Page 47 of Wicked Pickle

Diesel shakes his head. “What I understand about women could be written on a toothpick.”

“It’s good that you know it. Most men assume they have us all figured out.”

“Does she usually go around flashing people?”

I let out a shaky laugh. “Mister, I’m one of her best friends, and that’s the first I’ve seen of it.”

He grunts again. “My bar gets rowdy.”

“Yes, quite the clientele on a Sunday.”

“Every day. Bikers don’t have weekends.”

“What do they do? Like, for work? To pay bills?”

He shrugs. “Some of them work. Construction, mostly. Lots of blue collar. Others collect veteran benefits. Or social security. A lot of them are fully migrant, rolling from town to town.”

“Where do they sleep?”

“RV parks, mostly. Other places let them park overnight. There’s a number of houses along highways willing to put them up. It’s a tight, proud community.”

“It’s not all drinking and hell raising?”

“Nah. They got all kinds, like any random assemblage of humans.”

“Do they get that rowdy every night?”

“Not really. There are fights. Rivalries. But a woman flashing the crowd is going to cause a commotion.”

“I don’t know what got into her. Now she wants to be a stripper.”

Diesel glances over at Marietta. “That’s a tough gig.”

“Hopefully, she won’t remember a thing tomorrow, and we’ll be back to my sweet, naive friend.”

“So, all this isn’t her scene?” Lights flash over Diesel’s face as a car approaches then disappears.

“Not at all. We’re grad students. All four of us. Bailey finished her coursework. She just has to complete her thesis. Jenna, Marietta, and I have a ways to go.”

“What are you studying?”

“Political science.”

He grunts. “What will you do with that? Work in DC? Be a talking head on the news?”

“Politics are everywhere,” I say. “I’d like to be a clerk or an assistant in a state office or maybe work for a senator.”

“Going to make a difference?”

“Is that an insult?” Heat rises in my face. “Like I can’t?”

“No, no. I’d bet on you any day.”

Would he? “Why’s that?”

His grin is wicked. “Because a woman who can get a knife run along her skin and not flinch is exactly the sort of person those pale-faced, weak-willed senators need to get them off their asses and actually accomplish something.”

I can’t help but smile at that image. “A good staff can get things done.”

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