“Huh?” Tayline asked around the mouth of the beer bottle she was in the middle of draining.
She was five-foot-nothing and maybe one hundred and ten pounds soaking wet, but that woman could seriously drink. Meanwhile, even though I was inches taller than her, I was already delightfully intoxicated after five Hey Y’all hard iced teas.
“Riley?” Cleo clarified.
I followed their combined gazes over to a seriously pretty redhead who could have starred in an Herbal Essences commercial. She was striding across the grass in fantastic red cowboy boots, swinging her round hips in a way that had all the men staring at her as she passed.
“Wow, she’s seriously pretty,” I said.
“She’s also seriously talented with her mouth and most of The Fallen men know it,” Lila muttered.
I was surprised by her jealousy because I was fairly sure Lila didn’t have a man to be possessive of.
“Jesus, Li, when are you going to pony up and tell Nova you want his dick in your mouth?” Maya asked. She was crass as ever but somehow maternal, her eyes soft as they stared at the younger woman.
Lila ignored her as she sucked at her teeth. “Shit, heads up, Queenie, Riley’s got your man in her sights.”
My eyes shot instantly back to the hair commercial girl. She had set those swinging hips at King who was across the yard talking to Mute, Lab Rat and an older biker named Smoke who ran a gun range. He was laughing his beautiful laugh and when Riley stopped in front of him he turned to her, still laughing. I watched her absorb his humor-heightened good looks like a lightning strike, watched her shiver through it. Anger sparked over my skin as they began to talk. Every time Riley touched his corded forearm, the wrath and despair in the pit of my belly burned brighter.
“You need to go up to that bitch and show her what’s what,” Maja urged me.
“At least go and interrupt their conversation,” Cleo said.
I chewed on my bottom lip. King had been so distant with me all day and then, there he was flirting with a gorgeous girl. It made all the insecurities I had flare to life so I didn’t feel comfortable approaching him to stake my claim. I didn’t even feel comfortable watching them anymore.
“Going to the restroom,” I muttered.
“Cress…” Lila called after me, but I ignored her.
I was preoccupied with the sight of King and Riley burned into my eyelids so, I was unprepared for the drama of seeing Paula and her posse when entered the clubhouse.
She was sitting at the bar talking to three other incredibly scantily clad women. Paula herself had her large dark hair done up even higher than I’d seen the other day and she wore a fishnet top with a skimpy bra and itty bitty jean shorts. It was spring now but the days were still cool, so she had to be absolutely freezing.
The instant she spotted me, a cruel smile slashed across her face.
“If it isn’t the teacher who seduced her student. We were just discussing you. Tell us, did you have to blackmail King to get him to fuck your boring, bony ass? The girls and I were taking bets and I’m feeling lucky.” Her words splattered across the floor like filth, coating me in dirty shame.
“I know you’re probably used to blackmailing men for money when they get tired of paying for it, but not all of us are that hard up,” I returned, surprised by the ease in which the venom spilled from my tongue.
The other women gasped, but Paula’s beautiful eyes just narrowed and she swung from her seat to stalk towards me as she said, “Oh, sugar, I’m not hard up. The Fallen Men line up to get their chance with me, but I made an exception for King. I went to him because Zeus gave me the honor of taking that sweet boy’s v-card when he was just a boy.”
Rage and disgust hurtled through me. I didn’t care that King had slept with her, Paula was gorgeous and I knew that even as young as he was before he’d found me, King had racked up an alarming amount of bed partners. No, what I did absolutely care about was the idea of this viperous woman owning anything of King’s, especially something as beautiful as his virginity.
“Well, you can’t blame him then. He didn’t know better,” I qualified, pleased enough with my comeback and my burgeoning biker babe ‘tude that I took an aggressive step forward to meet her as she came at me. She faltered on her high heels, surprised by the move.
Point for me.
Unfortunately, Paula was a seasoned bitch so she recovered quickly. “So sweet, so fucking naïve. You think that was the only time he dipped his wick in me, Miss Priss? Told you, the men line up to tap this ass. Only reason King didn’t have to was because I liked teaching ‘im the ways of loving a woman.” She leaned right into my face, her boozy breath all over me. “Come to think of it, you and me aren’t so different, are we? We both love to school that boy.”