“That you slept with Haze.”
“I didn’t—” Her glare cuts me off. “Fine, I did, but we’re married so it doesn’t count.”
She snorts. “I’m so totally winning the bet, so I’m not bothered.”
I frown as we move back to a plank, then back to downdog in one fluid movement. “What bet?”
She puffs all the air out of her cheeks. “I’m not supposed to say anything.”
“Payden!”
That earns me a look from the instructor just as she’s telling us to ‘flip our dogs’. Holy crap, am I out of shape. I mean, I run, and I do weights to stay trim, but has anyone held a plank for a minute and done Pilates abs for a straight five without stopping? That’s some hard shit right there.
“The girls at the club had a little bet,” she whispers.
Flipping the dog is seeing how far you can bend your body in the wrong direction and trying to look elegant while doing it. It feels like my spine may split in two. “Wow, and you’re telling me this now?” I garble.
“You only just reminded me.”
“Oh, and betting on your friend, not cool, Pay.”
She doesn’t seem fazed, not in the slightest. “Oh, come on. As if you were ever gonna stay away from him. It’s kinda sweet he held out on you all this time.”
Yes, I had to confess to someone. A girl has to tell her bestie things, and Payden is as close to a best friend as I’ve got, even though I share her with Luna. Audrina being my other close friend, but I don’t want to burden her with my fricking love life when she’s got a baby to take care of. Plus, I’m still getting my head around me and Haze, and I know Payden is the least likely to judge. “I’m not sure he’d see it that way if he finds out I told you.”
She snorts, flipping back fluidly into a plank while I try to catch my breath.
“In that case, we need to celebrate. The girls are having a poker night, you should come.”
I give her a look again under my arm, when her eyes meet mine, she shrugs. “What?”
I glance at the instructor, adjusting someone so she’s temporarily distracted from our whispers.
“I don’t think the girls would appreciate that, not to mention my hanging out with the NOLA Rebels ol’ ladies won’t be a good look while my father’s in town.”
“Stop being a snob. You’re worried about what people will think.”
She isn’t entirely wrong. I’m not ashamed of Haze, nor do I think the club is bad, but people’s perceptions can be a veryjudgy place. I have a position that was given to me under great privilege, and I don’t take that lightly. But if me and Haze really are doing this, then something has to give. I think I stopped giving a shit what people thought about me a long time ago. That wasn’t always the case, of course, and I still have to tell my dad. I can’t even imagine how that conversation is going to go. Still, I’m an adult, and my dad has no say in my life. It’s about time he realized that. I’m so sick and tired of walking on eggshells with him.
“I am not. I just don’t think the girls will accept me.”
“Well, if that were true, they wouldn’t have accepted Stella and Cale.”
“That’s different,” I hiss. “Callaghan is… fucking sunshine on a cloudy day.”
She snorts again as we flip the other way. “Maybe to you. I’ll have you know the club hated him for a variety of reasons for a very long time.”
The instructor gives us another stern glare and we quit talking until the end of class. “What did you mean by that?” I ask, dabbing my face with a towel later. “That the club hated Callaghan?”
“Oh, come on. That can’t come as a surprise. He was a thorn in their side. Nothing new. He and the MC were like good cop, bad cop, and then Stella had to go and fall in love with him. Kinda sweet when you think about it.”
“One thing’s for sure, they’re lucky Harlem came around, or there’d be one more body to go hunting for in the bayou,” I say with an eye roll thrown in.
Payden’s eyes widen. “I thought that bayou stuff was a myth?”
I pat her arm gently. “You heard none of that from me.”
Poor soul. Payden may be upfront and in your face, but she still believes in the law. It’s amazing to me she is becoming moreinvolved with the club considering some of their priors. While I can’t say I knowexactlywhat they’ve done in the past, I sure as shit know this whole ‘legit’ thing they put on isn’t entirely a hundred percent accurate. They aren’t Boy Scouts no matter which way they peddle it.
