Page 33 of Lawless
"So the women in these societies," I said when they calmed down. "They had multiple male partners?"
"Oh, yeah. It sounds weird but it was one way they kept the power in their hands," Noelle said.
"How?"
"It was like," she thought for a moment. "Like it showed how sacred and necessary we are. How much power our bodies have. Creating life being just one of those things." She patted Tessa's belly affectionately. "The whole movement of those societies was like a protest to society at large trying to take our power away. Powerful men always surround themselves with women, so why can't we do the same thing? Kind of like that."
"How do you know so much?" I asked her.
Her expression and body language stiffened, losing all the humor from moments before.
"My ma was in a matriarchal group." She busied herself with sorting more laundry.
I remembered when she mentioned having a different dad from Reaper and her other brother. It never occurred to me that her mom may have been with them all at the same time.
The air in the room shifted just after Noelle spoke. She busied her hands and made no eye contact. Tessa stared at her with a look of sympathy.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to bring up something painful for you."
"It's all right," Noelle shot me a smile. "Anyway, you were asking about Heather. I don't know her but it's possible she was born in one of those groups, too. But between us? She's just desperate for dick."
"Your brother's dick in particular," Tessa agreed.
"She just wants to prance around as the president's old lady," Noelle scoffed. "Snakey bitch acted like she wanted to be my friend just to get closer to him. I saw right through that shit."
"You gonna throw a punch at her at Fight Night?"
"Hell, maybe I will!"
"What's Fight Night?" I asked, a tremor of nervousness already creeping into my voice.
"Ohh shit, she doesn't know about that either!” Tessa squealed with delight. "You're in for a treat, Mari!"
"Basically the whole club gathers in front of our house to watch two people fight," Noelle explained. "We do it once a month just to let off some steam, settle any ongoing arguments between people. Gunner's men watch closely and call fights before it gets lethal."
"So it's likeFight Club?"
"You mean that movie from like a hundred years ago?" Tessa's eyes brightened. "Yes! Just like that. Only we're allowed to talk about it and girls can fight, too."
"Can I punch Reaper?" I asked, only half-jokingly.
"Nope," Noelle laughed. "Trust me, I want to hit him too sometimes. But at Fight Night, girls can only fight other girls. You can't have weapons on you, and that includes long nails. I think that's all the rules."
"You forgot the last one," Tessa piped up. "If you get challenged, you're not allowed to back down."
"That's right. And you're exempt 'cause of that kid inside you."
"Yeah. I kind of wish I could fight," Tessa sighed, running a hand along her abdomen. "I threw down on some bitches back in my day." She shot me a wink. "What do you say, Mari? Gonna get in the ring tonight?"
"No way," I shook my head. "I'm a healer, not a hitter."
* * *
I could feelthe aggression in the air the moment Noelle and I stepped outside. A crowd had already gathered in the cul-de-sac in front of Reaper's house. That dog barking its head off had to be Hades.
The night had cooled off considerably, a small bit of relief to the heat of bodies pressing close together. I hadn't seen Reaper all day, considering I spent it with the women but there he stood at the far end of the circle forming in the cul-de-sac. A king with no throne. Or rather, the only throne he sat in was his bike seat.
He wore faded black jeans, motorcycle boots, and no shirt under his leather cut. The SDMC skull on his chest peeked through, the PRESIDENT patch and reaper scythe on his left side the only non-black part of his getup.
