Page 27 of Lucifer's Revenge
“How?”
This time Lilith turned toward him, and with his hand in hers she explained the questions she’d asked Sally at the brunch about her own taste in men, and that she told the other woman that she wanted an apology, until that came, then she would be her boss only, and not her friend.”
“Pardon my language, but holy shit. It’s the twenty-first century, are people still like that?”
“Yes, or at least Sally is. What upset me the most is that when I got to work today, I closed, that’s why I arrived at two, Sally was supposed to be at work, but Meg was instead. Sally had called Meg to fill in for her, and told her to tell me that she wantedto use her PTO for today. She did it all week, called someone in to work for her and then requested her time off to collect pay. I didn’t say anything, and as of today, she used her last four hours of pay due her. There is no more paid time off, sick days, nor vacation days due to Sally until three months from now. On her anniversary hire date. I filled out the schedules for the next two weeks, and I left it like it has been for months. I have a feeling when she picks up her check, she’s going to go off because she will be short hours.”
“That’s on her, not you.” Luc shook his head sadly. “Do you think she’s calling in because you called her out on her shit. All those men you mentioned that took advantage of her, yet she couldn’t wish you luck with me?”
“I think so. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Sally is entitled, but she thinks any man that works in a trade, or doesn’t have a college degree or doesn’t work in a posh office is beneath her.” Lilith jerked back when Luc laughed, then stared at him as he waved his hand in front of his face to try to calm down.
“What would she say if she knew that I have an MBA, and I not only own the bar/restaurant, but I also started the club and we are an LLC. According to the men you described and me, I would be the better pick, on paper, than those losers. I’m not saying I would ever date someone like Sally, that’s who I dated in the past, and you know how that turned out, but I would never date her. Don’t be offended, but she sounds like someone that looks at a man’s bank account, and not what’s in their heart or head.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
“May I ask you one question, then we can changed the subject.”
“What’s that?”
“When was the last time you dated?”
“Four years ago. When I received the promotion. I know you didn’t ask, but he thought that at the time before the promotion, he was making more money than I was, only about five hundred dollars a month, then my job was worthless and I needed to stay at home to cook, clean, have his dinner on the table within two minutes of getting home, and do all the running around. Oh, and I had to ask his permission to have any extra money, but I needed to give him a spreadsheet as to why I wanted it, and what I would use it for.”
“Holy shit, were you living with him?”
“No, we had only been dating for three months. When I got the promotion, and told him that I would be making three thousand dollars more a month than him, he demanded that I put it in his account. It took me three minutes to kick his butt to the curb. Thank goodness I never gave him a key to my place, but I had all the locks changed as a precaution. I threw myself into my new job. Not because I was missing him, not at all, but just because I wanted to be the best at my job. It might not sound like a lot working with books all day, but it can get intense at times. So, that’s my story with my last boyfriend, Mark.”
“Thank you for telling me the truth. Now, I can’t give you any advice for Sally, just stick to you guns and make sure you have the proof that she’s already spent her time, and that she’s not owed any.”
“I did, and I even went so far as to contact the head of the district and explain the situation to her. She’s aware of it so if Sally calls to say I’m withholding monies from her, she knows the truth.”
“Good.” Luc entwined his fingers with hers, and brought her hand to his mouth so he could kiss the back of it. He looked at her with his raised brow, and she did a little dance in her seat. “Gator called me this afternoon and told me you had made some purchases. I won’t ask to see them, however, I would like to askif you would like to meet me at Hell’s Coffin, the bar, at ten Sunday morning. It’s supposed to be in the upper sixties to lower seventies, and the club wants to ride. I know you probably don’t want me to know where you live yet, and I’m okay with that. Since the others want to ride, we’ll go out as a club. We’ll ride around, there’s a place we stop at that’s about two hours away, we grab something to eat, look at the sights, and then drive back. We should be back to Hell’s Coffin by five.”
“That sounds fun. Other than the boots, I purchased jeans, a sweatshirt, a helmet, and leather, what else do I need?”
“I don’t know if your hands get cold, but you might want gloves, sunglasses, and as much as I love seeing your lovely black hair hanging down, you might want to pull it back in a ponytail or braid. The wind is hell on the hair, especially long hair.”
“I can do that.”
“Also, don’t be shocked that your ass will hurt after the two hours. I know mine does the first run of the season, and I’m not making fun of you. Because you won’t be able to move around a lot, you’re stuck in one position, and the tailbone goes numb. We don’t drive more than two hours before we need gas, or to stretch our legs.”
“I understand. I’m sort of getting excited for this. In case I didn’t answer you yet, then yes, I would love to meet you at Hell’s Coffin at ten Sunday morning.”
“Good, just remember, dress in layers. It’s better to have too much on that you can take off, then want something and can’t add warmth.”
“Good to know.” She looked at him, and by mutual agreement, they leaned in and kissed. It was several minutes before they broke apart, and then Lilith thanked him for dinner and quickly exited his truck. She liked that he didn’t start his until after she backed out of her parking place and left. She did see that he exited the lot in the opposite direction she had.It wasn’t like she didn’t want him to see her house, she had nothing to hide, it was just that after her last relationship, and hearing about all the horror stories from Sally’s relationships, she didn’t want to invite him over until she knew she would want to spend more time with him. She also knew that not all men were the same, and she shouldn’t base Lucius on someone else’s mistakes. On a sigh, she drove home with anticipation of having a great day on Sunday.
Chapter 12
At nine thirty Sunday morning, Lilith sat on the top step leading to the bar and sat up straight when she heard a rumble in the distance. The louder it became, the more excited she was, and she would swear that her entire body felt the vibrations of the coming thunder. That was all she could think of, and she even looked up at the sky to see if any clouds were rolling in. She didn’t have to wait to see what all the noise was about because the thunder dulled, and then she watched as several motorcycles began to enter the parking lot.
It made her happy that she had parked off to the side when she’d arrived and was now glad because the bikes drove in, turned, and faced out, with their back tires toward the bar. She wondered why there were so many gaps between the bikes, but when the current ones shut off, and there was another deep roar in the distance, she stood, and came down the steps. She watched as the first arrivals started getting off their bikes. Some had two riders, some only one. She did note that the riders on the back were women. She recognized several from when she had been here a week ago with Starr. As this new batch entered the parking lot from the opposite direction as the first ones, she also noted that they pulled in, turned their bikes around, and filled in the gaps.
The third roar didn’t sound like there were as many bikes, but Lilith was just as excited. She watched as only ten bikes pulled in this time. She immediately recognized Luc in the center of the bunch, and these guys also turned to face out. Except Luc was the only one to fill in the last gap, the last riders went off to the side, at the end of each row to park. She watched as Lucius lowered his kickstand, set his bike on it, removed his helmet, and hanged it off the mirror. He swung his leg over todismount, then walked to each man who had already arrived and shook their hand, and either nodded to the woman, or kissed their cheek. In his actions, Lilith saw respect radiating from every man and woman there. When he stopped and turned in a circle, she moved and his eyes zeroed in on here.
“You came,” he said, and made his way to her. Instead of kissing the side of her head like he did with the other women, he took both sides of her face in his hands, bent down and kissed her. When they broke apart, Lilith saw several shocked faces, but he leaned in to whisper in her ear. “What’s your last name?”
“Richards.”
