Her gaze flicks to the door and then back to my face. “You won’t last long. Outsiders never do.”
There’s a pause, just long enough to drive her point home. “Bear doesn’t usually bring girls around during work hours.”
I shrug. “If you want to know why he does the things he does, why don’t you go ask him?”
Her lips purse. “Don’t be rude to me. I run the club girls and don’t take shit from anyone.”
Before I can respond, a shadow falls across the table. Rick’s shadow. He’s still in his prospect cut, sweat darkening the collar, jaw tight as soon as he clocks the scene.
“What’s going on, Jewel?” he asks, his voice annoyed.
The woman turns, surprised. “Nothing. I was just getting to know your sister.”
Rick looks at her like she’s something he’s about to scrape off his boot. “I didn’t ask you to come and introduce yourself, to sit with her or any damn thing else.”
Her cheeks flush. “Damn, prospect. I was just making polite conversation.”
Rick plants a hand on the table and leans in. The look on his face whips that smile right off her face. “You don’t get to make my sister uncomfortable. You don’t get to comment on who brings her where or speculate why. And you sure as hell don’t get to mouth off to her. Am I making myself clear?”
Other brothers in the room watch what’s going on and nobody interferes. That tells me all I need to know about this woman.
Jewel grinds out, “She’s an outsider.”
“She’s my fuckin’ family,” Rick shoots back. “Which means she’s off limits to you. You don’t get to question her, demand answers, threaten her or whatever in the fuck this is.”
She swallows. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Rick stares at her harder. “Liar. You like messing with people. You should know that fucking with her again might end with a ban.”
Jewel stands quickly and backs away. “Asshole. You know you’re just a prospect, right? You don’t have any power here.”
Rick reaches out with one hand, grabs her by the arm and jerks her forward. “Yeah, I’m also a prospect that will mess your shit up. Now, get the fuck away from my family.”
When the club girl scrambles away, he turns his attention to me.
“Sorry you had to see that, Natalie.” His expression is already shifting to concern. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I say honestly. “She wasn’t subtle, though.”
He snorts. “That one never is.”
I smile at my brother, feeling a little uncomfortable at how he handled that woman. I’d had worse things said to me in the past, and she didn’t seem so bad. “Thanks, bro.”
He waves it off like it’s nothing, but I see the tension still riding him. “That one’s trouble. You might think I was out of order, but you gotta shut that shit down. You don’t owe anyone explanations. If someone gives you shit, you come to me or Bear.”
As if summoned, Bear appears at Rick’s side. His gaze flicks from Rick to me, then tracks the direction the woman went.
“Problem?” he asks quietly.
“Handled,” Rick says. “Jewel was just being a garden variety bitch.”
He doesn’t look particularly angry. “I’ll have a word with her too.” Something about the certainty in his voice makes me feel safe but also makes me wonder if their response isn’t overkill. Sure, she was being a territorial ass but surely, they don’t intend to be this overprotective all the time.
We sit down together and things are awkward for a few minutes until the prospects come with plates of food. Slowly the noise rises back to normal. Rick launches into a story about gate duty like he hasn’t just shut some club girl down in front of half the club. Bear listens while shoveling food into his mouth. His eyes occasionally flick up to glance around the room.
At one point, he glances at me. “You sure you’re good?”
I meet his intense gaze and then glance away. “Yeah. I just wasn’t expecting that to happen.”
