Chapter Eleven

Adira's eyes felt dry as they cracked open. Sunlight pierced through her brain and she moaned. Her stomach rolled, nausea rising, and she sucked in great gulps of air to settle everything back down.

"Morning, beautiful."

Ares's voice boomed in the quiet room, causing a sledgehammer to tap out a staccato beat through her skull. Even turning her head sent pain ricocheting along every nerve ending. She moaned, not wanting to move ever again.

"What's your first impression of a hangover?"

"Shut up," she whispered, her own voice causing a thousand shards of pain to pierce her brain. Her mouth tasted like she had licked the inside of a dirty ashtray.

"I brought you some aspirin," Hunter said as he walked into the room. He placed two round tablets and a glass of water on the nightstand before sitting on the edge of the bed. "Can you sit up?"

"I'm dying!" she cried.

He moved some hair off her face. "You're not dying."

"Is it always like this?"

"Pretty much," Ares said. "It gets easier with time."

"I'm never drinking again."

Hunter chuckled. "Everybody vows that. Until you forget and then you drink again."

"Can you be quiet, please?" she asked.

"You need to sit up, baby girl, and drink some water before taking a nap."

"I don't think I can move."

"Ares, help her up."

Gentle hands took hold of her under her armpits and lifted. Every cell in her body protested the jarring motion. Once more, nausea rolled through her.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

She was lifted and carried quickly to the bathroom, and just in the nick of time. Ares held her hair as she leaned over the toilet and spewed anything that was left in her stomach. Over and over she dry-heaved until she was spent.

When she sat back, she looked up at the two men who watched her with sympathetic looks.

"It's so gross throwing up in a toilet," she said. "I think an animal crawled in my mouth and died. I think I might want to join it."

"Come here, wild thing," Hunter said as he walked over and picked her up. "Let's get your teeth brushed and disinfected with mouthwash."

Ares squeezed some paste on a toothbrush and handed it over. She took her sweet time making sure she cleaned the hell out of her mouth. After rinsing, she swished mouthwash around and spat it out. Then Ares helped her back to the bed.

Adira finally looked around. "Where am I?"

"My room," Ares replied.

"We played rock, paper, scissors on whose bed you'd sleep in, and this fucker cheated," Hunter said, thumbing in Ares's direction.

Ares leaned over to whisper in her ear. "I didn't cheat. He never wins."

She smiled.

"Here," Hunter said, holding out the pills once more. She opened her palm and he placed them on it and then handed over the glass of water. "Alcohol dehydrates you. Make sure you drink it all."

She put the aspirin on her tongue and swallowed. Never had water ever tasted so good before. When she was done, Hunter took the glass and Ares helped her slide under the comforter. He kissed her on the forehead.

"Get some rest, sweetheart. You'll feel better when you wake up."

"Okay," she mumbled, closing her eyes. A moment later, she passed out once more.

****

"She's sleeping in my bed tonight."

Ares shot him a grin. "Don't be a sore loser or we'll do rock, paper, scissors again."

"Dickhead."

"As much as I'd love to stay and stare at her all day, I have some paperwork to do." Ares ran a hand through his hair. "When I joined the Death Riders, I never thought I'd be worried about making sure the fucking toilets don't overflow."

"Yep. Running a whorehouse sounded amazing once upon a time."

Ares grabbed his wallet and phone and stuck them in his back pockets. "I'll be back in a few hours. Please don't fuck her without me."

"Excuse me, you were the one who taught her how to give a blowjob. In your fucking office."

Ares shrugged. "You'd have done the same."

Hunter pursed his lips as he thought about that. "Yeah, I probably would've."

"See you later."

He left, shutting the door softly behind him. The trip to the club only took a few minutes and when he walked into The Pussy Willow, Sarah gave him a wave as she supervised the cleaning crew. He headed to his office and tossed his helmet onto the chair before sitting down. It boggled his mind how much fucking paperwork a strip club generated. The hours slipped by as he sorted it all out. When he got to the end, he noticed Adira's employee folder. It didn't look right. Opening it, he frowned as he saw a spreadsheet instead of Adira's personal information.

He laid it out and read through the data, but this type of analyzing was beyond his pay grade. He grabbed his cell. It rang twice until the call connected.

"Yo," Lincoln greeted.

"Hey, I have some papers I need you to look at. See if you understand any of them."

"Sure. Want me to come to the clubhouse?"

"I'm not there. I'll drop them off at your place."

In the background he could hear a higher-pitched voice, and then there was a conversation happening that he wasn't a part of.

"Is he staying for lunch?" Vivi asked.

"No, he's just dropping off some papers for me to look over."

"I don't think I heard you asking if he wanted to stay for lunch."

"No. He's not staying."

Ares tried to get their attention. "Hey, you two, I— "

"Well, how do you know if you don't ask?" Vivi interrupted.

"And what are you planning to cook him?"

"Please don't let her cook," Ares said, trying to stop them talking.

"I don't know but I've been watching the Food Network. There are a lot of ingredients in our kitchen. I can figure something out."

He disconnected the call. It was a well-known fact that Vivi couldn't boil water, let alone cook a meal. The last time she had cooked, Thorn had politely tried it and got food poisoning. He collected the papers before marching out, shutting off the lights as he left.