***
Mig
I don’t really know what I expected out of this night.
Peace and quiet.
Time to chill and just be one with the world.
It was definitely supposed to be a much needed breather from my bitch of a wife.
What I didn’t think I’d see was the one woman that never failed to make my heart beat faster.
The one that I just couldn’t seem to stop thinking about.
And we were having an in-depth discussion with the whole fuckin’ club about why I didn’t like my wife.
“Why don’t you divorce her? I don’t understand why you put up with her if she did that to you,” Annie asked with confusion.
She was about two beers in, and I liked her this way.
She was chatty instead of nervous, and I found that this Annie was also fun to watch.
Not that I didn’t like her sober, but I liked how the alcohol loosened her up, and she didn’t hesitate to say what was on her mind.
I was lucky to get more than two sentences out of her on a normal day.
Which was why I was talking about this subject instead of shutting it down.
I wanted to talk to her.
“That’s because he has the morals of a damn preacher. His conscience won’t allow him to drop her like she deserves,” Peek offered from his position across the table. Peek was the president of our little motorcycle club, and a major pain in the ass sometimes.
Annie blinked.
“Why? I know she did something bad. You don’t get off on treating women badly. Yet every single woman you meet, you’re suspicious of,” Annie said.
I did do that.
But I couldn’t help it.
“When my father started to date after my mother and he split up, he’d bring every single one of his bitches home to meet me. And every one of them was nice as could be in front of my father, but the moment he left the room, they could care less about me.
“That continued for the rest of my childhood. Then I started dating, and women just kept proving to me over and over again how devious they are. I’ve yet to find one, besides the one I can’t have, that aren’t bitches,” I told her.
Annie’s eyebrows rose.
“You’re not calling me a deceptive, manipulative bitch, are you?” She teased.
I gave her back an eyebrow raise in return.
“I said ‘besides the one I can’t have.’ not being bitches. That’s you,” I told her.
She snorted. “I never said you couldn’t have me.”
My heart started to race.
“You know I can’t,” I said.
She shrugged.
“I guess I’ll settle for being your only female friend then,” she teased.
I snorted.
“You can come drink beer with us anytime you want,” I invited, gesturing to the table of my friends.
Peek and his wife, Alison. Griffin and his woman, Lenore. Wolf and his kid, who was currently sleeping in his room. Ridley and Casten. Even Apple, the prospect, wasn’t half bad.
We were a bunch of people that had become family out of necessity.
And I would trust each and every one of my brothers to have my back if I needed it.
And Annie was easily becoming one of the few women in the world I would trust.
“I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard why you and your wife got together. What’s the big deal?” Lenore asked with confusion.
I was surprised Griffin hadn’t shared.
It wasn’t a secret.
It just pissed me off to think about.
So I didn’t tell anyone if I didn’t have to.
Which luckily wasn’t often since my brothers were more than willing to tell it, like it was obvious that Wolf was ready to do.
“Jennifer came to one of our parties. We don’t have many, so when we do open them up to the public, quite a few people show up,” Wolf started. “This bitch must really have been jonesing for this party, because the moment she walked into the door, she locked her eyes on Mig.”
“Now, anyone who’s been around this town for a while knows that Mig isn’t exactly the nicest one of us. He doesn’t even pretend to be. So there she was, walking straight in and right up to Mig like they knew each other,” Wolf continued. “And not one of us thought it was odd at the time. We went on about our business, drinking and having fun. Mig tried to ignore the woman and was doing spectacularly at it until a fight broke out among two young girls over who was going to play pool next.”
“Okay… So, what happened then?” Annie asked while Wolf paused to take a sip of his beer.
“What happened next was cloudy for most of us. All we saw was Mig breaking up the fight, then going back to his table where he was talking to a couple local officers and drinking his beer,” Griffin started. “The next thing we know, he’s taking Jennifer to his bedroom and leaving the party. But who are we to block him from what he wants.”
“Except…” Annie urged.
“Except for Mig waking up the next morning totally blank on what happened, with a headache from hell, and a sore cock,” Ridley piped in.
Annie blinked, turning to me.
“You were drugged?” Her voice rose.
I nodded, the bile burning deep.
“Went to the doctor the next morning thinking I was dying. Turns out I had enough roofies in my system to knock out a two-ton rhino,” I answered.
“And you think it was Jennifer?” Annie asked.
“I know it was Jennifer. Went searching for her the next day and found her brother who informed me just how vindictive his sister really is. Took me to her room in the apartment they shared, saw the fuckin pill bottle that the roofies came in. Took it to have it tested, then came back to confront Jennifer a week later where she told me her plan. Apparently, her mother had helped her come up with a plan to bag herself a ‘heir’ as a husband,” I answered.
“You’re an heir?” She asked.
Casten slid the bottle of vodka he’d been sharing with Ridley for the last half hour across the table.
It came to a stop in front of Annie, and she was looking at it in confusion.
“My dad owns Konn Vodka,” I answered.
Her eyes widened.
“I think I have some of that in my cabinet right now,” she answered, turning the bottle around.
“I think everyone does,” Lenore answered, pulling the bottle to her and looking at the label.
“So what happened next?” Annie asked.
“Didn’t hear from her again for eight weeks. Then she shows up at my work and tells me that she’s pregnant,” I answered.
“And you fucking married her?” Annie screeched.
I snorted.
“After I had a DNA test to make sure the kid was mine, yes.”
Annie shook her head. “And I thought my ex-husband was bad.”
I snorted. “Maybe we could compare notes about the shittiness of our spouses.”
“He’s not my spouse anymore. You’re fucked, I’m not.”
Ain’t that the truth?
“We have a poll going to see when he breaks it off with her,” Casten said, getting up and walking to the board at the back of the room and pulling it to the table.
I rolled my eyes at the men’s guesses that were written down on the huge dry erase board that they’d bought specifically for my viewing pleasure.
Griffin’s guess of a month had already passed seeing as we’d been married for six now.
The rest of the guesses spanned from an eight-month time period to two years.
And the way I left it with Jennifer tonight, I doubted that I’d be seeing eight months.
I’d gotten home from work early for once, but only because I’d needed to change my clothes before I went to the clubhouse.
And I’d found Jennifer on the couch talking to someone.
She’d freaked when I’d shown up, immediately hanging up the phone and looking at me like she’d seen a ghost.
I had a feeling if I took her phone away from her, I’d have seen a man on the receiving end of Jennifer’s call.
Something I planned on researching tomorrow.
But that wasn’t even the biggest problem.
Once Jennifer realized I was going out without her, she’d threatened to leave.
When I’d left anyway, I’d seen her staring at me like I’d committed a sin right in front of God himself.
“Can I get in on that?” Annie asked, tossing me a wink over her shoulder.
I wanted to wrap her up in my arms.
Instead, I shook my head and stared at the board as Ridley wrote down Annie’s guess.
Seven months.
And for some reason, I had a feeling that she was about to pull out all the stops when it came to us.
And I was about to have a hell of a time resisting her.
Because when it came to Annie, I had no resistance.
The only thing keeping me from taking her as my own was Annie not pursuing me.
If she started to do that, then I’d be well and truly fucked.
Figuratively and literally.
The real test would be whether she acted like she was doing now when she didn’t have two beers in her…and I found that I rather liked thinking about her pursuing me.
But that didn’t negate the fact that I still had a wife.