“You should snag one of them for yourself,” Fancy says. “Unless you’re secretly hung up on the mouse. I wouldn’t blame you.”
Now, this is exactly the sort of conversation I ought to avoid. “She seems to be settling in at the club.”
He nods. “But having to babysit her on campus is a right pain in the ass. I hope she gives up the cherry before too long.”
That answers my question. “What time is her class? I might be able to cover one or two.”
His eyebrows lift into the wild curls over his forehead. He’s got that mop of hair that is popular with the younger women. “Could you now?”
I shrug like it doesn’t matter either way. “Bar doesn’t open until three.”
“We’ll see how it plays out. I think someone will snag her pretty fast. I hear Hoss’s lady from last night already propositioned her.”
Of course, that woman mentioned her threesome idea to Hoss. She struck me as the type who likes to make trouble.
“Did she?” I pull out a jug of shelled nuts from beneath the bar and start filling bowls, even though that’s Jake’s job, and the bowls aren’t empty. It helps keep me from overreacting.
“Apparently not long after you left to open the bar, Hoss tried to lure her in the room using the chick as a way in, though I’m not sure what the fuck he thought he was doing, given Iron Jack had just brought the goddamn hammer down about the girl. But that mouse isn’t so easy to trap. She got Betz to go with her, and you can imagine how well that went over.”
I shake nuts into another bowl, trying to act like I don’t care too much about the story even though I can feel the anger rising in me. “What happened in the end?”
“Betz kicked the chick out of the clubhouse and said that since Hoss couldn’t be trusted with the mouse, he didn’t get a lock on his door anymore. She had Stoney take it off. He has to earn it back.”
Now, that was funny. “I bet he didn’t like that.”
“Hell, no. Every Wild Hair on the premises has been opening the door every time they walk by. He won’t get a lick of sleep tonight, I bet.”
Another reason not to live at the club. It’s a never-ending frat house.
I figure I better back off on the Marietta talk when the main door opens. I pick up the container of nuts to tuck away.
“And there she is,” Fancy says.
I almost lose my grip on the jug. Marietta’s here?
I shove the nuts in place and take my time looking up so I won’t seem too interested.
Chain and Two-Shit enter the bar with Marietta between them. Chain has his arm draped over her shoulders. Heat rises in me, and I fight the urge to jump the bar and knock his goddamn body parts off her.
Marietta is dressed even more provocatively than this morning. She has on a black bra covered by what was once a white T-shirt. Now, it’s slashed with vertical slits.
The ends are tucked into the bottom of her bra, leaving a long expanse of bare belly above the tiniest micro miniskirt that has ever existed. It’s black denim, and the bottom is ragged, like it was cut even shorter than it started. The whole thing, from the band cutting low across her hips to the strings hanging from the hem, is maybe eight inches. The straps of the pink thong from this morning show above it.
“The prospect is looking,” Chain says with a laugh. “Mouse, show him the backside.”
Marietta glances at me for only a second, then turns around.
Fuck me. That skirt is so short that half her ass shows in the hot pink thong.
I glance around the bar, my face on fire. Everybody is looking. Of course, they are. It’s a seriously hot ass.
I keep my voice even as I say, “Hey.” I divert my eyes.
Chain drops onto a stool next to Fancy. “I got a turn dressing the mouse,” he says. “Betz said we could.”
“Did she?” Why the fuck would she do that? And why would Marietta agree?
But another quick look tells me that the wild child in her has come out again. That same gleam in her eye is there that made her flash the bar and pretend toFlashdanceon my stage.
