Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I was taking her to a club party for the first time, and she was nervous.
So nervous that she had a death grip on my hand.
I stopped just before we made it to the door, pulling her to the left of it, and pinning her against the wall next to it with my body.
“What’s the deal, honey?” I asked, tucking a stray lock of her hair behind her head.
“What if they all know me…what I did?” She whispered, her eyes haunted.
I placed my hand against her smooth skin, rubbing the apple of her cheek with my thumb.
“So what if they do? Do you think they’re all saints, that no one in there’s ever done anything wrong?” I asked her.
She closed her eyes, and a tear slipped out of the corner of her eye.
“I just want them to like me,” she explained.
I nodded. “And they will. It’s hard not to like you, darlin.’ You’re a good person; don’t let anyone else tell you differently.”
She face planted into my chest, and I laughed.
“Come on,” I said, lifting her face away from my chest and setting her back a little further. “Let’s go inside so you can meet my family.”
She nodded, rearranged her emotions, and tilted her head back.
Chin up, shoulders back, she walked with me inside the clubhouse and gasped.
“Wow, this is like an indoor theater,” she whispered. “Is that what you intended?”
I looked around at the clubhouse.
It was a glorified warehouse with a ton of recliners, couches and chairs spaced sporadically around the room.
There was a bar in the very back of the room and just beyond the bar were a slew of bedrooms the club members could use, as well as my office and Sebastian’s.
“Not at first, no. But each member has their own chair or couch, and as we grew in size, the room just kept collecting more and more chairs until that’s all there were in here. The big screen in front came out of necessity,” I explained. “Mostly because Dixie broke the last one when he was trying to play the Wii.”
She looked at me, then a smile turned up the corner of her lips.
“Which one is Dixie?” She asked.
I looked around until I finally spotted Dixie sitting at the corner of the bar talking to Trance.
“He’s over there,” I said, pointing in the direction.
She followed my finger and smiled.
“He looks like Santa Claus,” she whispered.
***
Sawyer
“That’s what I thought, too!” A woman’s voice broke into our conversation from behind us.
I turned to find myself staring at a blonde woman dressed in a paramedic t-shirt and jeans.
She wore a leather vest, much like the ones worn by the men, only hers had a rocker claiming her as Property of Shiva.
What the hell?
“You know who Santa Claus is?” I asked, a smile in my voice.
She winked. “His real name is Dixie Normus.”
“As in, his dick’s enormous?” I confirmed.
The woman grinned. “The one and only. My name’s Baylee.”
I shook her hand as Silas said, “This is Sebastian’s wife.”
“Ahh,” I nodded, letting her hand go. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Only good things, I hope. Silas, mind if I steal her?” Baylee asked.
Silas shrugged and looked down at me. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Although they’ll just talk about you behind your back if you don’t.”
I blinked. “I, um… Well, I guess if you put it that way…”
Baylee snorted and took a hold of my hand, looping her arm through the crook of mine, and heading off with a slight wave over her shoulder at Silas.
“Take care of my girl, Baylee,” Silas rumbled.
I tossed a blushing smile over my shoulder at him, and he winked.
A jolt of desire shot down my spine, but it was just as soon forgotten when I turned back around to see Baylee leading me to a table of women who were all staring at me expectantly.
“Ladies,” Baylee announced loudly. “I’d like to introduce you to the bear tamer, Ms. Sawyer Berry.”
There was a gaggle of ‘ooooh’s and ‘ahhh’s’ as they took me in.
“So you’re the one who has put Silas in such a good mood lately…I’ve never seen him this way,” a woman with long black hair and tattoos said cheekily.
I blushed as her words sunk in. “Yeah, I guess that’s me.”
There was a woman that looked to be the tattooed woman’s twin who spoke next. “My name is Viddy, and this is my twin sister, Adeline. She’s married to Kettle, the one with the Mohawk. I’m married to Trance.”
She would’ve continued, but I interrupted with, “The one with the dogs!”
The table laughed collectively.
“I was going to say the hot one with the weird eyes,” Viddy laughed. “But the one with the dogs is probably better.”
“From left to right,” Baylee said. “This is Tru, Rue, Channing, Adeline and Viddy.”
I waved at them all.
“Nice to meet you all,” I said, taking a seat when Baylee pulled one out for me.
“So what do you do, Sawyer?” The one Baylee had introduced to me as Tru, asked.
I smiled. “I work at Deguzman Veterinary and Associates. I’m a technician there.”
“Hey, that’s where we take our dogs!” Viddy exclaimed.
I nodded. “That’s how I knew you belonged to the one with the dogs.”
She laughed. “Well that sure does make an awful lot of sense.”
“Where’d you meet Silas?” The one named Rue asked.
I turned to her and said, “I met him at Halligans and Handcuffs.”
And so the evening begun.
They asked questions, and I answered them.
I didn’t drink like the majority of them did, though.
My eyes were taking in my surroundings, wondering what the big deal about a ‘biker party’ was when I finally said, “I thought biker parties were supposed to be wild and out of control.”
Adeline snorted. “It probably would’ve been three years ago before Baylee came along. Now it’s all about family and friends. They don’t get too wild unless the other chapters come around.”
“Other chapters?” I asked, taking a small sip of my Dr. Pepper.
Baylee was the one who answered.
“The Club has different ‘chapters,’” she said, forming her fingers into air quotes. “They’re all members of the same club, the Dixie Wardens, just based in different states. All the chapters have the same name, though. They all come around once or twice a year for the big parties. This year it’s our turn to host, too. Last year, it was the Alabama chapter’s turn, so we all went down there for a week.”