Riley raises her eyebrows at me. “Oh, you think?”
I loop my arm through hers. “Come on, I’ll buy you guys a drink and tell you everything.”
After grabbing three beers from Dolly, I lead my friends over to a booth near one of the large television screens.
“So, what are you guys doing here?” I ask as we take a seat.
“Tracking down your sorry ass.” Sebastian puts his hand over mine. “Promise us you’ll call before you skip town again. We were worried about you, Brontosaurus.”
Everybody has a damn nickname for me.
“Hopefully, I won’t have to,” I reply, wondering how my friends managed to get past security. The clubhouse is surrounded by high fences and the front and rear gates have cameras. During an event, the gates are closed, and a prospect is posted at each exit. “How did you get past security to get in here?”
“Oh, I totally showed the guy at the gate my boobs.” Riley grins, then changes the subject. “Have you told your grandma about The Poet?”
At the mention of my stalker’s nickname, I glance around me nervously. Despite everyone being busy with party preparations, you can never be too careful. The clubhouse is notorious for having ears. There is only one sacred room in the place, and that’s the chapel where the Kings hold their church once a week. What is said in there is kept sealed, but out here, everything is public property.
I shake my head. “She’s on vacation in Missouri for another few weeks.”
“So, you’re staying here alone? Jesus, Bronte, is that a good idea?”
Just as Sebastian asks it, Jack walks into the clubhouse, and the knot in my stomach tightens. I watch him walk over to the bar to talk to Dolly and Shooter, and tiny fires sparkle in my chest. The last time I saw him, his eyes had been roaming over my naked body. “No, I’m staying with Jack.”
Sebastian and Riley follow my appreciative gaze across the clubhouse. Both pair of eyes land on him, taking in his muscular form and the way his ass looks criminally delectable in his jeans. As he leans against the bar, he rests a booted foot on a stool, and his silver wallet chain glints in the dim light.
“And who the hell is Jack?” Riley asks, her voice husky with appreciation.
“Jack is a friend who is helping me out for a bit.”
“A-ha, and is Jack helping you out with his dick, too?”
I pull my eyes away to look at her. “Very funny. No, Jack is a family friend.”
“If your family friends look like him, then I want to join your family.” Sebastian eats Jack up with his eyes. “That man looks like he’d be a monster in the sack.”
“Will you two stop!” I laugh. “He lives next door, and when I told him about my situation, he insisted I stay with him until it gets sorted.”
“Sure, but you have to admit he’s hot.”
Oh, I have no problem admitting that.
This afternoon’s bathroom encounter replays in my head, and a wave of lusty need sweeps through my lower regions.
I feel both their eyes on me. “What?”
“Tell me you’re tapping that,” Riley says.
I raise an eyebrow at my best friend. “When did you turn into a frat boy? No, I’m not tapping that. He’s Cooper’s brother.”
At the mention of Cooper, all the teasing stops. They know Cooper’s death is a trigger for me, and it brings an instant change of subject.
“So, what is this place? You’re hanging out with bikers now?” Riley asks as she takes a sip of her drink.
“Think yourself lucky. You’re in the hallowed halls of the Kings of Mayhem clubhouse.”
“The Kings of Mayhem?” Riley takes a mouthful of her beer. “How did you manage this? Who even are you?”
“This is where I grew up.”
Riley’s brows disappear behind her fringe. “You’re part of a biker gang?”
I never really thought of it that way, but when she says it like that, I realize she’s right. I am part of the Kings of Mayhem. And if the last couple of days have taught me anything, it’s that I belong here. These people are my family. Warmth washes over me at the thought.
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
Riley looks at me like she’s seeing me for the first time.
While Sebastian can’t keep his hungry eyes off the different bikers walking around. “God, it’s like a smorgasbord in here,” he whispers.
He spies Merrick across the room and begins to salivate.
Spotting us, Jack saunters over. I feel both Sebastian and Riley eating him up with their eyes while my body hums with excitement, remembering how his eyes had burned with lust as they’d swept over my naked body.
Keep it together.
When he arrives at our table, Sebastian’s jaw drops, and I can almost smell the pheromones bouncing off him.
Jack is exactly his type.
“You okay, wildflower?”