“Okay, but you better feed me. I’m not one of those girls that won’t eat in front of a man.”
Blade got onto his bike. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fed. You’ll need the energy.”
Heat locked in my lower belly at his words, but before I could form a response, he fired up the bike and rode away.
* * *
“Please, Kat,”Jason’s voice was whiny, and I rolled my eyes.
“No way.”
“Come on, the future of my relationship depends on you.”
“Why is thatmyresponsibility?” I asked, exasperated. We were at my house again, but Jason wasn’t visiting because of a fight with Lexie this time. It turned out that he’d promised to take her out this Saturday to make up for canceling their plans on her birthday, but, as usual, Las Balas was demanding his time instead. They wanted him to bartend at their bar, The Pit. They were supposed to have a band playing that night and expected a big turnout, so all prospects were expected to be there slinging drinks all night long.
“They told me that I could only get out of it if someone else covered for me. And they love you down there.”
Yeah, some of the bikers loved me a little too much. They might have watched me grow up, but that didn’t stop some of the older men from looking at me like a fresh piece of meat. Adding alcohol to the mix might even make a couple of them handsy. My dad would be there, but he wasn’t the type to be protective.
“You’ll probably make a killing in tips,” Jason added, clearly pulling out all the stops to entice me to do this for him.
I considered it. It didn’t sound like the ideal way to spend my Saturday, but at least I wouldn’t be stuck at home alone. I could put the money I made toward my savings for a motorcycle. As for the men that hit on me, I felt pretty confident that I could take care of myself.
“Fine,” I sighed. “I’ll do it, just this once.”
Jason hopped up from the couch and hugged me. “Thanks. You don’t know what this means to me.”
I hugged him back but pulled away after a few seconds and gave him a grave look. “You’ve got to figure out what matters more to you. Lexie or Las Balas. I know that you want to follow in Dad’s footsteps and get closer to him by joining the club, but don’t forget that the reason neither of us is close to him is that he put that club above his family, and it ruined his marriage.”
“You don’t understand. The club is like a family. They just want loyalty.”
“Well, you can’t keep putting Lexie on the back burner and expecting her to stick around. That’s all I’m saying.”
I could tell that he wanted to argue with me, but he wasn’t really in a position to do so since I was doing him this favor. Instead, he thanked me again and left, eager to head home and tell Lexie that their plans for this weekend were still on.
Part of me felt that I shouldn’t get involved in Jason’s relationship like this. He had to figure this shit out for himself. But I didn’t want my brother to be lonely like me. Without Lexie, he’d have no one, just the club.
Home alone once again, I considered going out, but Piper was on a date, and I didn’t want to go alone. Blade’s face flashed through my mind, but I quickly discarded that idea, as well. Our date was in two days, and I didn’t want to go out with him before that. A night of drinking that would probably end in sex would be fun, but I felt like there was a potential for more with him. I’d rather wait and see what he had planned for Friday night.
Ten
Blade
I went back to the fighting ring two more times this week. It was making me a crowd favorite since I won all my fights, but even more importantly, it gave me the opportunity to get close to Kane, which meant that I was getting closer to Luca.
I’d even seen the snake that Kane had told me about, a big yellow thing that I wasn’t too proud to admit made me nervous. Luca came into the warehouse tonight with it draped around his neck like some living accessory. It made him look like the villain in a vampire movie or something ridiculous like that.
I came alone tonight for the first time. It made me feel jumpy, but the closer I got to Luca, the more uncomfortable I was with bringing Alex along. It was one thing for me to knowingly get close to a man that Outlaw Souls suspected to be a killer, but Alex didn’t know what he was getting into. I couldn’t tell him, so I didn’t bring him.
I’d decided to work a new angle to get information. Kane had mentioned that Luca was looking for some muscle, a man that could do his dirty work for a big payday. I’d put my name in for that, knowing that they’d all seen me fight and knew what I was capable of. What they didn’t know was that I wasn’t into roughing up people that were indebted to Luca. I preferred a fair fight.
“Blade, it’s good to see you here again,” Luca said when Kane brought me to him. He was always removed from the crowd, on a wooden platform that I suspected was built for him to see the fights from his chair. He was like a king on his throne here, surrounded by men that openly carried their guns on their hips. I was packing tonight, too, but mine was tucked away, out of sight.
“Luca,” I nodded in his direction, not getting close enough to shake his hand while that damn reptile was on him. “I hear you might have some work that I’d be suited for?”
Luca nodded. “I might. Depends on what you’re willing to do.”
“Whatever the boss tells me to do.” I could tell that was the right answer by the look on Luca’s face. This guy got off on being the big man in charge.
