Page 23 of Keys

“Right. Like I said,” the man reiterated before making a noise that sounded like a whip was cracking. “If you weren’t worried about some chick here, you would be on your bike riding out tonight. One of my boys was there last weekend and said the pussy is to fucking die for. They don’t just dance at this place if you know what I mean.”

“Quickshot can stay behind. We don’t need him there pulling the best pussy anyway,” another man teased.

“This place is all quality,” the first man argued.

“Yeah, well, from what I’ve seen, Quickshot doesn’t even fuck around with the pussy we have on tap here.” Well, that was good to know. I almost knocked on the door then, but the next thing I heard made me pull up short.

“Look around,” Quickshot scoffed at them. “The pussy in this place is all used up. You think I want to stick my dick in the same pussy the rest of you have worn out?” He laughed. “I’m more of a quality over quantity guy and going out of my way to Atlanta to hit up a joint where the pussy is known for being used doesn’t sound like quality to me.”

“So, you’re saying all we need is more quality pussy at the clubhouse, not that you’ve been tamed by a particular gash in that bitch MC?” One of the men in the room asked Quickshot. I didn’t know them all well enough to be able to put a name to most of their voices, unfortunately. I’d like to know which one had said that, because he was going to see what a gash from a bitch MC could do.

“Dude, that’s a little bit fucked up,” someone else said. “I thought you liked her.” Something else must have been said, too low for me to hear because the man continued to speak, only now he seemed to be talking to Quickshot. “We all stayed away from the redhead because we thought you were into that. Hell, I expected you to claim her any day now. I’ve seen the two of you out a few times.”

“I’m not claiming anyone. That life isn’t for me. I use what I need and let it go before it wears out its welcome.” There was some laughter and grumbling from the room. “I’m also not going all the way to Atlanta to pay for pussy like you idiots. Have fun though.”

I didn’t wait around to speak to Quickshot after that. It was one thing for him to keep quiet about us, or to deny that we were serious. But knowing that we were about to come out to our clubs as a couple, I wouldn’t expect him to vehemently express how he wasn’t claiming anyone. Maybe, I’d been wrong about him.

Suddenly, a sick feeling settled deep in my belly. He had been trying to garner information from me before, it was possible that this had been the ploy he used to get what he needed. Enough of my background had slipped out when I was around him that I was sure he wouldn’t have trouble with his search anymore. It didn’t matter, because he just proved that I couldn’t trust whatever it was I thought we had anyway.

Chapter 6

Fucking two hours were lost while dealing with my club brothers about the merits of heading two hours away to Atlanta to get some supposedly top-quality pussy. It had put me in a foul mood. The only thing that made it remotely better was knowing that I would see Keys again in about two and a half hours. Once the rest of the idiots left, I searched out Steel. He was visiting from our South Dakota Chapter because he was looking for a change of pace and a fresh start in a completely different fucking state.

I wasn’t sure what made the mountains of North Georgia the perfect relocation spot for him, but I couldn’t judge either since I’d done the same. Sure, Sweet became one of my best friends over the years, especially since we bonded over our mutual loss of Jamie – err Angel Girl. He wasn’t the reason I was here, and neither was she for that matter.

Nope, I was here hiding from the family drama that awaited me back in West Virginia. My parents were on the verge of a divorce, finally, and I was tired as fuck of being pulled to be on his side or hers. As far as I was concerned, they were both grown adults capable of making their own decisions. At any rate, Steel would make a solid asset for the chapter, considering most of the guys we had here were wet behind the ears and relatively new to the club life.

Steel and our newest prospect, Walker, were sitting there chatting. Walker was a bit of an interesting case. He had transferred to us from the Tallahassee Chapter because he didn’t think he could get anywhere there, considering his old man wasn’t exactly the brightest bulb in the bunch and Walker felt like he was always getting lost in the man’s murky shadow. Still, he hadn’t been involved in the club enough, and despite being handed his kutte two days prior to transfer, Sweet explained that if he really wanted it, he would have to prospect here for six more months in order to keep the kutte and earn his Georgia patch. The kid wanted out badly enough that he agreed.

“Hey man, where’s Keys?” Walker asked.

“How the hell should I know?” I grinned, despite the bullshit I just spewed with the other men when they were fucking with me about not wanting to go get quality pussy. Yeah, I told them I wasn’t claiming anyone, and they were sure to give me a ton of shit for it when I finally claimed Keys anyway. I’d deal with it. Besides, the only thing that was able to pull me out of the funk they’d just left me in was knowing where Keys was going to be in just over two hours. She would be on the back of my bike with her arms wrapped around me.

Steel’s eyebrows scrunched together as he glanced at Walker, who shook his head and laughed. “That was the redhead you were talking to a bit ago,” Walker explained. Steel seemed to understand, but I didn’t.

“Oh, right. We sent her back to the office earlier but didn’t see her head back out. I thought she had been back there this whole time,” Steel admitted.

“You sent her back to the office?” Panic set in as I remembered the conversation that the guys and I had about quality pussy, being whipped, and... Fuck! Please, God, don’t let her have heard my dumbass response. I finally managed to ask the pertinent question. “When?”

“Couldn’t have been more than ten or fifteen minutes ago,” Steel informed me. “Was she not supposed to be here?”

“It was okay for her to be here. I just wasn’t expecting her and…” Fuck! How the hell did I admit that I’d been talking about her like a fucking idiot? I was so used to having to hide our relationship that I used stupid bullshit excuses whenever the guys grew too curious about her.

“You said that you didn’t see her leave?” I asked as soon as I was able to process a coherent thought again.

“Yeah, I’m guessing she took off out the back or something unless she’s still back there somewhere. Maybe she had to use the bathroom.”

I didn’t even realize Spike was behind me until he spoke up. “Shit, brother. Do you think she heard your cracks about quality pussy or never claiming anyone?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I admitted. “I didn’t mean it.”

“I know that, but I bet if she overheard any of that conversation, she took it the wrong way.” I hated Spike for spilling the obvious, and the fucked-up thing was that I had no right to.

It was all my fault, and he was right. She had finally agreed to go public with our relationship. What I said would make people question the sincerity of that claim when it came. She had every right to be angry, but then again, she was the one that wanted the secrecy to begin with. Could she really blame me for being used to having to deflect the comments where she and I coupling up were concerned?

“Fuck!” I growled while taking my phone out. I didn’t give a damn that the guys thought it was hilarious. Well, all the guys except Spike and Walker, both of whom were glowering at me like I’d just fucked over their sister. I took another look at our newest prospect. Maybe sister wasn’t the right word.

It seemed more like he might have been nursing a crush of his own on my woman. I didn’t even know if I had a right to call her that, even in my head, anymore. I’d fucked up bad with an already skittish woman. There was no telling where I stood with her now, and since she wasn’t answering her phone, I wasn’t about to find out any time soon.

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