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Disappointed wasn’t the word. I’d been on the verge of finally having a honeymoon night with the biker I loved before he left again. Taking my husband’s advice, I got dressed to go grab some grub.
My husband. My Ol’ Man. Those words were still so new.
It’d only been a month of dating the President of the Royal Bastards MC before marrying him, but I felt quite at home at Royal Road. Therefore, sitting at the bar to eat Sweeties’ chicken and dumplings while naked dancers spun on poles and the slot machines sounded in the distance didn’t seem as awkward as it should.
“Lawd child, it’s Sweet Tea,” she corrected me for the millionth time.
“Sorry.”
“Cause my southern ass always has the tea.”
“Any new gossip?”
“Never mind.”
The look on her face screamed her rumor had been about me or Kingpin. But maybe I was being paranoid.
“Why are you still here?”
I wasn’t being rude. Sweet Tea had the morning shift at Royal Road. Wiping a glass with three inch, pointed and bedazzled nails, she rarely bartended at night. She usually came in at five in the morning and cooked a big buffet breakfast if the number of overnight guests warranted it. Sweet Tea didn’t live upstairs, like most of the sweetbutts, but she was on the payroll. As she often reminded us, she was a grandmother. Her eighteen-year-old just had a baby.
I didn’t figure she was older than Kingpin.
“This bad bitch can do it all, mornings, evenings. It’s all up to me, apparently since Memphis ain’t grown enough to realize her man married now. He ain’t coming home to her. And Junebug done decided she’s finally free of him. She’s shacked up like a horny bear with a new fella.”
She spoke about Kingpin’s favorite whores, his ex-companions.
“Opry might claim to run this joint, but Memphis runs the girls. With Paisley a no show, Cinnamon out with the ‘rona, Minni, too, and Hennessey over there entertaining our guests, I can’t very well get anyone off a pole to run the bar. It’s just me and Cece tonight.”
Following her lead, I turned my head to see Cece at the end of the bar, all smiles. Bent over the bar, she whispered something to her new man Irish.
Sweet Tea exclaimed, loudly, “Her blind ass is even more useless now that she’s getting D on the regular.”
Hearing her, Cece came down the bar and bumped into her on purpose, spilling beer down her front.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Sweet Tea, didn’t see you there. Must be all this dick I’m getting.”
Irish laughed so hard, he spit out his beer.
Sweet Tea huffed. “Now look at all this mess. You can’t.”
If there was one thing about a biker clubhouse, people had inappropriate jokes. It was their language. You had to learn to speak it.
However, Cece, in true form, apologized when she hadn’t been in the wrong. The blind girl went on to pour beers as good as anyone. I wondered if she knew about the hickies running down her neck. Glancing at Irish, he sucked his bottom lip proud of himself.
“Sky, congratulations,” Cece said before she touched my hand.
In the short time I’d been here, I’d learned to give her a physical response. I laid my hand over hers as I said, “Thank you.”
The casino filled up with the normal mix of gamblers, music industry people and low lives. Not to mention all the bikers and their women. As the crowd grew, so did the noise and smells. I’d not been nauseated yet, but I knew it would come. Since I was pregnant, I would need to think twice about being around all the secondhand smoke in the future. The place already smelled like a skunk.
For the time being, I was starving. After all, I was eating for two. My dumplings were finally cool enough to eat. Even after I finished, I stayed. I wanted to know the instant Kingpin returned. I was counting on him visiting his office before he came to the Big House.
All the bikers who came by the bar congratulated me on landing their Prez. Their comments and jokes on how they thought he’d never settle down were nothing new. I took it in stride and tried to give back as much as they put out.
In other words, I was learning to speak the language. Besides, we hadn’t had any kind of reception with Kingpin riding off on the run to go find Eve, so it was nice to at least be acknowledged as his Ol’ Lady. The only one who knew about my baby was Leo.
Paisley finally showed up to relieve Sweet Tea. She was busy bartending while I tried to have a conversation with her. So, it was no surprise I couldn’t get any information out of her about where my husband really went.
