Page 10 of Devil's Due: Sarge

No – nope. I refuse. Mind over matter. Men are trouble, except for maybe Vlad, who’s been nothing but nice to me, but then again, all of his men have been nice to me too, but they’re not sleeping with my best friend and hence have trouble written all over them.Good talk, Greer. We know what we need to do.

“Come on.” Nicola grabs my arm to lead me from her room there in the clubhouse, the one she shares with Vlad. “You look hot, the music is picking up – time to party.”

As soon as we open her door, we’re met with AC/DC screechy-crooning to a woman about being shaken all night long. At an ear-piercing decibel, I might add.

From this point on, it’s more yelling than talking to be heard by the person standing next to you.

Before we reach the bar, Vlad catches Nicola’s elbow, spinning her around into his arms, where he plants a deep, sexy kiss on her. My friends have got it bad. Not that I’ve known her all that long, but in the time I have, I’ve never known her to swoon, which is exactly what she does after that kiss. Hell, I didn’t even get kissed and I’m swooning.

He lovingly tucks her deep into his side as he walks with his arm flung around her shoulder up to the bar. Like always, I follow.

“And what can I get you today?” the young guy on bar duty asks me. He calls himself “Jinx.” He’s not even a prospect – he’s what they call a hanger-on. Apparently, there’s a pre-prospect stage, where men show interest in becoming a member, and patched-in brothers have to decide whether they think you’re worth putting in the effort to induct you into the club.

A lot of guys never get as far as Jinx, being shut down before they ever have the chance to be a hanger-on. It was explained to me that, kind of like the Masons, a man expressing interest has to be invited by a brother for the privilege of this trial period, whereupon the brothers will decide if you’re to be invited to prospect for the club. And then, once your prospecting time is up, they’ll patch you in and you become a full-fledged brother.

One thing I have learned, which apparently Jinx hasn’t learned, is as a hanger-on, he doesn’t have any rights to hit on the women invited to this party. Still, I smile at him. “Cider?” I ask, leaning over the bar, not to be sexy or provocative, but so that he can actually hear me.

He winks, then spins around to grab a cider for me from the fridge behind him. Then he uncaps it and slides it across the bar top for me. From there, he grabs Nic a beer and what looks like a whiskey on the rocks for Vlad.

I lift my bottle up. “Cheers!”

Vlad and Nicola clink their glass and bottle against mine and we all take deep pulls from our drinks. Over the edge of the bottle, I see a group of gorgeous men, and even more gorgeous women walk in.

“Dr. Brennan!” I call out to her. She smiles, starting for me, and I walk over and we meet in the middle. She’s here with her husband, Duke Ellis. He’s the president of the Brimstone Lords MC, and that man is fucking fine.

“You’re looking so much better,” Dr. Brennan-Ellis says. “But it’s Caity.”

“Okay, Caity. It’s good to see you.”

“I don’t know if you’ve met them.” – she waves over a group of women who came in with her – “but these are my girls. This is Elise. Tricia. Livvy. Frankie. Brighton. Brinley. And Hannah. Girls…” She gestures to me like a game show hostess. “This is Greer. She came here with Nicola from Texas.” Then she looks back at me. “I don’t know if you ever met Carmen, but she’s outside getting freaky with Blue. They’ll be in when they’re finished.”

As all the women laugh, I laugh too because I don’t know how else to react in the situation. Is she…? Is she’s talking about sex? Were Blue and his woman, Carmen, whom I’ve never met, as she’d left before I got to the safehouse, but I’d heard her name—but were they really in the parking lot of a different club’s clubhouse having sex?

“The look on your face says you don’t know whether to be horrified or to assume that she’s kidding.” The woman named Elise pats my shoulder sisterly. I’ve heard Elise’s name before tonight. If I remember correctly, she’s married to the vice president of the Lords, he goes by Bossman, and let me say, Elise isgorgeous. Long, wavy, honey blonde hair, a killer figure—like, she’s a total hourglass. I’ve got a pretty good rack for my size, but my hips are a bit narrow and I have a flat ass. She makes me feel like going into my room and grabbing some sweats because what’s the point of dressing up with her in the room?

Of course, I think every Lord old lady could give me a complex.

“I’m not from this world. I didn’t grow up around bikers or even men who rode bikes recreationally,” I reply.

“Girl,” the beautiful woman with the long, strawberry blonde hair called Livvy says. “Of this group, only me, Hannah, and Brinley have. The rest had to learn the ropes along the way, just like you.”

“Oh – I’m not… That is… I’m only here until I’m safe. I’m not with a biker.”

That would be whenallthe Lords women begin laughing at me as if they know me or my situation? It’s just rude.

“I think that tall, sexy drink of water who kept constant vigil by your bedside probably has a different take on the situation. Maybe we should call him over and see what he says.” Caitlin winks at me as she says those truly horrifying words.

I quickly scan the room looking for Sarge, but he seems to have drifted off. He’s taller than most men, so I’m not sure how I could miss him. Maybe he’s bent over taking a shot at the pool table. What I do see is women in various stages of undress getting felt up or –dear God!– are those two having sex? In public?

I look back at the women still standing with me. “How did you do it?” I ask them.

“Do what?” Caity asks in return.

“How did you go from being independent women with degrees and careers to second-class citizens?”

By their body language, the way all the women stiffen as they glare at me, it seems I’ve asked the wrong question. Maybe biker bitches don’t like being called out.

“Open your eyes,” Hannah says. “Do we look like we’re second-class citizens?” Then she points over to where Nicola is standing with her arm around Vlad’s waist and her head pressed against his chest, while she and Vlad talk to Duke and Bossman. “Does Nicola look like a second-class citizen?”

---