Chapter Five

Alison brushed her hair from her face as her body swayed to the lyrics playing over the speakers. Tonight she had chosen to sing a few songs that had always been favorites of hers growing up. Most of the people in the crowd would be familiar with this song, seeing that they were mostly her age and older. As she walked back and forth on the stage, she felt pride bloom inside her heart seeing the crowd singing along with her. The song she sang touched them as much as it did her.

She caught a glimpse of a group of people who sat at one of the tables off to the side. Three large bikers who wore black leather vests with the same patches on them flanked a small, petite brunette. The pretty woman clapped her hands as she sang along with Alison. She looked so out of place as the three men she was sitting with never moved a muscle.

Alison froze as her eyes landed on one of the men wearing a leather vest. The man had a shaggy beard and dark brown hair. She found herself singing to the man, as she couldn’t help but stare at him. He looked so dark and mysterious. She wasn’t quite sure why she found him so attractive. The biker wasn’t the type of man she normally found herself interested in. There was just something attractive about him and the way he watched her.

When her set was over she exited the stage after thanking the crowd for the big round of applause they had given her. As she stepped down the stairs, Mac was there to greet her.

“Hey, great job. I haven’t heard that song in a long time. You really made it sound better than the original singer.”

She loved hearing compliments from people. She had taken a chance with that song. It would either be a hit or a total bomb, but either way she was going to be brazen and try it out that night.

“Thanks, Mac. I was kind of scared that they wouldn’t like it when I chose it, but I guess it worked.”

Mac looked over her shoulder at someone behind her. She turned around and saw the three men and woman she had noticed earlier. Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome.

“Alison, I want you to meet my big brother Roc and his friends Jill, Sax, and Bear.”

Before she could say anything, the woman who was with them took a step closer. “Oh my word, you were awesome up there. I wanted to come over to tell you that I am interested to see if you would be willing to perform at my wedding reception. I haven’t found anyone good enough to book for the entertainment.” She stuck her dainty hand out in front of her. “I’m Jill and these two big guys are my fiancés, Sax and Bear.”

Alison was shocked at what Jill had just said. She wanted Alison to sing at her reception and she was to marry both of the men who stood on each side of her? She looked to Mac’s brother, who she had yet to say hi to.

His eyes lingered on hers as if he were searching for something hidden in her soul. “Nice to meet you, Alison.” His voice was deeper than she thought, making her weak in the knees.

Mac snickered as he slapped Roc on the back. “I’ll leave you all to talk business. Just make sure you let me know what you are doing so I don’t expect you to show up for work that night and I have someone to cover you. I’m sure they’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.” He winked at them before he walked away.

“Of course I will pay you well for your time.” Jill beamed. “My wedding is a month from this Saturday. Is that enough time for you to find coverage? And what would be a reasonable price you would be willing to charge us?”

The larger of her two fiancés chuckled. “I’m Bear. My fiancée is quite excited and seems to be chatty. How about we go back to our table and talk about your fee?”

“Bear, I am not chatty. I was just trying to grab her attention before she said no to me.” She faced her other hubby-to-be. “Sax, honey, will you get Alison a drink and bring it over to the table for her?”

Sax just rolled his eyes at her. “Of course, wifey. I would love to do whatever you want. Just let it be known that that goes both ways, especially tonight when we go to bed.” He swatted her butt before he walked away.

Jill giggled as she practically dragged Alison off toward their table. Alison sat in the empty chair beside Jill as Roc took a seat across from her. As she half listened to Jill talk about her wedding plans, Alison couldn’t help but stare at Roc. The man never took his dark eyes off her. She tried to talk to Jill, but each time her eyes returned to Roc, his gaze never wavered from hers.

Sax returned to the table with a soda for Alison.

“The bartender said that you drank soda.” He took the empty seat beside Jill and kissed her cheek.

“As you may have already guessed, my soon-to-be husbands are in a motorcycle gang. So there will be other gang members there at the reception. You don’t have anything to worry about. They are all completely harmless.” She smacked Roc on the hand that lay on the table. “Except maybe this single guy right here.” She playfully giggled.

After Alison had sat with them for a while and felt comfortable with the arrangement they mentioned, she told Jill how much she planned to charge them and then shook hands.

“I have never done anything like this before. I don’t have a mic or any kind of sound system to sing to.” This was all new to her. It was one thing to perform in front of a bunch of drunk people nightly, but to be asked to entertain a group of bikers was something out of the ordinary.

Bear spoke up. “We have all that back at the compound. We keep it around for the gatherings we have. I will make sure it all is up and running. If you want you can come by the day before to make sure it’s up to your standards.”

She was about to say something when Roc finally spoke up. Since he had been so quiet for so long, Alison had figured he just wasn’t a talker.

“I’ll help Bear with the electrical. I’ll make sure everything is up and running before you show up.” He sat forward in his chair and took a long swig of the beer that was sitting in front of him.

She watched his Adams apple slide up and down his throat as he drank from the icy mug. His eyes never left hers as he watched her over the rim. She couldn’t help but to ogle his beefy forearms as he placed the mug back on the table. The man was built; she could tell by the way his pecks peeked out from beneath his vest that he was a man of muscle. She had never found beards sexy, but the light scruff on Roc’s face was a huge turn-on. She wanted to run the tips of her fingernails across his cheeks as she wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Alison could feel the moisture coating her panties. No man had ever had this effect on her before. How could one man turn her on this much?

“Now that we have everything covered—” Jill wrote her phone number down on a cocktail napkin and handed it to Alison. “Call me and we’ll iron all the details out as it gets closer. If you happen to lose my number, Mac knows where to find us.” She stood from her chair and hugged Alison. She waved at her as her fiancés followed her to the door, leaving her at the table alone with Roc.

Alison nervously laughed out loud. “Jill sure is a cute little thing. I bet she keeps Bear and Sax on their toes.”

Roc moved to the vacant chair beside her. Her skin began to feel flushed as his musky scent surrounded the air she struggled to breathe. She wasn’t afraid of being alone with him. She had never found herself in a situation where she felt attraction toward a man like she did with Roc. She felt like a teenager again, out on a first date with a guy. She knew nothing about him, yet she found him ultimately interesting and overwhelmingly handsome. What could she possibly have in common with a man who was in a gang?

“So tell me about this gang you’re in. Is it the type of gang where if you are seen riding down the street in your group, people don’t look your way because they are afraid of you?”

Roc chuckled as he sat back in his chair. He rested his hand over the back of the chair beside him. “Maybe some people would do that, but we don’t purposely go around bullying people on the streets or go places causing trouble. We like to keep a low profile wherever we go. We don’t like to attract unwanted attention. And we definitely don’t start problems we can’t get out of. We’re more of the ’helping out’ kind of club.”

She traced the patch on the front of his vest. “The Sons of Sinners. It sounds like a pretty scary club to me. I surely wouldn’t go out of my way to stare at any of you if I saw you riding down the street or saw you in town.”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. Tonight you didn’t think any differently when we approached you as you got off the stage. You weren’t scared when we talked to you. It was like you didn’t see the cuts we were wearing. You just saw us as some groupies who wanted to admire you for your performance. Am I right?”

“I guess you have a point there. Especially after talking to you, I don’t see you as a dangerous person to be around after all.”

“I’m a nice guy. Just ask my little brother.” He winked.

She laughed. “As far as brothers go, I’m sure he would beg to differ. How come I haven’t seen you come around before tonight?”

“Actually I have seen you perform up on that stage before not too long ago.”

She tilted her head to the side in question. “I don’t remember you being here.”

He lifted the drink to his mouth again, taking a sip before placing it back on the table again. “You had me tongue-tied after I heard you sing. I have never had a woman leave me speechless before. I just couldn’t get my mouth and feet to find the nerve to get up and talk to you.”

She couldn’t believe a man like Roc would ever say such things. He obviously liked her and she wanted to get to know him better as well. She didn’t know how to be the one to make the first move when it came to asking someone out on a date. She was terrified he would want more from her at the end of the date than she was willing to give. It would take a lot of courage to try and sleep with a man again. Her body was telling her that she was definitely attracted to him, but her heart was still trying to be cautious.

“I’m off tomorrow. Maybe if you’re not busy I can cook you dinner at my place?” She was tired of being afraid to go after what she wanted. She was her own person and needed to start enjoying life again and stop hiding in the shadows of her past. Roc would be her first test in life. She needed to do this for herself, if not for the hope of ever having a normal relationship.

“I’d like that.”

Alison gave Roc her address and told him what time to show up at her apartment. She had to head back to work so she said good-bye to him as she went back to sing her second session. After she was done she noticed Roc had left because she didn’t see him anywhere around the bar. She was kind of sad to see that he had left. She’d hoped he would stick around so that they could talk some more, but she figured he had to leave and she would see him tomorrow.

As she walked to the bar, she saw Mac talking to a well-dressed man who was way out of place wearing a suit in a bar.

“Alison, you have another admirer who is here just to hear you sing tonight.” Mac nodded to the man beside him. “This is Steve. He is looking to hire you for the night in his club. His boss sent him to come see for himself how great you sing.”

The man held his hand out for her to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Alison. You have a very impressive voice and I can see why my boss has asked me to come see for myself. Like Mac said, I would only need you for one night, two weeks from Saturday. Our normal performers are unable to assist us, so I’m kind of in a bind. This is a special occasion. We are throwing a celebration for our members and wanted to make a big deal out of it. My employer wrote down a very respectable offer for your services if you will help us out.” He handed her the card and she almost passed out from the amount that was written on it.

“Is that correct? I mean, is there supposed to be an extra zero at the end of that number?” She figured there had to be a mistake. Who would pay her that much just for one night’s work?

Steve chuckled. “I assure you my employer made no mistake when he wrote the figure down. You made an exceptional impression on him when he was in to hear you sing. And now that I’ve heard you for myself, I agree, you’re worth that much for one night.”

It was definitely more money than she would be working for singing at the wedding reception. She couldn’t believe things were starting to look up for her. First she had a gig to sing at a wedding reception, now she would be making enough money to get a car if she wanted to. And then to top it all off, she had a date with a cute guy tomorrow night.

“Please tell your boss I would be happy to take the job.”