Tate
“I really need to ask Hadley where she gets her skirts.”
Roman looked over at Sage. “You’re going to wear a mini skirt?”
“Is it odd that you know it’s called a mini skirt?” she asked him.
“I make it a priority to know the things that cover my favorite thing,” he drawled.
“Women?”
Roman leaned toward her. “Ass.”
“How ironic that you’re an ass, and your favorite thing is ass.”
Dante spit his drink out, and Molly high-fived Sage. “Nice,” she cheered.
Roman smirked, but didn’t respond. Something was changing with him. He wasn’t his normal smart-ass self. Not saying he had completely changed, because he still had his moments, but it was possible to say that he was actually growing up.
Molly put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. “So, are you going to sit here all night staring at her, or are you actually going to talk to her?”
Hadley had been to our table twice, both times not making eye contact with me. She hadn’t asked me what I wanted to drink but had brought me a Captain and Coke both times. She may be pissed at me, but she still knew what I drank.
“I’m waiting,” I replied.
“What, for grass to grow under your ass?” Dante asked.
“I’m glad to see you guys spread the assiness around evenly. I’d hate to think you only acted that way to me,” Sage smiled sweetly at Roman and chomped down on her straw. “I’d hate to think you were favoring me.”
Roman leaned next to Sage’s ear and mumbled. “You’d love for me to favor you, darlin’.”
Her face heated bright red, and she slugged him in the arm. “You. Are. Such. An. Ass!”
Roman leaned back and shrugged. “It’s part of my charm.”
“I need to pee,” Molly announced.
Kellan laughed and shook his head. “Cookie.”
“What?” she asked. “I gotta go, and from the looks of it, so does Hadley. I think it’s time Sage and I had a talk with her.” Molly grabbed her purse and dragged Sage out of her seat.
“Wait? What?” Sage and Molly were halfway across the club before I realized what they were doing. “Do you all think you need to help me get Hadley back? I’m pretty sure I can do this shit myself.”
Kellan crossed his arms over his chest. “Is that why you’ve been a sad sack of shit the past three weeks, because you’re handling this shit yourself?”
“I was giving her time,” I insisted.
“Time to find someone else to take care of her and Ryker?” Roman asked.
I leaned forward and put my elbows on the table. “You know you fuckers are supposed to be on my side, right?”
Dante, Kellan, and Roman all shrugged. “We are on your side, you just need to get your head out of your ass.”
I watched Molly and Sage follow Hadley into the bathroom, and I prayed to God they didn’t fuck this up any more than I already had.
**********
Hadley
“Hi!”
“Hey!”
I stepped back into the stall and bumped into the toilet. Well, that was one way to be greeted after going to the bathroom.
Molly and her friend were standing outside my bathroom stall waiting for me.
“Uh, hey,” I mumbled.
“I’m Sage.
Molly hitched her thumb at Sage. “She works with me.”
“Um, cool.” I wasn’t sure what was going on. I didn’t think the bathroom was the greatest place to be introduced to Molly’s friend.
“How’s Ryker doing?” Molly asked.
“He’s doing good. Only has eight more days until the cast comes off.” We hadn’t talked the past three weeks, but I noticed him crossing off the days on the calendar ‘til his doctor appointment to get the cast cut off.
“Awesome. I bet he’s going stir crazy not being able to be a ninja.”
Sage nodded, agreeing with Molly.
“Ninja?” I asked.
“He’s a Ninja Hottie in training. Won’t be long till he’s Badass Ninja.” Molly talked like I knew what the hell she was talking about.
I held my hands up in the form of a ‘T.’ “Timeout. I think you need to better explain what you are talking about. I figured you would talk about Tate, not Ryker.”
Molly waved her hand at me. “I was just trying to be polite before we bugged you about him.”
Sage nodded and leaned against the stall door. “Is his name really Ryker? I figured it was Ronnie and he ninjafied it.”
I tilted my head and scrunched up my face. “Um, I’m one hundred percent sure. I was there when my sister named him.”
Sage stomped her foot and moved to the sink. “That ass was right,” she mumbled.
Molly giggled and pulled me out of the stall. “Sorry to make you stay in there,” she laughed. “We just came to do some recon for Tate.”
I washed my hands and watched them in the mirror. “Tate asked you guys for help?”
Sage threw her head back and laughed, while Molly fluffed her hair. “Hardly. I’m pretty sure if he could, he would be pulling us out of here right now. We,” Molly motioned between herself and Sage, “decided to help on our own.”
“I don’t really know how you can help,” I mumbled.
Molly leaned on the sink next to me. “Girl, I was in the same spot you were in not even two months ago. I liked Kellan, but then Kellan was an ass, and then I had no idea what to feel, but I still liked him.”
“Girl, that made absolutely no sense, and you better let me do the talking because all you’re going to do is confuse the poor girl even more.” Sage pushed Molly out of the way and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Listen to me, not her.”
“Now you sound like you’re trying to hypnotize her,” Molly babbled.
Sage glanced at Molly and smirked. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. Do you have a watch on a chain?”
“Yeah, I carry one right next to my monocle,” Molly smarted.
“I have no idea what that is. Remind me to Google it later.”
I stepped out of Sage’s grasp and slowly backed to the door. “I hate to leave, but I kind of need to get back to work. The bosses are in tonight, and I can’t leave them for too long.”
“Are they the table full of sexy bikers?” Sage asked.
These girls were easily distracted. “Um, yeah. The ones sitting in front of you guys.”
“I wish my boss was a sexy biker,” Sage said dreamily.
Molly bumped Sage with her shoulder. “You’re stuck with me unless you decide to take up the pole.”
Sage smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. “I practice in my bedroom all the time. Kennedy helped me set it up. Sam thinks I’m training to be a fireman. I’m gonna have to move it into the closet,” she pondered.
Molly’s jaw dropped. “You have a stripper pole in your bedroom, and you never told me?”
“It’s good exercise,” Sage explained.
“And sexy as hell. You have to let me come over and try it,” Molly begged.
“Only if you promise not to tell the guys. If they find out that you two are coming over to use the pole, they’ll think we’re doing some lesbian shit. And, although you’re both hot, I don’t think either of us swing that way.”
Molly nodded. “So true.”
My hand gripped the door handle behind me. I was so close to getting out of here, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted to. Molly and Sage were hilarious.
“Wait,” Molly called. “We didn’t talk about Tate.”
“Um,” I mumbled. “I don’t think there’s much to say.”
“There’s always more to say. Do you still like him?” Molly asked. “Tate really is a nice guy.”
I knew Tate was nice. I also knew that I had been an idiot with Tate and told him to leave when all I really wanted to do was curl up in his arms and cry. “I know he’s nice.”
“So why are you here, and he’s there?”
“Because we’re holding her hostage in the bathroom, Molly,” Sage pointed out.
Molly huffed and put her hands on her hips. “I meant hypothetically.”
“I don’t think that’s the right word,” Sage mumbled.
Molly threw her hands up in the air. “I’m half lit, and I have no idea what I’m saying. What I really want to say is if you like Tate, then be with him. Don’t let anyone stand in the way of you two being happy. I have no idea what the hell happened between you two, but all I know is that Tate is miserable, and you don’t seem so happy either. Now, go out there and get ‘em, tiger.”
Molly reached behind me and pushed the door open.
“Tiger?” Sage laughed.
I stumbled out the door, my heel catching on the tile, and my feet went out from under me.
“Oh shit,” Molly called.
I reached out, trying to grab anything I could get a grip on. Two arms wrapped around me before my ass hits the floor, and I knew right away who had caught me.
“Nice catch, Tate.” Molly high-fived Sage and slipped out of the bathroom. “I think our work here is done,” Molly laughed.
“You know, for not having a plan, I have to say, this worked out pretty darn good. I think this calls for a round of drinks. To the bar!” Sage yelled.
Tate lifted me up, and my hands gripped his biceps as I tried to get my feet under me. Sage and Molly trotted off to the bar leaving me alone with Tate.
“Easy, sweetheart,” Tate mumbled.
My heart fluttered hearing him call me sweetheart. I had missed him calling me that, and I had missed being in his arms even more. “Um, I’m sorry,” I muttered.
He brushed my hair out of my face and looked down at me. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
“I was afraid Molly and Sage were going to keep you in there all night.”
I sighed and tried to pull out of his arms. “Me too. Those two together are quite the pair.”
“Don’t go,” he said quietly.
I froze in his arms and slow-blinked. “What?”
He looked around. “We need to talk.”
“I can’t. I’m in the middle of my shift.”
Tate shook his head. “You and I are more important.”
“I can’t.”
His eyes burned into me, and he shook his head. “I’m not letting you go this time, Hadley.”
“I’m sorry but I rea—”
Tate stepped back, bent down, put a shoulder to my stomach, and lifted me over his shoulder. “We need to talk.”
He strode into the club, and I put my hands on my butt, holding my skirt down. I was, of course, wearing the skirt that my ass showed if the wind blew just right. “Tate,” I hissed, “put me down right now.”
“No,” he grunted.
From upside down, I could tell he was headed right where the Knights were sitting.
“Keys,” I heard him grunt.
I swatted Tate’s back and insisted he let me down. Chairs scraped backward on the floor, but I couldn’t tell who had stood up. I heard the jingle of keys and knew Tate had gotten what he asked for.
“No stranding us here, fucker,” Kellan said, I think.
Tate moved to the door, but not before I heard someone ask if I was okay. I managed to twist my head and saw it was King asking. Oh hell. There went my job.
“She’s good,” Roman responded. “He’s just finally getting his head out of his ass.” Everyone laughed.
Ha. What they didn’t know was that I was going to put my foot up his ass as soon as he put me down.
**********