CHAPTER ELEVEN

“What panties did a girl wear to have a one-night stand with a manwhore? - Ruby.

 

 

 

"You look like you're psyching yourself into going inside. Is the team-talk working at all?" A small laughing voice asked, causing Ruby to look behind her. The voice belonged to a stunning blonde woman sitting out on a lawn chair who Ruby hadn't even known was there until now and she'd been standing glaring up at the entryway for a good five minutes already. The woman looked so out of place when there was a rowdy biker party going on inside, but the woman, who wasn’t dressed in any way like a biker groupie, seemed comfortable as she smiled across at Ruby, the outside lights bouncing off her almost white hair. She was freaking gorgeous. Like the good witch, Glinda.

"I am. Kinda. Not sure how stupid I’m being right now.” Having talked herself out of it ten times while she showered, fluffed her hair, painted her face, slipped into the tight clothes and then again on the drive over. Fuck him. Don't fuck him. Fuck him. And on and on with the mental argument.

"Oh, believe me. I've been there." Blondie chuckled sipping from a red cup. "I remember thinking the exact same thing a few years ago. Funny how things work out. I walked into that party and met my destiny."

Huh. Eyebrows pinched together. Not exactly what Ruby was going for. Destiny not so much, but a hard-heavy night with a man who knew what to do with her body, she’d take that, or she would if she could make her feet move and walk inside to Preacher. Just a few steps, that's all it was. He was inside somewhere, waiting.

It was shady as fuck is what this was. She'd come to a motorcycle club, the most dangerous notorious club in Colorado, for a damn booty call. With Don Juan of the wandering dick.

Shoot her now.

After sex. Because she was really going to go through with it. She'd put on her good panties and expensive perfume.

But afterward, the shooting could happen and the self-reproach for falling for his manwhore game. She might as well collect a ticket and compare with the waitresses.

Ruby considered her body her enemy when it was so insistent on what it wanted in difference to her reasonable brain telling her to abort. It was her body's doing she couldn't stop thinking about Preacher and the promise of the glint from his dark emerald dirty eyes. The promise of desire had her by the lady balls.

Her nerves jangled underneath her skin, the sensation foreign, she wasn’t usually such a nervous nelly with these things, she really was good at the sex game, not that anyone could tell with her standing there like a frightened rabbit, looking through the entryway she saw person after person and not the one she wanted to see, to check how she felt. She’d know if she saw Preacher, if she could look at his craggy bearded face and see that smirk of lust. 

That one last final decision.

The noise levels rose and she peeked in.

All those men in there had a connection to each other. Probably not by blood, but they'd chosen a family for each other. She understood people needed to find their family where they could. What must that feel like? To know without question someone had your back, to have another person at your side.

She was jealous. Even of this woman talking so fondly of everyone. Ruby felt the pulse of longing to belong … somewhere.

"Let me say, and forgive me for being forward, but if you do decide to go inside, and you change your mind for whatever reason, it happens, you know, don't walk home, okay? Come and find me, someone always knows where I am. We'll get you a cab or you can crash in a private room. No one will bother you. Just … don't walk anywhere alone."

That was weird to say to a stranger. The blonde looked serious, even smiling. Ruby didn’t know her from Adam, but she believed her sentiment. She found herself nodding.

"I'm sorry, who did you say you were again?"

"Crap. Where are my manners? I swear there's enough smoke in there to choke an elephant. I came out for some fresh air, it made my head all fuzzy." she laughed. "I'm Zara."

"You're one of the RS groupies?"

Zara burst out laughing. Ruby arched a questioning brow. "Oh, the boys will get such a kick out of that. I'm Rider's girlfriend. Or his old lady, as those cavemen call it, they do love claiming their shit, I’m surprised he hasn’t tattooed his stamp on my forehead while I sleep." Every word was spoken with affection laced through her voice Ruby figured being claimed didn't seem to bother her one bit. "Or, sort of old lady." She amended. "We're not married. He keeps asking."

Huh. Now she just had to ask.

"You haven't said yes?"

Zara chuckled and sipped again, shaking her head. "Not yet. We're good as we are, I keep telling him we don't need a piece of paper. He's persistent, he tries to catch me at weak moments. Sneaky biker-man."

"The infamous RS front man and you turn down his marriage proposal?" Ruby began to grin, liking this girl.  She'd thought this oversharing woman was a little drunk at first, now she was liking her style keeping her man on his toes.

"Oh god. Please don't let him hear you call him infamous. I'll never hear the end of it, the biker-man has an ego on him, like something huge."

"Hm. Yeah. I get that. they all do." She was thinking of Preacher and his giant...ego. "I'm Ruby, by the way."

"Hi. Nice to meet you. Who are you here to see, if you don’t mind my asking? You have that blind date stunned look about you."

"I'm not. It's not like..." Zara smiled knowingly at her, Ruby went with the truth. "Asher Priest. He goes by Preacher. Though I haven't decided to go in yet, so..."

"Oh. Preacher!" She squealed.

"Is that good? A warning? Help a sister out, will you? I’m thinking this is a bad idea on a monumental scale. I talked myself out of it so many times, I have no idea how I got here, I don’t even remember the drive."

"He is cute, isn’t he? In a man-eating grizzly bear kind of way. I will tell you. I am dramatically in love with my biker-man, so there's no question about that, but this one-time Preacher took off his shirt after work, and I swear my ovaries kicked a little. It was all bump-bump-bump. Like eight of them! And that deep V."

Zara chuckled pointing towards her torso, and Ruby felt her own ovaries stand to attention with a little territorial jealousy. "I kept my Rider busy for the rest of the afternoon, he was useless to anyone for the whole night. That was a good day."

Zara sighed dreamily and rose lithely, tossing the cup into a tall oil can by the door. "He's a good man.

Far too handsome for his own good. Have a great time, Ruby, these bikers have a way of surprising the hell out of you when you least expect it.  It was nice to meet you, hope to see you again. Now I have to go and find someone infamous to dance with."

How bad could the party be if some tiny blonde pixie belonged with those bikers? Ruby rounded her shoulders, waited five more minutes, toing and froing and then walked inside, letting the noise and smoke envelop her.

It was like walking into another world where Neanderthals ruled and women were meat.

Her pulse picked up, started hammering in every part of her body, spotting him towering above everyone almost immediately, his familiar stubbed ponytail on top of his head, looking sexier than ever, he wore his leather vest over a long -sleeved shirt and his denim encased the longest legs. Her heart went into overdrive.

And as if he’d been looking out for her, too, his eyes came at her. Held. Compelled her to walk and walk towards him. His gaze, weightier and sharper than the gazes of other men there.

That all-seeing green gaze. She began to crave and it pulsed deeper the closer she got.

This is it. Don’t get scared now. As Kevin McCallister would say. But Ruby was piss-her-pants scared and horny at the same time.

She walked on. It was as if her hearing had tuned out everything but the thump of her heart, the sound of her heels and the way her body demanded she get over to Preacher in the fastest possible time.

Needy greedy vagina.

Ruby walked a little faster and watched his smirk grow and grow.

Your sex better be worth it, Preacher man.