Page 36 of Viking

She laughs and reaches out to tuck my hair behind my ear. I don’t flinch. I like Calamity’s company, and she’s never given me a reason to fear her touch. Last week, she even took me shopping for clothing and lingerie. Viking insisted that the entire club come too—for protection—but most of his brothers stood around with pained looks on their faces while we shopped.

“You are too goddamn cute. Not an old lady, an oldlady. A biker chooses you to ride on the back of his bike, to share his bed, to be his everything. It’s like being the one woman he can’t live without, so he makes you his.”

“Like Blue did with you?”

“Yeah, baby. Just like that. Blue moved heaven and earth to make me his old lady. He even moved countries.”

“That is why he talks funny.”

“Yeah, I guess you’ve never heard an accent quite like his where you’re from.”

I shake my head.

“Then again, I ain’t ever heard one like yours either, darlin’. No offence, but you island people talk like you’re from another century.”

“Is that why Viking won’t make me his old lady? Because I talk differently?”

“Oh, honey. I suspect Viking has a bunch of reasons to not make you his old lady, and none of them are because of the way you talk.”

I frown. “Is there something else I should do?”

“If I know the Prez like I think I do, it’s got nothin’ to do with you and everything to do with his damn stubborn pride. That and he’s worried what it might do to you in the long run. You’re not even old enough to drink yet.”

“At my home, the brothers gave us blessed wine and the Devil powder was added if we were especially insubordinate.”

“Devil powder?”

“They gave it in small doses, so that we wouldn’t fight. I never fought. Not after my first year of rituals. I didn’t like the way the Devil Powder possessed my body for days afterward. So, I lay still. After a while, they stopped giving me the powder. They stopped using the ankle restraints.” Calamity has turned ghostly pale, and I glance down and wring my hands in my lap. “I’m sorry. I know talk of the island makes you uncomfortable.”

“You got nothing to be sorry about, baby. What they did to you is beyond fucked up. I won’t lie, it’s hard to hear. Sometimes the things you’ve told me haunt my dreams at night, but since I’m one of only two people you can talk to, I’m never gonna tell you not to speak those horrors out loud. In fact, exorcising those demons is probably the only reason you haven’t been committed to a psych ward yet.”

“What is a psych ward?”

“Nowhere you need to worry about. Now come on, we better get a start on dinner, or we’re gonna have some hangry boys on our hands when they get back, and between you and me, you don’t wanna see Vike hangry.”

I smile at my friend and nod, then I stand, smooth my long skirts, and follow her out of Viking’s room. “Does he often gethangry?”

***

AN HOUR LATER, THEsounds of roaring pipes fill the tiny kitchen and I turn to Calamity with wide, hopeful eyes.

She grins and nudges Meatball, who’s standing beside her, helping to toss the salad. “Well, would you look at those puppy dog eyes?”

“I wish my old lady had looked at me like that when I got home from club business.” He sips his beer and sets it down forcefully. “She was too busy fucking my brother.”

“Let it go, Meatball. She wasn’t the one for you. Now, come on, darlin’.” Calamity holds a hand out to me. “We’re done here anyway, and our boys don’t like to be kept waiting.”

I skip to her side, and she laughs.

“We really need to teach you how to play it cool, but if anyone’s gonna get excited over Prez coming home, I’m glad it’s you. He’ll have you riding on the back of his bike and be calling you his old lady in no time.”

I beam at my friend and follow her to the entrance of the clubhouse. Rows upon rows of shiny chrome and black leather seats line the compound lot. Other old ladies crowd around their men, along with the loose women that Calamity calls ‘Cut Sluts’.

Calamity lets go of my hand to embrace Blue and I scan the lot for Viking, but he’s nowhere to be seen. I’m jostled by the press of bodies, and chills break out over my arms and legs. I don’t like this many people so close. I don’t like them touching me.

I quickly turn and flee for the safety of Viking’s room. Panting, I burst through the door and find him standing in the middle of the room in only his jeans. His cut and T-shirt lay on the bed where he discarded them, and his shoulders tense and ripple as he turns to face me. I roll my gaze up his tattooed muscles to his piercing blue eyes, and I swallow hard. His gaze boars into mine as he stalks toward me and grabs my shoulders. “I thought I told you to stay in the room. What the fuck happened?”

I shake my head, not understanding.