Page 58 of Savage Lust

“Let me guess, morepie?” The sarcasm that dripped from that last word made me want to simultaneously throttle her and kiss her.

“Nah, darlin, not here.”

I held the door open for her and let it close behind us in the air-conditioned dark bar. As the heavy metal door closed, thejunky truck pulled in, its exhaust coughing. She stole my focus, muddled shit up, and it had almost cost me.

The bartender was too preoccupied with his phone to notice us, so I chose a corner booth and sat facing the door.

I was on edge, thinking too much. I did that right before things went to shit, and I had a feeling they were about to.

I leaned back and threw an arm over the booth, made an executive decision. “I’m going to text and have somebody ride out and pick you up.”

There was a subtle change in her expression. Her lips went tight for a breath. She straightened and then blinked. “Why? Because that guy gave me his number?”

With a nonchalant shrug, playing off my unease, I rubbed a hand over my mouth. “I’ve got some club shit to do.”

“I can ride with you,” she suggested, thumbing through the menu. “I thought that’s what Ole Ladies did?”

“That’s not the way it works, darlin. The MC takes precedence. Shit like this happens.”

“I’ll rip up the number, you don’t have to be all jealous.” She stiffened, crinkling the edge of the menu between her fingers.

Santos Garza and Riley made me a feel a lot of things, but jealousy wasn’t one of them. But right then I didn’t have time for the petty girl drama.

I fired off a text to Merc.

Nonchalant again, keeping my voice from coming off too rigid, still trying not to spook her. “Darlin, I don’t get jealous. Not when I could have my pick of any woman in the county. And some of them together, remember?”

The flash of outrage in her eyes told me to gear up for one hell of an argument. She’d never met Archer, but holy shit, the way her eyes widened was just like his. It reminded me of what we had to lose.

Riley was cut off by the waitress, whose ill-timed smile was as big as her fake tits. “What can I get y’all?”

My phone buzzed…Merc heading back to the clubhouse. Riley wasn’t the only one gearing up for a fight. It’d be a while before Dylan or one of the other ladies made it out here.

To buy some time, I’d piss Riley off so she’d go no matter who showed up. I turned on every bit of my charm.

Women liked me, it was a fact I’d learned early on. If I gave them a half smile, leaned in like I did now, they’d all but hop in my lap. Desperate women, those who needed to feel like they still had it, made seduction even easier.

The over eager, forty-plus waitress was so close I nearly choked on her department store perfume.

“I can make some suggestions.” They’d have nothing to do with the menu. She was the sort that thought she could show me a thing or two I’d never seen. She’d be wrong.

There’d been women just like her for more than a decade. I’d seen it all already.

I hazarded a sidelong glance at the ample cleavage she was trying to lure me with. Bitch had nothing on Riley, all the tits in the world didn’t. I was more a quality rather than quantity man.

But Riley didn’t know that. Her eyes had narrowed, her lips pursed. She may not admit it, but jealousy radiated off her in time with the music from the jukebox.

The waitress’ caked-on makeup showed their twenty-year age gap. She bent further over the table, her tits almost falling all the way out. “I know what a man like you likes.”

Not even close.

Riley glowered at her. We were in the middle of something bigger than greasy bar food and promiscuous waitresses, but she didn’t seem to notice. For once her innocence frustrated me more than aroused me.

I shook a toothpick from the little container on the table and flicked it into my mouth. “What are you drinking?” she practically crooned as she hitched a hip on the table and kept her back completely toward Riley.

I spun the toothpick between my teeth, drawing her attention to my tongue as it darted in and back out. An experienced woman; the waitress’s lips parted, and her pupils dilated. I had her.

“A beer.” I rattled off a local brewery I’d seen they had on tap.

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