He reached down, snatching Penni to her feet as she swung her hands in the air at the two women.
“Come on, Sex Piston and Crazy Bitch; you want some more of me? I’ll shove that celery up your ass!” Penni snarled.
“Penni, there are kids are here!” Lily had her hands on her hips as she planted herself so the other women couldn’t get to her.
Jackal could see reason come to Penni’s eyes as she turned to see a pregnant woman ushering the children into Shade’s house with Cade holding John and following her inside.
“Please, Sex Piston, calm down. She didn’t mean to pour the tea on Killyama,” Lily tried to calm her down again.
“The fuck she didn’t.” Sex Piston straightened her skintight shirt down over her leather pants, hopping on one foot until she took off her shoes. One of the high heels had a broken heel.
Stud steadied her, not removing his hand, either to balance her or hold her back from Penni.
“Want me to get you another beer?” Penni taunted the one named Killyama who had apparently set off World War III.
It was only when Shade and Knox arrived in the midst of the brawl that the men were able to get the women back under control. Jackal managed to get Penni to Shade’s front porch as the men ordered the women to clean up the mess they had made. He forced her to sit down on the swing, trying to give her time to gather her control. He didn’t want to take her inside. He was afraid she would scare the children.
“Want to tell me what happened?”
“No.” Penni used her foot to move the swing. “Lily didn’t tell me I wasn’t the only one who wanted Train.” She’d had a crush on Train for so long she didn’t know how to handle it now that she had found out another woman might have the same feelings.
“Why not?”
“She said she thought they hated each other.”
“I can see that.”
Train and Killyama were yelling at one another right this minute.
“Those women should take anger management classes.”
Penni sighed. “To be honest, I started it.”
“Because you were jealous over Train?”
“Because I wasn’t.”
Jackal tensed.
“I don’t know why I …” Penni looked away.
“Sucked my dick?”
Penni looked up at the porch ceiling. “Yes.”
“Anytime you want to do it again, I’m ready, willing, and able.”
“I’m not going to do that again.”
“Yes, you will.” Jackal stuck out his foot to stop the swing. He expected her to argue, but she was watching Train and Killyama disappear into the gazebo.
“He’s never going to love me, is he?”
“No.” No, he wouldn’t. Jackal himself would make damn sure of that. Train had years to make a move had he wanted to. Jackal was just glad he hadn’t. “He’s being deployed in two weeks.”
She turned to look at him. “How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Oh.” Penni stood up. “I guess there isn’t any need for us to pretend any longer.” She started to move toward the door, but Jackal reached out, grabbing her arm.
“You weren’t pretending when you kissed me, and you weren’t pretending when you went down on me.”
“Don’t be a jerk.” She tried to yank away from him.
“How does me telling you the truth make me a jerk? I’m the one being taken advantage of here.”
“What?” Penni asked incredulously.
“Did we have an audience in the basement I didn’t know about?”
“No.”
“I was real with you when I kissed you. You’re the one who doesn’t want to admit we have something going on.”
“Like what?” she snapped.
“I don’t know. If you ever get your head out of your ass and quit worrying about Train, we could find out.”
“I don’t want to know.”
“Why not? Am I not rich enough for you?”
“Money doesn’t matter to me!”
“It matters a hell of lot to me. I might not be rich, but I work for Henry as head of security and a bouncer, and I’ve saved up every dime I’ve earned off the Predators.”
“Selling drugs and God knows what else,” she scoffed.
“He does know, and I’m cool with that. We don’t sell on the streets. As a matter of fact, the ones we do sell to know what they get is clean and won’t get them sent to the ER. And we don’t finance cartel or gangbangers. What they do with it after we sell to them is on them. None of us takes that shit, and none of us bring it into the club.”
“You’re honestly telling me you have a clear conscious?” She gaped at him, no longer trying to pull away.
“I didn’t say that. I’ve done things for the club, but I gave my oath as the enforcer, and I won’t break it.”
“Whatever it takes?”
“Yes.”
“Kidnapping wasn’t the worst thing you’ve ever done, was it?”
“No.”
“Have you ever killed someone?”
“Yes.”
Each question, she became paler.
“Do you sleep with …?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever raped a woman?”