ventured out into the party. The bikers had dispersed, some drinking beers and lounging on chairs, others laughing with each other with arms wrapped around women. We spotted Rosie, with none other than Cade, who had his arm slung around her shoulder. He had a lovely beautiful woman and was pursuing me? Prick.
"Gwen, Amy!" Rosie yelled, I felt a disturbing amount of male eyes on me. I saw more than a few leather clad men checking Amy out, some old enough to be our fathers. Ew.
"Get your asses over here girls." Rosie ordered. Amy half dragged me over it to the prick, who still had his arm around Rosie. Lucy was still there, but talking intently to yet another sexy biker, this one tall, with a buzz cut and an awesome goatee, and covered in tats, he was attractive, but had a very dangerous vibe coming off him.
"Gwen you have to give me the recipe for your brownies, the boys fricking LOVE them." She gushed, and one of the guys turned around from the food table.
"Bitch, those brownies are the fucking shit! I think I'm going to marry you." He smiled cheekily, he was quite young, Hispanic and very attractive, kind of like a bright eyed puppy or something. But a fucking scary puppy, like a pit bull. I smiled at his compliment, but I wasn't sure how much I appreciated being referred to as ‘bitch'. I got a pointed look from Amy at the marriage comment, and I couldn't help but laugh a little. The man boy approached me, I started to feel a little nervous but stood my ground. He held out his hand, still smiling, "I'm Lucky."
I shook his hand and replied. "Gwen, and this is my friend Amy," I gestured to my best friend, who held out her hand.
"Wow we hit the fucking jackpot, two knockouts like you ladies coming to town, and you can cook … damn." He exclaimed.
I couldn't help but laugh at this guys obvious fun loving nature. I felt Cade's intense stare on me, I glanced at him to see him looking seriously pissed off.
"Omigod, I'm so rude." Rosie interrupted the little stare off me and Cade had going on. "You've obviously met Lucky, but this is Bull." She gestured to the scary looking man with Lucy, who perked up upon hearing his name, he glanced at us and gives us a chin lift.
"Yo." he grunted.
"And this is my brother Cade." She gave him a squeeze. I was shocked for a second, brother? Wow, I was a little quick to judge.
Cade released Rosie. "We've met." He barked before grabbing my arm and dragging me back into the house.
"What the fuck Cade?" I heard Rosie's voice behind us but we seemed to be moving at lightening speed because all of a sudden we were inside someone's bedroom, Cade locked the door behind him. I was a bit shell shocked and out of it from my episode earlier so I didn't really take the opportunity to struggle, but I finally find my tongue and begin to say, "What the fuck..." before Cade advanced on me and backed me into a wall. His arms came up on either side of me, boxing me in.
"What are you doing here?" He whispered menacingly, he seemed seriously pissed. Maybe someone stole his wallet chain.
"What do you mean?" I hissed at him, trying to push him but it was like pushing a brick wall. I tried not to appreciate his abs.
"What do you think you're doing just dragging me away like some kind of barbarian? Were you dropped on your head as a child?" I asked sarcastically, weirdly not feeling any fear at being alone in a strange house, with a seriously angry biker.
"Answer my question baby what are you doing at my sisters house, dressed like a fucking wet dream?"
"Don't be so crude, and I'm here because I was invited, not that it's any of your business." I snapped back.
"Coming into my sisters home, my boys seeing you looking like that wanting a piece of you. Half of them have already seen you in those sad fucking excuses for clothing you were running in and you think this is ‘none of my business?'" He asked dangerously, face so close to mine our lips were almost touching. A vein in his neck pulsed, his jaw was tight.