Page 4 of Keys

I shook my head and tried to hide the smile that threatened to bloom as I watched their antics. It was, hands down, one of the funniest things I’d seen in a long time. A man who could love beyond embarrassment and play out a childhood game with his pseudo sister in front of all his club brothers more than earned my respect.

At 24-years-old, with a floundering motorcycle club as my family, I stood there, jealous as hell of my friend’s platonic relationship with the boy she had grown up with.

“Thinking of family?” JoJo asked, pulling me from my thoughts. She knew about my mom kicking me out and why. The girls from the club even knew about what my dad had been doing, his marriage, the fact that I had siblings out there who I had never met. They knew everything, except who the man that fathered me was. That remained a secret and would continue to be one so long as he honored our agreement and stayed away from my mother.

“She’s with someone now.”

“I don’t think Sweet minds their relationship,” JoJo replied, obviously misunderstanding who I meant. She glanced behind us toward the bar. “Though he doesn’t seem to realize that yet.”

I looked over toward the bar too and saw that Sweet’s ex-hookup was pawing all over him still. Instead of worrying about his shit though, I corrected JoJo. “I meant my mom.”

“Oh! Have you heard from her then?”

“No. She wouldn’t even know where to find me and she’s never used the phone number I left for her.” It had been a burner phone that I only turned on and checked once per week now. When I first moved out on my own, I checked it almost hourly, hoping that she would call. She never did.

“I checked up on them though. Mom’s dating a man named Jack. Seems like an all-right guy. They’re actually living together.”

“That’s good. I know it’s hard being estranged from her, but at least you know she’s finally living a healthier life now.”

“Yeah. My father is another story. He’s burned through countless women and seems so unsettled. I guess all his power can’t keep him warm at night.”

JoJo chuckled. “Guess that’s what happens when you marry for power. You’ll always end up someone else’s puppet and those strings never give any slack. Eventually, you choke on the damn things that you thought you wanted.”

“Too bad he didn’t realize that my mom actually made him happy, or at least content. I hope the bastard chokes on his ambition.”

JoJo tried to hide the worried look on her face and decided to bury it with a change of subject. “They seem happy to have one another again.”

I tipped my head back in the direction of our club’s leader and her childhood best friend. “Hard to think that she gave up that kind of relationship with him willingly.”

JoJo nodded. She had a sibling, but he was a dick. She had been the tomboy, rather than a girly-girl. Her brother had been a drama queen – in the most literal sense. They never saw eye-to-eye. Since their father’s death, things had gotten worse between the siblings. JoJo’s brother was trying to take the family business that rightfully belonged to JoJo, simply so he could sell it and waste the money trying to live out his Broadway dreams in New York. The rift had pushed the two of them further apart than ever before, especially because the family business was a labor of love for JoJo.

“She seems happy to have that man back in her life. I think the other two are still up for debate at this point,” JoJo told me as their ridiculous display wound down. She was right about that. Angel Girl’s relationship with her father, and with Sweet, were both certainly sitting precariously on a tight rope, just waiting for someone to have a misstep that ended it all.

I glanced back in Sweet’s direction where one of his supposed ex-hookups, who had been looking entirely too friendly with him a moment ago, was now headed to the bathroom. Sweet, who was now the President of the new, local Aces High MC Chapter, had once been betrothed to Angel Girl. There were a slew of reasons and miscommunications that led to things not working out between the two of them. Eventually Jamie – Angel Girl – ran off and hid herself away from her father, his club, Sweet, and her old life. That was how we met. We ended up attending the same college in Nowhere-Ville, Sierra High, Georgia. Apparently, it was common ground for young women trying to escape their families.

“If only Sweet would get his shit together where Angel Girl is concerned.” I hadn’t meant for my thought to be verbalized, but JoJo agreed with me regardless. She raised her glass, as if to toast to the sentiment.

“He is definitely an idiot. After that scene yesterday, I would think that bitch would be long gone. If he were serious about Angel Girl, she would have been. From the looks of things, he’s destined to keep fucking shit up though.” JoJo said.

We had both watched as the club whore, who had come down from the Cedar Falls Chapter of the Aces High in West Virginia, attempted to reclaim Sweet as her man. According to Sweet, she had been nothing more than an occasional fuck. If that was the case, and he truly had feelings for Angel Girl, he should have sent the bitch packing the moment she showed up. Instead, Angel Girl had been given a front row seat as the woman attempted to plaster herself to Sweet once more when we first showed up tonight.

When I turned my attention back to JoJo, she was staring off into space. My closest friend had a lot on her plate too since her father died a few months ago. I knew she wasn’t ready to talk about what she was going to do to save her business just yet, so I simply agreed with her, but vowed to keep my eyes on both of my girls.

My attention turned back to Quickshot then, who had sauntered his sexy ass right on over to me.

“You owe me,” he insisted.

Chuckling, I placed a hand on my chest and affected the very essence of southern belle affront. “Whatever could I have done to end up owing you anything, sir?” While he and Angel had played their little air hockey game, I might have offered a bit of a distraction by bending over and letting the girls come out to play a little bit. Not that I would ever admit to helping my friend win the game. It wasn’t my fault Quickshot was easily distracted by my overabundance of cleavage.

Quickshot chortled. “Oh, I see you like to play all the angles.” His eyes traced up and down my body as molten heat caused the black of his pupils to expand and swallow up the color that used to be there. “Does my sister still have you ladies locked up in chastity belts?” He finally asked as he licked his bottom lip seductively. And boy, oh boy, was I tempted.

“Funny, I don’t remember the lock engaging on mine.” I glanced down toward my crotch, then slid my hand down and rubbed across the juncture between my thighs as my eyes slowly slid back up to meet the lust-darkened, honey-brown of his own. “Mmm,” I hummed out. “Nope, nothing in the way down there.”

Quickshot didn’t wait a moment longer, nor did he seem to give two fucks about who might have been watching our encounter. Instead, he grabbed hold of my hand and all but dragged me across the expanse of their clubhouse’s party room, and straight down a corridor on the other side that seemed to branch off into various offices. He threw one of them open and jerked me inside so roughly that I didn’t even get a moment to check out my surroundings before my back landed against the now-shut door.

Quickshot’s mouth was on mine instantly. The searing heat of his lips tormented me until I opened for him on a sigh. He took full advantage and slipped his tongue in without any hesitation. I had been kissed before. Considering my opinion on relationships, I’d been kissed plenty by all the one-night stands and short-lived fuck buddy situations I’d carried on over the years. Never had a kiss made me feel so much all at once that my damn knees buckled. He must have felt my reaction because he reached down to lift me up by my ass. Holy, hot, mother-fucking incendiary kiss! It was amazing that my clothes hadn’t just burned away from the heat passing between the two of us.

“This is just a hookup,” I explained as our mouths parted. He needed to understand that I didn’t date. More importantly, I needed to remind myself that this kind of explosive chemistry didn’t matter in the long run. As a matter of fact, I was sure this type of combustible energy meant anything with that person was doomed to become an unhealthy obsession at best. I knew exactly what that looked like after all.

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