Chapter 8
Daisy
I glanced down at the reservation book to see how many customers we had coming in, breathing a silent thank you when I saw three names, all for the morning, and none of them for me. Due to the snow storm that had blown in during the night, both Betty and Jackie had phoned to say that they wouldn’t be in. If they hadn’t phoned I would have called them anyway, because I didn’t want them on the roads. And since they hadn’t booked anyone, I had to wonder if they’d sensed the coming storm. Mainers were good at reading the signs.
That left me and Jasmine in the salon, two non-Mainers waiting for three women who would most likely not show up. She was sitting in her chair and doing her nails. I was on my third cup of coffee and had moved to the door, staring at the snow as it continued to fall. It was beautiful to look at, but cold as hell. Luckily, the salon was nice and warm, thanks to the new heater I’d had installed when I’d bought the house.
That reminded me. “You’ll be happy to know that the loan was approved.”
“Whoopee!” Jasmine screeched, giving me a big smile. “When do we get the tanning beds?”
“I ordered them the minute the bank called. They should be in by the end of next week.”
“I can’t wait!” she said cheerily. “My Vegas tan has all but disappeared since I moved here.”
“You do know that these beds are for the customers, right?” I joked, smiling.
She shrugged, filing a nail. “So, are you ever going to tell me what happened between you and Big John at the Christmas party?”
Wow, where had that come from? The Christmas party had been a month ago, and I hadn’t seen Big John since, other than when he rode past the house. It had taken me a while to get over what he’d done, because at the time I’d felt such a strong, physical pull towards him. But after a while I’d given up trying to figure out what I might have done wrong, realizing that it had been nothing. For whatever reason, he’d decided to pull away before anything had begun, and I didn’t want to think about it, or him. We hadn’t had enough of anything to move on from.
I’d tucked away that mind-blowing orgasm on his bike to the back corner of my mind.
Still, being there that night, Jasmine had somehow found out what had happened. She’d questioned me the next day, but I’d brushed her off as if it had been nothing. That might have worked on someone else, but she was my best friend and saw right through me. Suspecting that Big John had hurt me, she’d been ready to go over there and give him a whack upside his head for being so stupid--her words, not mine--and I’d loved her for it. I also stopped her from going.
I wasn’t about to let the big man know how much he’d wounded me.
“I guess your silence is a no.” I laughed. “You know, I heard that he left after that.” So had I. I pretended indifference by shrugging. “There was some talk around the club−”
“Bedroom talk?” I chuckled, taking a sip of my lukewarm coffee.
“Well, I did hear it in the bedroom.” She wagged her eyebrows.
I just shook my head. Jasmine would never change. The night of the party she’d gotten involved with one of the bikers, Clay, and she’d been seeing him ever since. I had to admit that he seemed to be good for her because she’d toned down her flirtatious ways when it came to other men. However, she still dressed like the neighborhood hooker, which Clay apparently liked.
“I don’t want to talk about Big John,” I said finally, giving Jasmine a serious look. “I was attracted to him, I thought he was attracted to me, it just didn’t work out.” Her expression revealed that she thought that I was spewing bullshit. I decided to change the subject. “Do you really think anyone is going to trek through this storm and show up today?”
“Trying to get rid of me?”
“Of course not! There’s just no reason to waste a day sitting around waiting for no shows.”
Jasmine chuckled, setting the green nail polish aside that she’d been applying to her nails. “Beats sitting around at home all alone. At least we have each other to talk to.”
She had a point. “Come, on. I’ll put a note on the door in case anyone shows up. We can lock up and go upstairs.”
“Girls’ day?” she asked excitedly.
“Sure. If that’s what you want to call it.” I didn’t really feel like being alone, either, and I didn’t want to worry about Jasmine driving in the storm. “We can pop in a movie,” I suggested, writing out the note as I talked. If someone did show up they could ring the bell I’d had installed in my apartment, and we would come down.
I loved my upstairs apartment because it was mine and the first place I’d ever lived on my own. It was painted and decorated the way that I liked, and as far away from the dull, plain, earth-tones that Paul had favored. I loved color. Reds, yellows, and greens added pop to my whitewashed walls, hardwood floors, and countless braided throw rugs. The old house had a lot of character, and I’d kept as many of the old fixtures that I could when I’d had the upstairs remodeled. The smallest bedroom had been turned into a nice-sized bathroom, I had one bedroom, and the other two had been opened and turned into a small kitchenette and living room.
Small, comfy, and all mine.
I locked the door, turned off the lights, and we headed upstairs. “I’m going to put on some stew for later.”
“Do you have any wine?”
I made a face. “Wine and stew?”
Jasmine laughed. “Wine goes good with everything, but no, I meant for now.”
I thought about it for a minute, remembering that I’d finished up a bottle of wine the other night. “No, but I have some Bailey’s.”
She snorted. “Great, we can get drunk on coffee.”
“Or at least a nice buzz,” I added, heading for the coffee maker. Jasmine followed, sitting down on one of the stools at the kitchen island that doubled as a table.
“I was kidding, you can’t get drunk on Bailey’s,” she chided. “You can’t even get a decent buzz.”
“So, tell me, how serious is this thing between you and Clay?” I glanced back in time to see a transformation come over her beautiful face. “That serious, huh?” I laughed.
“What?” she asked, as if she didn’t know what I was talking about. “He’s nice.”
“Nice?” I sniggered. “I know you, girl, nice isn’t what attracts you to a man.” Jasmine liked excitement. She liked fun. And I’d known for a long time that she liked a little bit of danger in her relationships. Plus, he was hot. “Clay checks off all of your boxes.”
She shrugged. “Yeah. I’m not going to argue with you. I would never have thought that I’d be attracted to a man like him, you know? In Vegas my clients were polished businessmen and politicians. Clay is rough around the edges without a filter for whatever on his sexy mouth. It turns me on in a big way.”
“Not having a filter seems to be a requirement for them,” I agreed. I sat on the stool opposite her. Big John had been the same way, and, like Jasmine, it had turned me on. Who was I kidding? Everything about the big man had turned me on. “Does he know what you did in Vegas?”
“No. Somehow I don’t think it’d matter, though. The club men seem to be very sexual in nature. Later that night we ended up in their private clubhouse, and there was plenty of sex going on right there in plain sight.”
I knew what room Jasmine was talking about, and I didn’t want to ask her if Big John had been one of the men she’d seen. I remembered what he’d said to that woman about them getting together later that night. It surprised me that the hurt was still there, thinking about him with another woman the very night that he’d given me an orgasm.
“Big John wasn’t there, honey.” Jasmine had guessed the reason for my silence. She reached across and took my hand.
I smiled, aware that it was pitiful and a little sad. “Would you have told me if he had been?”
“Hell, yes!”
I exhaled loudly. “I don’t know why thinking of him with someone else hurts so much. There really was nothing between us.”
“Honey, don’t try and analyze it. It’s his loss that he tossed you away. And it’s better that you found out what kind of a bastard he was before you become too involved.”
I knew that Jasmine was right. I was about to suggest that she pick out a movie when a loud pounding from downstairs alerted us. I knew immediately what it was. Someone was at the door. We exchanged surprised looks and turned at the same time to head downstairs.
“Want me to go check?” We both reached the entrance door to my apartment at the same time. “They obviously haven’t seen the doorbell,” she groused, as louder knocking continued. Whoever they were, they were impatient.
“Let’s go together. It doesn’t sound like it’s one of our clients. Sounds like a bear trying to break in. I might need you for protection.”
Jasmine scoffed. “What kind of protection would I be against bears?”
“You could act as bait while I run the other way for help.”
We were both chuckling when we reached the bottom of the stairs. I flipped on the salon lights, my gaze going to the glass door, and recognizing Clay and Cooper standing on the other side. Clay’s face split into a huge grin when he saw Jasmine behind me.
“What are you two doing out in this storm?” I questioned once I’d turned the lock and let them in.
“Saw Jasmine’s car,” Clay responded, as if that explained everything. He moved past me and went straight to her. I watched speechlessly as he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her against him, locking his lips to hers. Groaning and moaning ensued.
I rolled my eyes and swung back to Cooper. “I hope you’re not expecting anything like that.”
He shook his head. “No, ma’am. I always ask before I attack a pretty woman’s mouth.”
Yeah, right, I thought to myself. “So, what’s going on?” I was certain that there was more to their visit than simply Clay seeing Jasmine’s car in my drive.
Clay and Jasmine finally came up for air. “Club trouble,” Clay explained. “We’re going on lockdown.”
“Club trouble in this storm?” I said with mild disbelief. It occurred to me that I didn’t really know what ‘club trouble’ meant.
“The weather has nothing to do with it,” Clay said gruffly. “We go on lockdown, means we bring our families in for protection.”
“Am I going with you?” Jasmine asked, smiling up at him. She really was smitten with the biker.
“You are, sweetheart. You’re my woman, which makes you family.”
“Where?” I wanted to know.
“The clubhouse,” Cooper replied. “No one in, no one out, once we go on lockdown. We have just enough time to gather up our families and get them there. It’s easier to keep them safe when they’re all together.”
I crossed my arms. “Protect them from what?”
“Club trouble,” Clay grinned, hugging Jasmine closer to him.
I rolled my eyes and released an irritated breath. We were right back to where the conversation had started. Jasmine laughed, getting Clay’s undivided attention.
“She wants to know what kind of club trouble.”
“I know that, sweetheart. But we don’t discuss club shit with anyone.”
“Okay then, how long is this lockdown going to be for?”
Clay shrugged. “As long as it takes.”
I was getting tired of his answers, which didn’t reveal much. And Jasmine was gazing up at him as if she were high as a kite on something, which was so totally unlike her. “So you expect her to just go off with you for an unspecified amount of time?” Jasmine’s expression said that she was cool with that, as long as she was with Clay. I resisted rolling my eyes again.
“You, too, darlin’.”
My jaw dropped, and I looked at Cooper as if he’d grown an extra head. “What?”
“You’re family to Jasmine. We were told to bring you in, too.”
He had to be kidding! “By who?” I demanded to know, slapping my hands on my hips. “I’m not part of this!”
“Big John wants−”
I snapped my gaze back to Clay. “Big John? It’s what he wants? You can tell that oversized Neanderthal that I’m an adult, and that no one tells me what to do!” Ever! Anymore, anyway. “I’m safe here.”
“Maybe you should go.”
I glared at Jasmine, and then took a deep breath to regain control. It wasn’t her fault that any of this was happening. It wasn’t her fault that she was involved with a biker and was at the point in their relationship that she would have followed him to the freaking moon. In the year that I’d known her, I’d never seen her like this with a man. She must really like Clay. I glared at him for a minute. He was hot, I’d give him that, in a kind of rough, military way. He winked at me, which drew me out of my silent musings.
“You go if you want but I’m staying here. I’ll be fine.”
“Big John’s gonna be pissed.”
“I’m not afraid of Big John.” I thought he had a lot of nerve for even suggesting it.
“Sweetheart, you got anything you want to bring with you? We can make a quick run to your house,” Clay offered. “We might be on lockdown for a few days.”
Jasmine shook her head. “As long as you have something I can change into, I’m good. Just let me get my coat.”
I watched her go to the back to retrieve it, wondering what kind of club trouble took place in the dead of winter that caused a biker club to go on lockdown. I’d heard the term before, on the news, when it had involved schools and other places that were under threat, and the police would surround the area. I seriously doubted that that was what would happen in this case.
Jasmine pushed through the curtain, slipping into her coat. “It’s going to be freaking cold on your bike.”
“Don’t have our bikes today, sweetheart, too fucking cold,” Clay grinned.
“You sure you won’t come with us?”
“I’m good,” I smiled, reassuring Jasmine, suddenly worried for her. I set my gaze on Clay. “You take care of her.”
“I won’t let her out of my sight.”
I didn’t doubt it for a minute. I watched them get into the big SUV and pull out of the drive. The snow seemed to be coming down harder now, silent and deadly, turning everything that it touched clean and white. Jasmine’s car was already coated with it. I had a feeling that if it continued, I would be holed up there alone for the next few days. No one in their right mind would venture out to get their hair or nails done.
That was fine with me. I didn’t mind having a few days off. I could work on the books in preparation for filing my taxes.