2. Bulldog

Chapter 2

Bulldog

S eventies rock is blaring from the ol’ jukebox. It’s a Friday night and the bar is already hopping and it’s only nine o’clock. Working as the bouncer for the Ride or Die is never boring. There’s always the same crew here, but it seems lately there’s more and more outsiders showing up. It’s a biker bar, after all, but tonight there’s all kinds of people here.

Candace, a woman that comes in pretty regularly, has her arm on me and I know all I have to do is say the word. She’d go out with me—on a date, to the backroom, whatever I wanted. But just looking at her, I know she would be temporary and I’m starting to wish that the women in my life weren’t so fleeting. It’s not like they’re wanting to exit my life. I’m the one with the walls up. It’s just that the women I meet don’t seem to have any substance to them. It seems that a lot of the guys of the Heartlands MC are settling down and I can’t help but be a little jealous of what they’ve found. I’ve never seen them happier. But regardless, I know Candace is not what I want. So I dismiss her with a shrug of my head and then go back to looking at one table across the room.

I stare over at the four women that came in a little while ago. Well, actually I’m only looking at one of them. I don’t know what it is that the women I’ve been kicking to the curb are missing exactly, but whatever it is, the woman that I can’t seem to look away from has it. I knew when they came in they didn’t belong here. I mean, they all dressed the part, well except for her. The beautiful redhead with the green eyes. She has on a long, fitted skirt and button-down shirt that is almost buttoned to the very top. The rest of the ladies have on short skirts and belly-baring shirts, and it’s obvious they’re looking for a good time. But my girl is sitting there, watching everything, and seems to be taking it all in. I wait for a look of disgust or even a lift of her nose, but she doesn’t. She seems to just be observing it all.

I almost walk over to her table a dozen times, but for the first time in a long time I’m not quite sure how to approach her. I watch her with her friends, and it’s obvious that she’s the responsible one of the group, keeping track of her friends, and she’s only been nursing a single beer for the past hour.

I nod at some friends coming in, slap knuckles and then look back at the table. My girl has her back to me now and she’s watching her friend on the dance floor. Her friend has her skirt hiked high on her hips and she’s swaying to the music. Right now, she’s alone, but I know she won’t be for long. I look around the bar and it seems she’s giving a show. None of the men that are taken, Ranger, Saint, Jaxon, and Chain, are looking her way, but the rest of them are, and I know, like a nagging in my gut, that it’s about to get bad.

I see the man get up from the bar and stagger over to her. At first she smiles at him, but when he gets handsy, she tries to pull away. I’m already making my way across the bar, but it seems the woman I had my eye on is going to beat me to it. She slides between her drunk friend and the man. Without even touching him, she somehow gets him to back down. I walk up in time to hear her say, “Sorry, but my friend’s not interested.”

The man just laughs and then looks my girl up and down. “What about you, honey? You interested?”

Before she can get a word out, I’m stepping up next to them, doing my best not to rip his eyes out for even looking at her. “No, she’s not, John. Why don’t you have a seat back at the bar?”

It seems my reputation proceeds me, and John doesn’t even question me before turning to go. I barely watch him walk away before turning my back on him. I know he’s not stupid enough to blindside me. Half the men in here would have him dragged out the back door before he got a second punch.

“Thank you,” my girl says to me. I can’t keep referring to her as my girl. A name. I need a name.

“You’re welcome. But it looks like you had it under control before I got here,” I compliment her.

She shrugs her shoulders and before she can turn away, I ask her, “What’s your name?”

She tilts her head to the side but doesn’t answer me immediately. I can tell she’s weighing her thoughts before she decides to give in. But the heat is there. She’s attracted to me, I can tell. Maybe it’s because I want her, and it’s hopeful thinking on my part, but I don’t think so. The rapid beat of her pulse in her neck, the flare of her nostrils, and the way her eyes are darkening let me know she has some interest. “Why do you want to know?” She finally answers me with her own question.

Her friend is looking between us and she seems to have sobered up, because her head is volleying back and forth easily, as if she doesn’t want to miss a thing.

I could tell the little redhead that I want to know what I should be calling her when I’m driving my dick into her later, but she doesn’t seem the type that would be impressed with that. So, instead, I’m honest with her. “Because I’ve been wondering since you walked in earlier. And I figure you’re not ready for me to call you my girl like I have been doing in my head all night.”