Chapter Eight
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Ria watched Cam as he wordlessly ordered more beer for them with just a few hand signals. As the bartender got their second round of drinks ready behind the bar, Ria gazed around the unique space, taking everything in. She wanted to live in this moment and remember every single detail for when she had to return home. The most awesome thing in the world was Cam bringing her here to this biker bar with pool tables.
She was playing pool! On Earth! In a biker bar! She wanted to do a dance, but kept herself under control as best as she could. Her eyes widened and the urge to sing struck her when she noticed a jukebox across the room.
Cam followed her gaze and laughed when he saw the machine. “I suppose you want to make a selection.”
“I so do.” She bounced on her toes, trying to subdue her urge to jump up and down for joy like an overexcited child.
“Do you know what song you want to play?”
“Not until I get over there and see the choices.”
He fished in his front jeans pocket for some change and handed her some metal coins. “Here are some quarters. Have fun.”
She took the money and forced her legs to walk sedately across the room and not skip and dance like she was in a movie musical. She mentally added “movie night” to her list. Perhaps she’d also add “skipping and dancing” to her list and immediately check them off. Her Almanac of All Things Earthling had been the best purchase she’d ever made.
Once in front of the jukebox, she noted that each song selection was twenty-five cents or three choices for fifty cents. That second option was such a bargain, she couldn’t resist.
She selected Our Lips Are Sealed by the Go-Go’s, One Way or Another by Blondie and something called Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’ by Journey. She’s never heard of the song, but chose it because it listed three actions she wanted to do to Cam with every breath she took. Love. Touch. Squeeze. Kiss. Snuggle. Marry. Stop it. Be cool.
Ria headed back to their pool table, navigating her way through the randomly placed tables and chairs. She was two tables away from her goal when she moved past a man sitting alone, chair balanced on the back two legs. She only noticed him when he reached out and grabbed her wrist. She spun on him as the opening line of her first selection thumped through the speakers. The front legs of his chair slammed to the floor.
“Hey, beautiful. Do we know each other? You look kinda familiar to me,” he said, tightening his grasp on her wrist. “Why don’t you sit with me for a spell so we can get acquainted again? I’ll even buy you a drink.”
“No, thank you. I already have a date and a drink.” She tried to pull her wrist from his grasp, but he held fast.
She tugged away again, harder, but he didn’t let go. “Come on, now. You can sit here with me for a minute. Your date won’t mind.”
She jerked away, but failed to gain her release. Her wrist was starting to hurt. “Let go of me or else—”
“Or else what?” He gripped her tighter.
She paused for a beat, but finished her thought. “Or else my date will beat the snot out of you and I’ll cheer him on when he wipes the floor with your limp body.”
“That’s not very nice,” he said with a sneer. She smelled his noxious booze breath and yanked her hand again. He wouldn’t let go. A ripple of fear coursed down her spine when she couldn’t get free.
“Grabbing my wrist and refusing to let go is not very nice, either.”
“Well, I call that dogged determination.” He grinned as if it was perfectly normal behavior to grab a girl and refuse to let go. His level of drunkenness must be greater than she thought.
She turned, launching away from him in hopes her wrist would come along with her, just in time to bounce her upper torso off Cam’s chest. His arms encircled her body and her panic bled away like water through a sieve. She hadn’t even heard him come over.
“Let go of her,” he said in a cold, authoritative voice.
“Or else what?” The guy had a death grip on her wrist. He stood up, wobbled a bit, but kept hold of her.
“Or else I’ll kick your sorry drunken butt into the next county and—”
A voice from behind them cut off Cam’s looming threat. “Randy, let her go or I’m calling the sheriff.” The bartender carried their second round of beers on a small tray as he voiced his warning.
Randy released her on the first syllable of his name. “Go ahead, call the sheriff. I didn’t do nuthin’ to her,” he said, leaning back in his chair to balance on the rear two legs again. Ria rubbed her wrist and contemplated pushing the front edge of his unbalanced chair sharply with her toe. Would he get up and fight?
Watching a bar brawl wasn’t on her bucket list, but she could add it. She was mad enough to take him down in a fistfight all by herself.
“You grabbed my wrist and wouldn’t let go. You call that nothing?” Ria asked, incredulous.
He shrugged. His expression was unapologetic, as if grabbing was part of the whole biker bar experience. Perhaps it was. He stared at her hard again, his eyes traveling from her head to her knees and back up. Ria felt Cam tense as if preparing for battle. She should stop and take this situation down a notch.
The drunken man’s gaze ran up and down her body again, stopping at her head. “As a matter of fact, you do look really familiar, sweet thing.” He pointed to her head. “It’s those blue streaks in your hair. We have met before, haven’t we?”
“No. You haven’t ever met her before,” Cam said with a glare. He took a step backward, pulling Ria along. “Come on, let’s go.”
The guy’s eyes narrowed and he snapped his fingers. “Wait a minute. I remember now. I saw you singing karaoke last night at the Smokin’ Hog Saloon.” He glanced at Cam. “And you went home with him, didn’t you?” He suddenly sounded aghast, accusatory and critical at the very idea of her association with Cam.
Ria sucked in a loud breath of indignation. “That’s none of your business—”
The bartender moved a step closer. “That’s it. Go home, Randy. Or I’ll call someone you are afraid of.”
“Oh, yeah? Like who?”
“Like your old lady.”
“She ain’t my wife. I can do whatever I want.”
“Oh, okay. So I should go ahead and call her and tell her what you’re up to right now?” the bartender threatened, pulling a cellular phone from the pocket of his jeans.
Randy slammed his chair forward and grabbed for the phone, missing it when the bartender moved quickly. “Now wait just a dang minute. That’s not what I said.”
Cam pulled his wallet out and offered the bartender some money. “For the second round,” he said. “We’ve got to go.”
The man waved away the cash. “No worries. On the house for your troubles.”
“Do we really have to leave?” Ria asked. Dang Randy and his grabby drunken antics, ruining her first pool game that they hadn’t even finished yet. Plus, they hadn’t even listened to all the songs she’d selected from the jukebox.
The bartender said, “Go ahead and finish your game. Randy was just leaving. I’ll make sure he don’t bother you two again.” The bartender smiled, revealing a row of slightly crooked front teeth.
“Okay. Thanks.” Cam grabbed the two beers off the tray one handed and walked with his arm around Ria to the far side of the pool table. Randy got up, stumbling and grumbling all the way out the front door.
The bartender picked up his small tray and followed Randy outside. Cam offered Ria one of the beers that had been on the house. She knew that meant free.
“We can really stay?”
“Sure. I guess so. To finish our pool game at least.”
“And listen to the jukebox.” The second song came on and Blondie belted out the next tune Ria had selected. Cam nodded and a sudden grin shaped his features. “And listen to jukebox music.”
He gestured for her to take her turn. She bent down to the task as the front door opened. She expected the bartender to return, but instead saw a tall figure out of the corner of her eye.
“Are you kidding me?” Cam said under his breath.
“What? Who is it?”
“Diesel,” he said glumly.
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Diesel, your brother, the one I’m supposed to hide from? Ria turned her head toward the front door in time to see the large figure of Diesel Grey in the doorway.
Ria remembered him. Diesel had welcomed the cruise liner’s passengers into the way station the afternoon they’d arrived at the Big Bang Truck Stop. Delighted to see someone she knew, sort of, Ria forgot Cam’s instructions to avoid his brother and waved.
“I remember him,” she said, and continued waving at the man they called the Fearless Leader.
Cam grabbed her hand and pushed it down to her side. “He can already see us, Cam, whether I wave or not.” She shot her other hand up and waved again, earning a rather disgruntled look from the man at her side.
“We are trying to be incognito. You only know him because of the way station in the basement. Listen to me, Ria. Do not tell him who you are.”
“I know. I won’t tell him. I can be cool. I’m a cool biker babe.” Cam looked at her sideways. There was on odd expression carved in Diesel’s features. “On the bright side, it doesn’t look like he expected to be seen here either,” she said.
“It is an out-of-town biker bar,” he said under his breath.
“I know,” she said, exuberance radiating from both words. She was so happy. Was it the beer? “And it’s awesome.”
Cam watched their unwanted companion approach with a loud sigh. “I wish you weren’t so gleeful about it. Don’t forget, you must pretend you are human. And you absolutely do not know him, right?”
“I know, Cam.” She was fairly jumping up and down with excitement. The beer had definitely given her a warm, happy feeling inside.
“I knew I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
A giggle escaped. “Oh, don’t be such an old fuddy-duddy, Cam. It will be fine.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “And also, in case I forget to tell you later on, I want you to know that this has been the best day of my life.”
“Even better than last night?” he said with an amused grin and a wink.
Her face went totally hot with the memory of all the lack of sleep they’d gotten the night before. “You’re absolutely right. It’s the second-best day of my life.”
“Cam?” The Fearless Leader stopped in front of them. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh no. You first,” Cam said. “I didn’t know you were fond of biker bars.”
“I’m meeting someone here.” Diesel quickly scanned the room, then turned his gaze back to them.
Cam smiled. “Juliana?”
“No. Wyatt.”
Does he mean Sheriff Wyatt Campbell?
“You’re meeting Wyatt? Why?”
“I don’t know yet. He was the one who called the meeting and set the location.”
“Why didn’t you invite me?”
“Because you took the next several days off for your first vacation in…forever,” he said with what sounded like a hint of exasperation. He took a long look at Ria, staring at her hair for an extra beat. She slapped a big grin in place. Did she look human? Did the blue streaks work as part of her Earther disguise? Why am I grinning so hard? “But now I can see why.”
“Thanks,” Ria said brightly. Diesel nodded then put his focus back on Cam.
“Do you want me to sit in on the meeting with you?” Cam’s serious security hat seemed to slide into place without warning. She was impressed, but then she wondered what she’d do while Cam left her to own devices to take care of business.
She would be the first to admit she was easily distracted by all the fun and interesting delights Earth had to offer. She would start out trying to be good, but what if another man grabbed her? What if someone else recognized her from the karaoke bar? She needed Cam and he needed her to stay by his side.
Thankfully, his brother turned down his offer. “Nope. You’re on an extended vacation now, remember?” Diesel glanced at Ria and grinned. “So for once, enjoy your time off. I’ll brief you when you return, if it’s anything vitally important.”
To Ria, he said, “Hi there, I’m Diesel.” She would have known him even if he hadn’t greeted the cruise liner’s passengers in person. He was sort of famous on Alpha-Prime even for those who’d never studied Earth like she had. Almost everyone knew Diesel Grey was the newest Fearless Leader of the Earth colony.
Cam Grey was listed as the chief of security, but there was no picture of him. If there was, she might have realized who he was at the karaoke bar right away instead of believing he was an earthling named Cam.
The two blackberry martinis she had downed to give herself the courage to get up on stage and sing had obviously clouded her judgment. Side by side, the family resemblance between Diesel and Cam was unmistakable. Would she have made the connection if she was sober?
Maybe. Maybe not. Knowing Cam was an Alpha wouldn’t have made her less attracted to him. She noticed him the moment he entered the bar. If she’d known he was an Alpha up front, she couldn’t say it would have changed a single thing.
“Hi, I’m Ria. Pleased to meet you, Diesel.”
“Likewise. Apparently my brother wants to hog you all to himself, so he hasn’t bothered to introduce us. Which is fine. I get it. I even find it difficult to blame him, but the thing is, I already have a soon-to-be wife at home. And I’m madly in love with her, which he well knows, so he shouldn’t be so difficult.”
“I’m not being difficult,” Cam said. “I was about to introduce you.”
“Sure you were.” Diesel winked at Ria, making her laugh.
Behind them, the front door opened and another tall, familiar man dressed in a uniform entered the bar. He lifted a hand in greeting to the three of them as he approached.
Wyatt whistled. “Wow. This is the girl you were hiding behind a helmet on your bike earlier? I can see why.”
Cam rolled his eyes. “Ria, you remember Sheriff Wyatt Campbell from earlier.”
They shook hands. The sheriff was a pretty big guy, like an Alpha, but she could read his mind. He was definitely an earthling. Wyatt thought she was pretty and he liked the exotic blue streaks in her hair, wondered if it was really her hair or fake hair that she fastened into her locks. But the sheriff didn’t have a romantic interest in her. He had another girl on his mind.
Ria thought it was sweet that he was here to talk to Diesel about the girl he thought about…a lot.
“Great to meet you,” Wyatt said, his thoughts refocused on the color of her hair…and how the style might look on the girl he loved.
“Thanks. Nice to meet you, too.” She pointed to her hair and said, “The blue color is really my hair, not fake stuff fastened in.”
Wyatt sucked in a sharp breath. “How did you know that’s what I was thinking?”
Drat. She shouldn’t have answered his mental questions.