Page 319 of One More Kiss
A brat? Now, I knew there was a whole thing with brats and brat tamers, but I wasn’t into any of that. If I had to pretend, I would, but diving into any kinks with a member of the Skulls was beyond dangerous. They wouldn’t honor any safe words or limitations.
He led me back to his room where Craig—also known as Slash—was waiting for us. Craig was a fucking mountain. He was quiet most of the time which was scary as shit. I much preferred the brothers who boasted.
Craig had dirty blond hair that hung around him in a mess of waves. His eyes were so dark I couldn’t see his pupils and the look on his face was always severe. Worst of all, he liked to take whatever he’d just done out on whichever club whore he fancied that night.
As Rob closed the door, I plastered a smile on my face and slipped into the club whore persona that I’d perfected in my time here. If they didn’t leave this room satisfied, then I hadn’t done my job and I’d pay the price.
The only way I got through it was to separate myself from what was being done to me. Participate on autopilot and think of the next time I’d get to see Miles.
I had no doubt in my mind that the club would punish me if they knew that I was… well, doing whatever I was with Miles. He belonged to a rival club. The Skulls—officially, The Skull Collectors—and The Splintered Souls, Miles’ club, did not get along at all. They coexisted and had flareups without falling into an all-out war. Yet. I didn’t think one was too far off, but then again, I didn’t get to know the inner workings of the club.
Once they were done, Rob and Craig left me in Rob’s room to get myself back together. He had a bathroom off of it, so I could clean up as well and as I did, I really hoped this would be my only encounter today. With the families around, chances were it would be. Not even Craig wanted his old lady to know what he’d been doing in here.
The wives hated me and only a few understood that I didn’t have the option to tell their husbands no.
After I was put back together, I made what I considered a walk of shame back out to the main room. Everyone knew what we’d been doing no matter how quiet I tried to be. The other whores probably could’ve drawn a picture of it, given that they’d been in the same position more than once. The only difference was that they’d come here for this. They’d wanted to be club adjacent for whatever reason while I’d been brought here and basically sacrificed so that my brother would be a member.
“You all right?” my best friend, Diana, asked as I approached the bar where she was serving drinks. I joined her and grabbed a beer for old Token. He was probably the oldest member of the club, mostly retired, and possibly the nicest. His long ponytail had turned silver long before I’d ever met him. As had his equally long beard. I’d told him once that he reminded me of Rip VanWinkle. He’d laughed in his deep bass and said he took it as a compliment.
“I’m fine. Nothing I haven’t done before.”
“You know when you fight them—”
“I know.” I didn’t need her to finish the sentence. “I wasn’t fighting them. I was… trying to discourage them.”
“Same difference,” Token offered up. He was the only member whose real name I didn’t know. He’d told me once that he could give me his name but then he’d have to kill me. A smile had played at the corners of his mouth but I couldn’t be sure if he was serious or not so I didn’t ask again.
“He’s right.” Diana nodded toward him.
Unlike me, Diana had jet-black hair and super-dark eyes. It was almost like I was a faded copy of her. My hair was the palest of blondes and that was without coloring it. My eyes were the lightest hazel. She was my best friend inside and outside of the club. I didn’t trust most of the other women, but she and I… We were inseparable.
And had been since high school.
“I can’t believe your brother goes along with this.” She glanced nervously toward him. If he heard her talking about him, he’d want to prove a point and while I didn’t think he’d hurt her on purpose, things could easily get out of control.
“I can believe it.” I watched him for a second before focusing back in on her. “He’s different since our parents died and I think, deep down, he thinks this is his way of protecting me.”
“Hell of a way of protectin’ you.” Token always listened to our conversations. Because of that, we knew we could trust him not to pass on what we were saying. He heard everything and knew everything happening in the club, even if he didn’t participate in most of it. “Old Marvin’s probably rollin’ over in his grave to see what this club has become.”
Both Diana’s and my eyes widened. No one ever talked about the club in less-than-glowing terms.
“Why’s that?” she asked with her hand casually on her hip, as if she weren’t hanging on to every single one of his words.
“Marvin and I started this for a different reason. Now it’s all guns and pussy.” He shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong. We all liked the pussy bein’ part of the club got us, but this…” He waved his arms around to indicate everything. “It ain’t what we saw as the future.”
“Why do you stay around?” I asked him.
“The fuck else am I going to go?” He raised an eyebrow at us. “This has been my home for over thirty years.” He shook his head. “Nah, they’ll take my dead body out of this place, but that doesn’t mean I like everything I see.”
“Beer!” My brother’s voice rang out across the room, bringing this conversation to an end.
I closed my eyes briefly before turning toward him, gritting my teeth the entire way.
Scott and I had been close once. Then our parents had died in a car accident when I was sixteen. He’d been nineteen then and became my guardian. It wasn’t like we had any other family. Though I would’ve been happier if he’d made me a ward of the state. There was a lot about those years that I would’ve liked to avoid.
After struggling for two years, Scott found the club and brought me with him. Now I lived outside the gates thanks to having a job but was supposed to consider inside my home. Scott sure did, but I dealt with constant worries. One of the biggest was what would happen if he was killed. I could be bounced out. That was fine with me, actually, but the guys in this club were so unpredictable that I wasn’t sure what else they’d do.
My protection, as Scott called it, would for sure end.
