It had been a long few days waiting for information on whether or not he’d survived. I couldn’t ask about him without raising suspicions, so I did my best to keep my anxiety at bay. Finally, I’d called Devlyn to see if she’d heard anything. Gator’s cousin Romeo, who I knew well, was also in King’s club.
They’d both survived.
“I don’t think so,” Laurel answered. “They’ve been gone since Christmas.”
The conversation turned solemn as the women spoke about what they’d heard about the attack and who had been injured and who hadn’t survived.
An hour later, we left with plans to meet at the Tavern for dinner and drinks. All I wanted to do was go home and go to bed. But this was the Morgan they all knew. The one they expected to show up and would question relentlessly if she didn’t.
The Irish Rose Tavern sat at the edge of town. Run by the club, it was a safe environment for the women to let their hair down and get crazy. Not that these women needed much of an excuse.
But I sure did.
I knew it wasn’t healthy, but I looked forward to these nights. Drinking to drown out the grief. Getting lost in the abyss of alcohol, the only reprieve available to shut out the voice in my head that told me I should have done more for my son.
There was nothing I could have done, the doctor told me. There was no answer to why things had gone the way they had. His only solace was a curt,‘These things happen.’
I thought King was ready to kill the man for his lack of compassion when he told me my child was gone. He kicked him out of the room, demanding another doctor, then sat on the bed and held me while I sobbed into his chest.
The way a big brother would.
Only, neither of us had known at the time.
The music blasted through the bar as the waitress dropped off our drinks. Round after round we made toasts to the club, the men, the children. All the things I’d lost.
Not that I’d ever had the club. Jude would only let me meet a few of the brothers. He’d never taken me to the clubhouse. Never explained why.
I tried to tell myself he married me because he loved me, not just because we were having a baby, but I always wondered if we’d still be together if he hadn’t died.
Bailey was the first one to stand and move to the dance floor. She grabbed my hand and dragged me along with her. I loved dancing. I loved to close my eyes and let my body move to the music.
It wasn’t long before I felt hands on my hips. I didn’t open my eyes, not right away. The hands were too big to be one of the girls’, and if I kept my eyes closed, I could imagine those hands were Jude’s.
No matter how much I drank, reality always came crashing down, and the moment my consciousness remembered he was gone, I pulled away from the man behind me.
“Where are you going?”
I turned and found David Gearing. He’d been asking me out for years, but I always turned him down. He wasn’t safe. He looked at me with hearts in his eyes, and I was too nice a person to get involved with someone looking for more, especially when I didn’t have more to give.
“Dance with me, Morgan.”
“Sorry, David.”
I moved away from the dance floor, heading to the bar for another drink when he caught my hand, pulling me back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone at the bar stand and move my way, but Bailey was quicker.
“Get your hands off her, David, unless you need a reminder that we don’t touch women without permission.”
She stood in front of us, hands on her hips. Five feet of nothing but piss and vinegar. There was a reason she was called Venom.
David sighed. “I just want to dance with her, Bailey.”
Bailey took a step closer and looked up at David. “And she said no. Do you know what the word no fucking means, David?”
David’s body stiffened. I watched the look on his face turn in an instant to pure rage. Not because Bailey was in his face. But because he knew there was nothing he could do about it.
“Bitch,” he muttered as he turned around and walked out the door.
“Asshole,” Bailey yelled at his back.
