2. Lace

2

LACE

I sigh into my coffee. This is bad. I didn’t get the rental.

I’ve been working my butt off in Hustler’s coffee shop, Muso’s, over in the French Quarter near Jackson Square. The tips aren’t bad, but it’s not as though I’m banking like crazy. Hustler is Priest’s Dad. He’s a good guy, and I like working for him. He lets us get on with our jobs and doesn’t treat us like idiots, which is refreshing.

“Are you okay, hon?” Audrina asks. Of course, like most of the crew around here, she’s related to the MC. Her son is Nevada, one of the Tail Gunners for the club and Star’s old man. Tail Gunners ride at the back, keeping charge of the pack and all the other motorcycles during our club runs.

Star and Halo, Riot’s ol’ lady, work together and are active in the group chat I’m now privy to.

Audrina works a few shifts to help Hustler out, but I secretly think they have something going on. I’m not sure how Nevada feels about his mom hooking up with Priest’s dad, but I think it’s super cute. He’s a silver fox and pretty hot for an old guy. They’d make a cute couple.

“Another rejection,” I tell her. Audrina has become someone I confide in. She’s super nice, and smart, and in her late forties, so she knows shit. “This rental market is tough.”

“Something will come up, you’ll see.”

“I love how you always look on the bright side.” I smile.

She finishes wiping the counter down and tucks her notepad and pen into the front of her apron. “Getting all mopey won’t help matters. It’ll turn around.”

I look up at her. “Something’s different about you.” I narrow my eyes. “Audrina, don’t lie to me. I know that flushed cheeks look anywhere.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” She turns her back on me, but I can’t be fooled.

“Are you getting some from the boss?” I whisper, looking over my shoulder to make sure Hustler can’t hear us. He’s conveniently around whenever Audrina is on shift and helps out in the kitchen. Though, wherever there’s a gaggle of women, Hustler is sure to be found. Something about that silver fox fantasy seems to send women into a tailspin. The man is a machine, but he takes it all in his stride.

Audrina turns, her cheeks bright red and her eyes wide. “Oh my God, Lace! You did not just say that!” She flicks her head toward the kitchen frantically. “And can you please lower your voice!”

I chuckle. “So you are?”

“No. I’m not, and a young lady shouldn’t be speaking like that about their boss, or anyone. West has been so accommodating to a lot of people in this town…” She’s babbling, and she refuses to call Hustler by his biker name. She’s also very proper. Lord knows how she bore a child like Nevada. He used to be a fuck boy, according to the ol’ ladies of the club, but changed his ways when he met Star, and now they’re all loved up. Another one bites the dust.

“Keep your panties on. I was just joking, but now I’m super suspicious.” She flicks me with a dish towel, narrowly missing my butt. “Hey!”

“I mean it. Bosses are off limits for that kind of talk.”

“Is that because you’re sworn to secrecy about the length of his?—”

“Everything okay?” Hustler appears at the doorway, a bright smile on his face as he looks at Audrina. It’s so obvious.

We both jump like kids getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Audrina makes a choking sound as I try not to lose it.

Sadly, I can’t contain my laughter. “We thought we saw a spider,” I blurt, patting Audrina on the back. “She doesn’t like creepy crawlies.”

Hustler’s brow knits together. “I can have a look for you. Where did you think you saw it?”

He’s staring at Audrina, her cheeks still flushed with embarrassment about what I was going to say about his dick. You can’t tell me that there’s no juice flowing between these two. I don’t believe it.

“It went under the counter,” I lie. I can feel Audrina look at me in her periphery. She’s such a goodie-two-shoes. I love her and all, but she needs to let her hair down just a little. If she hasn’t been fucked by the boss yet, she needs to. She’s so tense.

Though, it looks like Hustler likes her just how she is. I stifle another laugh over his concern. If I’d told Hustler she’d broken a nail, he’d probably call an ambulance.

“It’s fine, really, West. It’s nothing, I have bug spray right here somewhere...” Her voice is a little too high, and if I checked real close, I’d bet she sent a glance down to his nether region, because right now, I’m thinking about it, too. Not that I wanna bone the boss. Hell no. But the man is sexy, I can’t deny it.

“As long as you’re sure?” He presses. Aww, so sweet. His obvious concern is heartwarming.

I roll my lips. “The cannoli’s have been a real winner today, boss,” I say, trying desperately to change the subject, because now I feel like a bit of an ass. Then again, I have been known to play matchmaker quite well…

He shifts his gaze to mine, then checks out the cake cabinet behind us. His face brightens. “That’s great.”

“It’s all thanks to Audrina,” I chirp. “She loves a good cannoli with extra cream.” I. Am. The. Devil.

His eyes flick to her for just a second, his mouth opens, then closes before he mutters something, and excuses himself back to the kitchen in a hurry. I can’t hold back my laughter this time.

Audrina, however, has other ideas. She faces me, hands on hips, and shakes her head. “Really, Lace? Cannoli with extra cream?”

“What?” I try my best innocent voice as I move away, scared she’ll try to flick me again and get me this time. “You did sell all the cannoli’s today. It isn’t my fault you two have dirty minds. I was just trying to make you look good in front of the boss, not that you need any help in that department.”

She blows air out of her cheeks. “You’re just trying to embarrass me even more than I already am with your other comments.” She holds up a hand to stop me as I open my mouth. “Seriously, cut it. Or I’ll tell Manny you have a secret crush on him.”

I spin around and purse my lips. “You wouldn’t.” Okay, maybe I confessed too much.

“Well, I will if it means you’ll get off my back about our boss. ”

“What? Like West doesn’t look like someone who just fell off a men’s magazine campaign for Brut, or whatever it is old guys wear.”

“West isn’t old,” she whisper-shouts. “He’s distinguished.”

“Which is a polite way of saying old, really. Hey, I’m totally into it. He’s really hot. I saw him coming out of the gym one time. The man has some serious abs and muscles going on under those clothes.”

“You shouldn’t be talking like that. May I remind you about the code of conduct we both signed?”

“Off the record.” I give her a pointed look. “How would you rate the Bossman in the sack?”

I watch as she smiles, albeit a little devilishly, takes out her phone and starts to text. “Hey? What are you doing?”

“Oh, nothing.”

I move toward her, but she turns her back on me and I try to see over her shoulder, but she’s taller than me. “Audrina!”

“You asked for it!”

“I was kidding!” Ever since Manny and I went out running errands, and our flirty little conversation in the kitchen, my libido has been going a little haywire. I’d put Manny in the friend zone , but now things have changed. Recently I’ve been wondering why the hell I would do that. I guess I figured he was more into dudes, and realistically, he knows I’ve not exactly been a saint since I got to the club.

Casual sex is meaningless, but it fills a void. One that I’m not always proud of because, most of the time, the sex isn’t even good. It’s about the guy getting off as fast as possible; it’s never about me and my needs. Sometimes I question why I’m like this if I don’t even enjoy sex, but I’ve used it as a mask for so long to cover up my pain that I’ve become numb to it.

When Manny said that shit about good guys, it made me wonder. I mean. I’d love to have a little bit of the good boy, and the bad boy. But not bad as in he’s terrible or hurts me, but just a bad boy with a heart of gold kinda thing. I almost snort at that idea. Do those guys really exist?

I try to wrench Audrina’s phone from her hands when I see her texting Manny. “I think the cat needs to be let out of the bag,” Audrina sing-songs.

“Noooo!” I howl, wrestling her as she sticks her ass out to block me, and we end up entwined with each other, both laughing like idiots, my cheeks hurting from laughter.

Then suddenly we hear,“Are you girls okay?”

We both look up at Hustler, appearing again at the door, and fuck me if he doesn’t have more cannoli in his paws, ready for the cake fridge. This dear, sweet man.

Just as I look back at Audrina, she hits send. My eyes go wide as I read the text.

Mama Audie

Heads up. Lace has a huge crush on you, but you didn’t hear that from me

Mama Audie? Audrina pulls herself together. “So sorry, West. We were just joking around and this one here has had too much coffee this morning.”

“No, it’s fine.” He rushes toward the cake fridge with his goods as I point in silent fury at a smiling Audrina.

“Totally fine,” I reiterate. “But Audrina broke the no cell rule while at work.” I poke my tongue out at her.

Audrina narrows her eyes. “I had to let Manny know something super urgent,” she counters, then in another voice, reserved for sexy silver foxes, she adds, “I’m sorry, West, that won’t happen again.”

He’s just placing the fresh cannoli in the fridge when he turns, a puppy dog smile on his face. “Well now, some rules are meant to be broken, and emergencies happen. It’s honestly fine.”

Of course it’s fine. It’s Audrina .

I smile sweetly as he takes off back into the kitchen and Audrina drops her phone back into her apron. “How do you like them apples?” She raises her eyebrows.

“Fine. You win. Now I have to tell Manny that it was all a joke.”

“I don’t know why you don’t just have a date, he’s the sweetest. You’d be cute together and I get the impression that he’s kinda lonely. It can’t be easy working around all the brutes at the club.” That’s saying something.

“I hear ya. But he’s not as cute as Daddy West.” I flutter my eyelashes. I don’t know why, but as much as I like Manny, and I’m attracted to him, I have that sinking feeling inside that I’m just not good enough. A man like Manny could have any girl, or guy, he wants.

My low self-esteem comes from years of trauma. The big pothole of my life is the fact that my own father shot me when I was a young girl. As in, he took a shotgun, pointed it at me, and pulled the trigger. He also killed our mother.

He was going for a triple murder when Riot managed to get the gun and shoot our father dead. Our neighbor Charles; a man who turned out to be the father I should’ve had — controlled the bleeding, and I somehow lived. I still have the scar above my heart where the buckshot went in to prove it, and the trauma of knowing he shot our mother dead in the process. He was a raging drunk, addict and all-round narcissistic asshole.

I wasn’t a bad kid. If anything, I was quiet. Shy. A reader. That’s what I was doing when he shot me. He was in one of his drunken rages and lost his shit. If my brother hadn’t acted quick, we’d all be dead. Charles took us in and gave us a place to live; he’d been in the system too and knew all about the abuse that could take place. We’d both suffered enough. He didn’t have to do shit, but yet he did. He saved us in so many ways.

When I think back to that rickety old shack, the very shack we burned to the ground, I don’t feel anything. Just a black void of numbness. In some ways, maybe I’ve never known what it means to be happy, but I can’t blame that on Charles. He did what he could. I went to college, something I’m proud of, even if I don’t use my degree presently. I majored in accounting and I’m very good at it; working first in consulting and then tax accounting, but let’s just say I got caught up in some shit in Arizona when I worked for a casino. The mob, to be precise, except I didn’t exactly know it was the mob at the time. Okay, maybe I knew they weren’t exactly law abiding citizens, but I was just doing my job. Then they wanted me to break the law. It’s one of the reasons I fled, and can’t work in my chosen profession because I don’t want them to track me down. Not that I did anything wrong, but you never know when the mob will decide you’re no longer useful to them. The stories I could tell…

“I forgot what a joy it was working with you.” She laughs again, shaking her head. “You keep me young.”

“I still haven’t forgiven you for sending that.”

“Trust me, a little push never hurt anyone.”

“Tell that to lover boy in there.” I thumb behind me. “The way he came running out with the replacement cannoli. Priceless.”

“You’re imagining things.” She smiles when a customer approaches and our banter ceases.

I bite on my lip, unable to understand why I’m being this way about Manny. I mean. He’s cute. I’m sure we’d be good together, but I’m used to the ‘love ‘em and leave em’ type.

Not a nice guy who offers to drive so I can eat freshly made food in the car. Who does that? Not the guys I’ve ever known. Except maybe the guy I’ve been seeing casually who is one of the guys stripping at The Vault XL; Bandit. We met at the Rebel’s clubhouse where he’s a member, and while nothing has officially happened yet, I want it to. He’s smokin’, and wouldn’t Manny be shocked to learn one of his brothers admitted to me in a drunken stupor one night that he’s always been curious about men. That I didn’t see coming, but it made my toes tingle in a way that had me blushing. It’s not just that Bandit begged me to keep it a secret, but the idea that he’s holding in these desires and emotions makes me sad for him. I get it, I really do, but it isn’t healthy. The next time I saw Bandit, he just acted like nothing had happened with his confession, and so did I. One thing about me? I take secrets to the grave.

But his admission woke something in me that was stirring long before. Bandit and Manny. I was imagining the two of them together, with me. I roll my lips, my pussy clenching. No. That would never happen. I mean, a girl couldn’t get that lucky, but Bandit isn’t coming out of the closet anytime soon, though I know it’ll be a sweet day when he does. Not that he has to be in a hurry with these things, especially if he’s just curious. The poor guy is lost, just as much as I am. He’s also a single dad and has an adorable son I’ve seen at the club a couple of times, called Eli. He’s eight and a complete sweetheart, but Bandit keeps his cards close to his chest. Maybe he looks rough around the edges; being completely covered in tats with a strong, stocky build. A body truly built for sin. Plus, these intense green eyes that seem to stare right into your soul. While we haven’t slept together, it’s not something I’d say no to. The trouble is? I can’t stop thinking about Manny. He knows I’ve hooked up with other guys, and he’s never said anything about it. In fact, Manny would be the least likely person that I know to judge anybody. That’s why the girls of the club love him so much. He’s like an agony aunt that they run to when they have troubles.

Everyone loves him. There’s a deep respect there from all the club members that I know makes Manny humbled. He’s said as much. And boy, that man can cook. But I can’t figure out if he was just letting me know he likes women, or if he likes me . I don’t wanna look like an idiot by coming onto him when I’m also interested in Bandit. That wouldn’t be right, and I’m not into multiple hook ups.

As I start to help Audrina get the customers’ order ready, I feel like the time could be right to make a move. I don’t know why Bandit has taken this long when we’ve hung out a few times. I know to him I’m a ‘club sister’, but that’s just an excuse.

Now I have to shoot Manny a message and tell him Audrina was being an ass. I’m never gonna live this down.