Page 44 of Forever Zara

Skittish, like a cat wearing snow booties, she was about to organize behind the bar when raised voices caught her attention.

It wasn’t the usual raucous noises of bikers making bets or fighting through a video game. This time it was female voices throwing around name-calling.

“Just because you dress like a skank doesn’t mean you can have every man in here.”

“Pot meet kettle, you whore. Wasn’t me who was putting my ass in Coop’s face last night hoping for a good fuck.”

“You’re jealous ‘cause I can have anyone I want.”

“Please, bitch. I’d slit my wrists the day I was jealous of you.”

On and on it went until Zara was standing in front of three women. They were regulars around here, and not the first time Zara had seen them backbiting with each other either.

Girls came and went. Most of the club groupies from when Zara first came to the club were no longer around, save for Ellie. These women transferred from another chapter. They’d come with their bikers for a rally last summer and never left. Today of all days when she was going for calmness, their bitchiness grated on her last nerve.

There was no way they’d hear her over their cattiness, so Zara stuck two fingers in her mouth and emitted a high-pitched whistle.

“It’s not even 10 a.m. on a Friday. It’s too early for this crap, ladies.”

“But she…”

“It was her…”

Zara sighed and arched one blond eyebrow. Was this high school?

“If all you can do is bitch at each other, then don’t hang out. Go home, go to work. Or do something useful around here. Erin can find chores for you to do. We’re not a social club, and everyone has their duties. Find yours or leave.”

The three women snapped into order, each picking a direction. She didn’t care if women came to the clubhouse only for the dick, but she was tired of them hanging out and not contributing other than tantrums and bitchy fights. She’d mentioned it to Rider recently, who smirked and told her to do whatever she wanted.

Well, fine. She would.

Rider was looking into more properties. If these women wanted to keep hanging out, then they could interview for job positions. She’d put a notice on the bulletin board as soon as she knew what jobs would be available.

“Queen kicking ass again.” An entertained voice said, and Zara turned around to look at Grinder. She flushed because it still made her shy to know the boys thought of her that way.

Zara chuckled. “Would you be so pleased about me kicking them out if you were still footloose and fancy-free?”

Grinder grinned, rubbed his thick beard, clipped tight around his lips. “Maybe not, but you gotta do what you gotta do, Z-girl. The groupies' respect when the alpha dog speaks.”

She didn’t know about that, but she wasn’t making friends with these women if they couldn’t abide by the rules. This wasn’t high school fighting over a good-looking boy.

It came as a shock to her sometimes how much she loved this MC life. She loved going to the summer rallies on the back of Rider’s bike. Loved meeting all the differentSoulschapters and seeing how they respected Rider, turning to him for advice.

Office work was satisfying, especially this past few months, while Rider got her input on the new business ideas. The day to day running of the club took a lot of hands. Rider at the helm. And she enjoyed being at his side.

Her confidence had grown.

She probably wasn’t the best MC queen the club had ever seen, but there was no other woman who would give everything to her club family either. Other clubs might not approve of a woman influencing how a motorcycle clubhouse is run. She knew some clubs across the States saw women as only something to stick their dick into. Never thinking they’d have a brain and something to contribute to a conglomerate.

Zara didn’t interfere on any of the harsher sides to how Rider operated, but she was his sounding board and confidant when he needed it. She wouldn’t deny she’d been able to influence great changes within the clubhouse.

She used to wonder when she was an immature girl who knew nothing of men and relationships, why a woman would marry a biker if she had no rights.

The way her old friend, the one who’d brought her to theSoulsclub for the first time, would talk about bikers, she made them sound like Gods with very backward ideas of what women were for. Was she pleased she’d had a positive impact on theSouls? Yeah, she was. Zara did not doubt her friends influenced their men and the choices they made too.

Now, if only she could get her surprise to go off without a hitch.

It was one of the rare occasions she was alone without her guard. If Pretty-Boy thought she wasn’t staying home, he’d have a fit, and Rider would have a fit alongside him. She wasn’t going far and wouldn’t be alone for long.

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