Falcon kissed Daisy’s temple then walked inside.
“How you doing? I’m Jeannie,” the new blonde said. “You must be Katarina.”
“Word travels fast here, I see. I am, but you can call me Katya,” I told her as I shook her hand. She didn’t have a vest like the ladies that traveled for the wedding, and it wasn’t lost on me that she hadn’t traveled with them. But I didn’t want to be rude and pry too hard. Instead I asked, “Do you stay here as well? I didn’t see you last night. Although it was a bit of a whirlwind.”
She waved her hand. “Oh, hell no. Live here with all these stinky men? No thanks.”
Lacy rejoined us as Eagle headed inside. “Jeannie has her own place, but it’s not far. I crashed there once.” She bumped her shoulder with hers.
Jeannie draped her arm over Lacy’s shoulders. “A few days, tops,” she said with a huge smile. “Ealge needed a little perspective is all, so I let her hang at my place until he sorted that out.”
Lacy beamed at her. All of the women here seemed to get along. Except she had laughed when I was speaking to Sugar. I’d have to ask about that when I could squeeze it in naturally. Sugar seemed nice enough, and very skittish.
We headed toward the circle of wooden chairs in the courtyard that surrounded a fire pit and we all took a seat. “It’s getting busy around here now,” I said as more motorcycles and trucks pulled in.
Daisy nodded. “We all just left the tattoo shop. Shiv and Kristie work all the way downtown so they don’t usually get here until like half past six.”
Falcon and Eagle came back with drinks, and Eagle handed me a glass tumbler with clear liquid and a skinny slice of lemon. “Prez said you liked this.”
Grinning, I took the cold glass. “He did?” I sipped the drink. “Delicious.” It was just how I liked it.
“So, wedding in the middle of the week?” Jeannie asked as she sipped her beer.
“Yes. But it was a small affair.”
Daisy looked surprised while Lacy simply nodded.
“Not that it would have been larger on a weekend. I don’t have many acquaintances outside of my father’s business associates.”
Jeannie continued, her dark eyes seeming to study my reaction to each reply. “And how are you enjoying the clubhouse?”
The more I looked at her, the more something flickered in the back of my mind. “It’s a lot to take in. I grew up with just my father and Niko. Well, and the servants. But still not quite as many as people here.” I took a quick sip, especially after she didn’t have the same reaction as Daisy to the servants comment. “You seem familiar. Are you sure you weren’t here last night?”
“No, I was working. But I have one of those basic bitch looks. The men at the club love it,” Jeannie answered.
“Oh, you work at the dance club. How do you like it?”
She smiled. “It’s actually not bad. I wouldn’t say it’s easy work by any means, but I only need a few shifts a week to take care of myself and put money aside. Can’t dance forever, right?”
“I never thought about it.”
Her brow rose. “Of course you didn’t.”
Lacy and Daisy gave each other a look; a silent exchange like they were confused. But were they questioning me or her?
Wanting to change the subject, I looked at my drink. “This really is perfect. I wonder who made it.”
Lacy said, “Sugar is working the bar right now, or she was.”
“I bumped into her before. She seemed sweet. I’ll have to be sure to compliment her.”
Daisy’s shoulders tensed and Jeannie stifled a laugh with her beer.
I glanced back and forth, but finally Lacy leaned closer. “There’s some bad blood there.”
“Bad blood? What happened?” I asked.
Jeannie waved it off. “Just a little jealousy over one of the guys. But Daisy shut it down.”
