Page 30 of Crow's Haven
Patch leaves without another word, melting back into the clubhouse as quietly as he arrived.
“Are you okay?” Crow asks, his voice laced with concern.
“Yeah, I was just thinking. I still feel bad for running out that day.”
He steps closer, puts his hands around my waist and tugs me forward. “If you hadn’t run out on him, you wouldn’t have ended up working for me.”
I gaze up at him and nod. “I know that. Working for you has been my favorite job ever. Your boys are adorable.”
He sighs, jerking his chin to the grassy area. “You sure about that?”
That’s when I realize they used the garden hose to create a mud pit and are rubbing the mud onto their faces with both hands.
I flash him my best grin. “I’m going to let you deal with that, while I run to the restroom.”
He jogs out to pull them out of the mud and begin washing them off with the water hose.
The hall to the bathroom is narrow and dim, lit only by a flickering overhead bulb. After finishing up I pause at the mirror near the sink to give myself the once over. I expect to look tired and overwhelmed. Instead, I look flushed and happy, like someone who’s been smiling for most of the day without realizing it.
“You’re the one they’re calling Ladybug, right?”
The voice is smooth and sharp with an underlay of snark. Wondering what I’ve done to piss her off, I turn around slowly, bracing for some awful insult.
The woman leaning against the wall near the doorway is tall, curvy, with her bleached blonde hair pulled into a high, polished ponytail. Her lipstick’s matte and perfect. Her expression is equal parts knowing and amused.
“Yeah,” I say cautiously. “That’s me.”
This club girl has her claws out. “I’m Roxy,” she says, crossing her arms. “Been around the club a while.”
I nod, offering a polite smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too,” she says. And for a brief second, I think she’s giving a friendly greeting. But when she doesn’t turn to leave, I get a bad feeling that all isn’t what it seems with this girl.She tilts her head slightly, eyes narrowing what can only be described as derision. “Listen. Since no one else is gonna say it, I figure I will.”
My heart rate speeds up, but I do a good job of not showing what I’m feeling. Instead, I keep my face neutral. “Say what?”
“Don’t get your hopes up about Crow,” she states flatly. “He not the kind of guy to do relationships.”
Her words feel at odds with the playful flirtatious biker I’ve fallen head over heels for recently. I blink, trying to keep my voice calm. “That’s fine, we’re not in a relationship.”
Roxy outright smirks at me. “Sure. You just live in his house and ride on the back of his bike and show up at the clubhouse wearing his spare helmet, right?”
I open my mouth to set the record straight, but she’s not done.
“He comes here to get his needs taken care of. No matter what’s going on in his life outside the club, he always comes to us because we understand the brothers better than any outsider ever could. Crow swore off serious relationships the moment his baby mama flaked out on him and his twins. He said he didn’t have time for feelings or attachments. And believe me,I’ve seen him at his most vulnerable and tended to him in ways you can’t imagine.”
I don’t know whether it stings more that she’s implying she’s his go-to girl for sex and emotional soothing or that I’m just one in a long line of side pieces with delusions of grandeur. This is her way of letting me know that I’m just the latest girl riding a wave that’s gonna crash fast and hard.
Roxy leans in slightly, lowering her voice enough to drive her point home. “Don’t let him turn you into a maid. Cooking, cleaning, wiping noses and all, while he’s saving the best part of himself for me.”
I’m stunned by her bold claim of ownership over him, and the casually cruel delivery. Her words are ugly and crude, but they also have a ring of truth to them. I find myself kind of believing her because I don’t really know what he says to the club girls when I’m not around, how he acts around them, or if maybe Roxy is his favorite among them.
I think of the way he looks at me, the lingering glances and subtle flirtation I always thought meant something was heating up between us could just be part of his core personality. But maybe he does the same with them.
“You’re sweet,” Roxy says. I look up to find that during the few seconds I was turning this over in my mind, she’s moved from the doorway to stand right in front of me.
She pats my shoulder, but it feels less like a friendly gesture and more like a subtle warning. “But sweet doesn’t mean true love, especially not around here. The brothers aren’t like other men, so the same rules don’t apply. Why do you think they’re part of an MC? It’s because they like having things their own way.”
Her words are painful to hear, gut wrenching really. I want to say something snappy back, something to put her in her place. But who am I kidding? It’s not like I know more about what’s going on around here than she does.
