34
Lexi
Friday night finally arrived, and I was both looking forward to it and nervous as fuck. It’d seemed fun as a traveling party, but now that I saw it as the political tool it really was, I worried about handling my part of it.
Etta wore a white miniskirt with a beautiful white bra, and a super-thin white blouse that didn’t hide anything. She wore white sandal-boots that kicked ass, but they were also flat because she said she intended to dance her ass off. With her dark skin, the white was stunning. I used lots of copper for her eyes, with dramatic liquid eyeliner to make her look even more Asian than she usually does, and she was so damned beautiful she took my breath away.
I wore a tight little eggplant crop top with a plunging neckline, and a matching eggplant skort that looked like a miniskirt.
And after trying on nearly every pair of shoes and boots I owned, I put my motorcycle boots on as a joke, and they worked. I can’t explain why, or how, but they did.
Viper picked Etta up from home and brought her to the clubhouse to get ready with us, and I was assured a biker would see her home when she was ready to go at the end of the night.
I’d be staying with Bubbles, downstairs.
Two super-long limos carried all the women from the MC to The Billiard Club, and I’d be spending time with Pebbles here — before I got drunk. The shapeshifters would handle her towards the end of the evening. My sister hit it off with Pebbles from the first moment, which shouldn’t have surprised me. Etta is great with people and everyone loves her.
I wasn’t expecting Matty to pull me away from the party thirty minutes in, but Angelica motioned for me to follow him, so I did.
We went downstairs and into an office, and I nodded to Abbott, Spence’s boyfriend. Abbott was sitting behind a desk, and Spence opened the door as we approached. I’d met the couple at a club party, but this seemed terribly official, in Abbott’s office. Matty didn’t come inside with me, and that made me even more nervous.
“No need to be afraid, little Lexi,” Abbott said to me when I entered. “I’ve been asked to give you some information, but I think I’ll let Spencer handle it.”
I took a fortifying breath. “Information?”
“I’m a werewolf,” said Spence. “I know you’ve been bound and it’s okay to tell you, and I’d like you to know — but you need to know about other beings, besides shapeshifters.” He glanced at Abbott and back to me. “There are good vampires. That isn’t surprising, is it?”
My gaze shot to Abbott, and I spoke before I realized I was going to. “You have to be fuckin’ kidding me.”
Abbott chuckled and came around the desk. “No, dear Lexi, we aren’t kidding you. I don’t have to kill to feed, and usually take less than the Red Cross does for a blood donation.” He sat in a chair and motioned towards the sofa.
I sat, as if he’d ordered it, and then wondered that I had. Spence sat down beside me, and continued talking. “What you really need to know, though, is that Abbott can go into people’s heads and rearrange memories. Bubbles requested you have this information weeks ago, but when you were told wasn’t his call.”
I put it all together in my head. “You messed with Fury’s head? And the others?”
“I did not, but one of my kind did.”
“Why?”
“He was paid to do so.”
I shook my head. “Bubbles promised me he wouldn’t kill them, but it would’ve been simpler to just disappear them.”
“Yes, but Bubbles doesn’t go back on his promises.”
I nodded. “Thank you for telling me what you are.” I wanted to freak out, but I needed a safe space before I could lose it.
“You are most welcome. Spencer says you and Matty have become quite close?”
I nodded. “Yes, and Matty adores Spence.”
Spence stood and offered his hand for me to stand. “The feeling is mutual. Come, I’ll take you back to the party.”
I stood and looked at Abbott. “I’m expected to be able to handle the fact vampires exist, and then just go back to the party?”
He chuckled. “You’ve already dealt with the whole shapeshifter thing. Learning of me isn’t a huge step beyond. Your binding will keep you from talking about it to those who don’t know, even should you get sloppy drunk tonight.” He looked to Spence and back to me. “Your sister will be happy you know. Bubbles wasn’t the only one who requested you be told of vampires.”
Matty met us at the top of the steps, so I walked back into the party room between the two beautiful twinks.
By the time we made it to The Diamond Club, I was far past drunk. Someone had grabbed my ass in the second place we’d gone to, and Viper had come out of nowhere to let the poor drunk asshole know how badly he’d just fucked up.
Bobcat seemed to be sticking to Etta, but the men stayed in the background until they were needed. I have no idea how they did it.
Somehow, I ended up at the ‘popular girls’ table, upstairs at The Diamond Club. Etta and I were between Angelica and Harmony, across from Gen, Connie, Briana, and Queenie.
I was more than a little surprised when Gabby dipped from behind to ask Etta to dance with her, but I was happy my friend was going out of her way to make Etta feel welcome.
I wasn’t prepared to watch Etta, Gabby, and Bethany practically have sex on the dance floor, but everyone downstairs seemed to really enjoy watching. Still, it was raw and sexy as fuck, and I had to look away before my face burst into flames.
Gen caught my eye and shrugged. “Bethany’s my best friend in the whole world, but I don’t get it, either. I love her though, so if this does it for her...” She shrugged and took a long drink of her huge-assed margarita.
The wait staff brought trays of tequila shots and limes, and we all did shot after shot during the drag show. By the time Etta and Gabby were downstairs taking part in the end of the drag show and practically having sex on the dance floor with the professional male dancers, I was so drunk I didn’t know to be embarrassed. I’m a little ashamed to admit I might not have made it out without Angelica and Harmony on either side of me, helping me balance.
I hugged Etta goodnight before we left, since Bobcat was going to take her straight home from our last club. Angelica helped me into the limo, and I think I ended up with my face in Pebbles’ cleavage until I got settled back in.
“Jiminy’s playing pool with your men in the clubhouse,” Pebbles told me when I’d made it into a seat. She looked at Matty and back to me. “We used to be able to do this without our husbands watching, or their people, but Dozer fucked that up, so I’ve had my husband’s people watching me all damned night. I saw Bethany’s men, and I guess they were watching her and Sophia, right?”
“I think what Pebbles is getting around to saying,” said Harmony, “Is that if any of us have something we need to say in private, now’s our chance. I have an anti-listening sound playing, and this limo is hardened anyway.”
“Right,” said Pebbles. “It’s just us now. We had too many outsiders in here to talk much before.”
I looked around and realized everyone except Pebbles was an ol’lady. Bethany and Sophia were in the other limo, and Etta had left with Bobcat.
“Jiminy will be here indefinitely,” said Pebbles. “For a while, we thought he’d be moved to Chicago or Detroit, but his special skillset is needed here. Marlin’s losin’ control and there are discussions about whether to bring someone in to replace him, or to bring someone up from the ranks.”
“We know all of that,” said Harmony. “What can we do to assure peace?”
Pebbles lifted her hands, shrugged her shoulders, let her hands fall in her lap. “All hell’s gonna break out, and soon. I see the writing on the wall, but I don’t see a way to stop it.”
Angelica leaned forward and smelled Pebbles. I only noticed because I was used to Bubbles doing it. It was subtle, but no doubt in my mind what she was doing. She sat back and said, “Shit you can’t tell us.”
“There’s always shit I can’t tell you, and shit ya’ll can’t tell me. We started doing this in the hopes we could help broker peace between the men, but I’m tellin’ ya’ll that I think a war is going to start soon, bigger than you can imagine, and we’re all just going to have to hold on and survive it.”
“You’ll let me know if there’s something we can do on our end, and I’ll do the same if we find a way you can help,” said Gen. She looked around. “We all need to add some extra supplies to our bunkers.”
“We’re only a few miles away,” said Harmony. “We need to get back to partying so the men don’t pick up on anything. One last shot for everyone?”
Somehow, Pebbles and Harmony managed to pour a tequila shot for everyone in the limo with a minimum of spillage. We held them up in the air, and the other women all said, “Because ol’ladies rule!” at the same time, and then tossed it back as one.
We all laughed when we pulled into the compound and saw our men standing outside the clubhouse, waiting. My eyes went straight to Bubbles, and he was looking at our limo as if he knew which one I was in.
He probably did.
Our guards were in two cars in front, three in back, and countless bikes all around us.
Isaac had been one of our guards, and he collected Cam, Spence, Kendra, and Queenie from the back of the other limo. Razor pulled Matty out, tossed him over his shoulder, and walked into the clubhouse. Micca disappeared inside with Dawg. Bethany’s three men put her and Sophia into their vehicle and drove away.
Pebbles was out of our limo first, and she made her way to Jiminy on her way-too-high-heels. Duke carried Gen into the clubhouse, and Bubbles pulled me out and sat me on his hip.
“What happened to not getting sloppy drunk, Half-pint?”
“You were right — that plan didn’t last long. Fuck, these women know how to party.” I leaned my head against him and closed my eyes, but the world started spinning so I sat back up and opened my eyes. “Some Coke and food might be good.”