“Bitch, you’re a guest in my house, shut the fuck up or leave,” Clio snapped back, and Chance chuckled.
“Yeah, this won’t last long,” Sailor muttered, and Dollar laughed softly as he placed a beer in front of me.
“Who’s on the gate?”
“Clark. So, it’s no wonder skanks are getting in,” Dollar retorted. Rascal laughed beside me, and then his gaze sharpened on someone.
“Kid’s not right, ain’t been since he fired that bullet,” Rascal said, and I saw Jinx heading for the stairs.
I went to get up, but a figure detached himself from a wall and headed over to Jinx and stopped him. Fanatic spoke a few words, and Jinx gestured negatively. Fanatic’s eyes narrowed, and he snapped an order out. Jinx looked resigned and began following Fanatic back to his table. Before they got there, a woman stepped into Fanatic’s path. He shook his head, and she spoke to him again.
“Shit!” I muttered as Jinx saw that as his chance to escape and took it. Willow rose to her feet as Fanatic pushed the woman away. Fanatic returned to Willow before she started a fight.
“The kid needs support,” Dollar stated.
“No shit. Did anyone realise Jinx was so young? He’s only nineteen,” Sailor asked.
“Nah, gotta admit, I thought Jinx just looked like a kid. Sometimes he seems so much older,” Rascal admitted.
“Then we support him, we won’t lose Jinx,” I declared.
“Good to hear, prospect,” Big Al declared from behind. We turned and faced the founder. “Jinx ain’t got the killer streak. Prospect’s suffering from self-doubt, wondering if he could have done anything different.”
“April would have died if he had,” I replied.
“Exactly. Jinx has to accept that, and then he’ll be okay. He saved April’s life but also ended one. A man like Jinx will struggle. The kid ain’t hard like the rest of us, he’s special.” Big Al’s eyes took on a faraway look.
“Hellfire’s version of Calamity,” I mused, having heard that somewhere before.
Big Al turned his head and smiled. “Yeah.”
“Hey, April’s here,” Rascal said.
“Shit, the boy’s in heat,” Big Al complained as I slid off my stool and headed for where April and Teagan stood, without another word.
April was scanning the crowd, searching for me, and Smokey had intercepted Teagan. April’s eyes caught mine, and she lit up. She spoke to Teagan and began making her way towards me.
“Stone Ryan! Is that you?” a woman exclaimed, getting in my way.
“Huh?” I asked, looking down. Shit. A sinking feeling hit my gut as I stared at the botoxed face of April’s former best friend. Chelsea smiled, and I felt like a specimen under a microscope.
“I’m taken,” I snapped and went to sidestep her.
“You were the last time we met, remember?” Chelsea flirted, batting her heavily mascara-laden eyes. I shuddered and stepped back.
“Said I’m with someone.”
“Who cares? Stone, let’s have some fun.”
“Bitch, I’m fuckin’ taken!” I yelled, and Chelsea flinched.
Silence fell again as everybody looked over. “Jesus Christ, don’t you understand English?I’m in a relationship!”
“Again, that wasn’t a problem last time! You had no problems dumping plain, fat April and taking me to bed the following morning,” Chelsea snapped. She glanced around, saw everyone watching, and smiled at the attention.
Audibly, I ground my teeth. “Bitch, I took you to bed, played with your tiny tits and let you try to suck me off. You didn’t even make me hard. Let’s not make out like we had rampaging sex.”
“Liar! You couldn’t get enough of me, Stone Ryan. You don’t want your new piece knowing the truth about you!”
