There was no guessing whether or not everybody heard us. I saw a lot of half-hidden smiles when Vince and I went downstairs for dinner. I had the feeling that if it weren’t for the death stare Vince was shooting his guys, it would have gotten a lot worse.

 

I made a quick exit to the kitchen, but it wasn’t much better there. The girls were grinning ear-to-ear. Even Brett.

 

I turned my attention to what they were pulling from the oven. Chicken parmigiana. Pasta was cooking on the stove. Steam billowed up from three thick loaves of garlic bread.

 

I pouted. “You guys. I feel so bad. I should have been down here helping out.” I hated feeling like a lazy guest. I needed to earn my keep somehow.

 

“Please, this is nothing for us,” Tyler said, draining one of the two pots of spaghetti.

 

“Besides, you were busy.” Samantha giggled.

 

I couldn’t play it cool any longer. “Oh, God. Please tell me we weren’t obnoxious.”

 

Brett shook her head, auburn hair flopping back and forth in the hairnet all the girls wore. “Oh, no. Not obnoxious. We’ve had to listen to some obnoxious sex before.” She rolled her eyes.

 

“Ugh, like Frankie.” Samantha shuddered, and the other two stuck out their tongues.

 

“Is he really that bad?”

 

“Oh, my God, you’d think he was calling a hockey game. Total play-by-play. I’m coming! I’m coming!” Tyler made a sound that was a cross between gagging and choking. “I always want a shower after I hear that. Or just a quick ice pick to the ear drums before he gets started. One or the other.”

 

“What about Chip?”

 

The three of them burst into hysterical giggles.

 

“Why? What’s he do?” I helped toss the pasta with sauce. It took elbow grease—there were four pounds in all. Enough for an army. Or a motorcycle club.

 

Brett shook her head in sympathy. “Poor Chip. He’s still new, ya know. He hasn’t been a member for more than, like, six months.”

 

“And before that, he was a prospect. That lasts a year,” Sam explained.

 

“So he was maybe sixteen when he first started hanging around. He was a little…shy,” Brett continued.

 

“The kid was a virgin.”

 

Tyler nodded when she saw the look of shock on my face.

 

“He’s so cute!” Blonde hair, blue eyes, all-American smile. “I would think the girls would be clawing each other’s eyes out to get next to him!”

 

“I know, right? Imagine our surprise,” Tyler said. “When the guys found out, they made it their sworn duty to get him laid.”

 

“Oh, come on. They couldn’t have tried very hard. I could see if he was ugly.”

 

“They didn’t have to try to convince the girl. It was convincing him that was the problem,” Sam said. “He was raised in a really Christian home. Joining the club was like his way of rebelling, I guess. But when it came time to have premarital sex, he couldn’t do it.”

 

“Not that he couldn’t get it up,” Brett explained. “He flat-out refused.”

 

“Poor kid. I bet they didn’t make it easy for him.” I jerked a thumb in the direction of the lounge, where most of the members were hanging out.

 

“It was a sin,” Tyler agreed. “I actually told Onyx and Vince to leave him alone after a while. They wouldn’t let him live it down.”

 

“What finally happened?”

 

The three of them smiled. “We had a party when he got patched in. He got good and drunk. One of the girls from outside the club—they just come to parties and stuff—pulled him into a closet.”

 

Brett giggled. “He was sort of a screamer that night.” We all laughed, though I felt guilty for it.

 

“Since then, he’s been fine. Once he saw what he was missing, he got over the Christian thing real quick.” Sam grinned, pulling out the hairnet and shaking loose her blonde curls.

 

“You should know.” Tyler smirked. She and Brett laughed, taking trays of food to the dining room. Only I saw the way Sam blushed. There wasn’t time to ask her about it, though, since Brett announced dinner was ready and the dining room was immediately flooded with hungry men, all elbowing each other for a place at the head of the line.

 

I helped the girls dish out the food, piling each plate high with spaghetti. I noticed how none of them would meet my eyes, except for Axel. He seemed to know so much about so many things, and he was happy to let you know he knew. I didn’t think he was mean, though, or scheming. I gave him an extra helping. He was a big guy, after all.

 

The other person to look me in the eye was Onyx. He had a funny little smirk on his face. I knew he and Vince went way back. I wondered what he thought of me. Most girls only have to worry about meeting a guy’s parents, and siblings if he has any, I thought. I have two dozen brothers and three sisters to win over. Well, the sisters were a done deal. I knew they liked me, and I liked them right back. They were a little rougher around the edges than I was, but they were sweet and kindhearted, plus a lot of fun.

 

The men, on the other hand, I wasn’t sure about. Onyx was intimidating, point-blank. I knew he must have positive qualities, or Vince wouldn’t be so close with him. The girls seemed to like him, too. Maybe he just didn’t like me very much. Or maybe he saw me as a threat to his friendship with Vince? A lot of guys got that way when the bromance was over. Just the same as girls got. Jealousy was weird like that.

 

Then there was Vince. He kept catching my eye as he made his way down the line, and I couldn’t help but grin every time we made eye contact. I was sore from all the sex, but it was that pleasant kind of soreness I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. Every time I felt an ache, I remembered why I was feeling it and would smile to myself.

 

He was adored. It was obvious. His men looked up to him. A born leader. He had charisma, and could get anyone laughing without trying too hard. He had a way of completely listening when somebody spoke to him, like they were the only person in the room besides him. That was rare. He had the intelligence, too, though he tried to hide it. He was a young man—Frankie was obviously older, and I thought a couple of the others were as well. Yet he was the president. That counted for something, too.

 

And he wanted me. My heart swelled with pride at the thought. He wanted me as his woman. No, as his old lady. He would tell the world I was his. This special, charismatic, talented, infuriatingly stubborn man with a heart of gold he tried to hide from the world.

 

I fixed a plate and sat down with the girls. I wished I could sit with Vince, naturally, but he was already surrounded. He had a lot on his mind, and he and Onyx were deep in conversation. I wished I could be part of it. For some stubborn reason I knew he would hate, I needed to know what he was getting himself into. Already, so much of me was tied up in him. It scared me a little.

 

I looked away from Vince, and my eyes fell on Sam. She had just glanced over at Chip, who was pretending to casually glance over toward her at the same time. I looked down at my plate, smiling. It was sweet. Now I understood what Tyler was getting at. Sam struck me as a little older than Chip, but not by much. I hoped they would get together.

 

A cold chill ran through me again, just like it had in the shower. I rubbed my arms.

 

“You okay?” Tyler noticed me and placed a hand on my back.

 

“Yeah. Goosebumps, out of nowhere.” I shrugged it off with a smile. There was no way to tell her that I’d gotten a bad feeling. Whenever I thought of a future for the club, I had that same sense of foreboding. It wasn’t just me and Vince. It was anyone sitting in the dining room with me. I felt that way every time. Like there was no future.

 

Something was coming. I wished I knew what, so I could warn them.