Elle hugged me again and sniffed my clothes. “You don’t smell like jizz at all.”
“Thank you. I showered.”
“I thought so. You smell like Boone’s body wash.”
I smiled at the thought of his scent on me. After thanking Zodiac, I tiptoed down the hall to my bedroom. I stripped down and crawled in next to Lyric, who slept with her arms over her head and her foot resting on Skylar’s back.
Everything was great. I was happy. Nothing was bothering me.
Yet, my growing panic followed me into my dreams, turning everything into a nightmare.
BOONE
I felt lost and restless once I dropped Nova off at Lula’s house. Rather than return to my condo, I chose to hit up the Fire Hooch on a weekday.
Our clubhouse was loud and wild on the weekends. Tonight, I found the mood subdued. None of the foxes were around. Graham played his guitar on the stage. Nine and Ben sat in a booth, slamming down cards and getting in each other’s faces.
Rather than join the brothers, I headed for the bar top where another Rawlins transplant was seated. Farley was a year younger than me. Having never enjoyed roughhousing, he was always tighter with the foxes than the guys.
But Farley was no pushover. His moms, Pepper and Bay, had taught him to fight. He was especially skilled with a rifle.
“Anything going on tonight?” I asked Farley as I ordered a soda rather than booze.
“I thought we might have trouble,” he said and shrugged. “I was outside, smoking a joint with Ben. We spotted a car circling the block. It slowed down a few times near the clubhouse. Even parked across the street at one point. Seemed sketchy, so we called the po-po to run down the car. Turned out the driver was a lost pregnant lady from out of town. She thought this bar was where she was supposed to meet her friend. Since it didn’t seem right, she kept circling.”
“Always better to check out a possible threat.”
“Yeah, but I think we scared that pregnant lady,” Farley said and grinned. “Can you imagine a boring chick thinking she’s about to meet her friend at a normal steak house but ends up finding herself at the Fire Hooch instead?”
Sharing his amusement, I chuckled. “You’d think the flashing pinup chick on the roof would have given away how this wasn’t the place.”
Farley nodded and watched me from under his shaggy brown hair. “I heard you made a move on Exile’s sister.”
“We went to my place for dinner and a movie.”
Grinning, Farley turned to face me. “Nova’s really sweet. Hard to believe she’s been in the biker world for so long. She seems almost innocent.”
I thought about how quickly we ended up in my bed tonight. “Innocent isn’t the right word, but Nova is sweet.”
Farley sighed. “I need a sweet girl, but I always end up attracting shitty women.”
“You’ll find a sweet girl one day. I wasn’t looking for a woman when I met Nova. Clint wasn’t looking when he met Ivy. When the right woman shows up, you’ll nail that down.”
Though Farley nodded, he didn’t look particularly convinced. Unlike me, he’d actively tried to find his Miss Right. He dated a few real stinkers—users, cheaters, drama queens.
The last one kept coming back like an active case of herpes. Clint had to ask the foxes to beat up the bitch to ensure she’d stay gone.
Not long after Farley wandered off to join Ben and Nine at their booth, our president surprised me by strolling into the clubhouse. Clint wore the relaxed expression of a man with nothing on his mind. However, I assumed something was up for him to be here on a weeknight.
“Where’s Ivy?” I asked as Clint joined me at the bar top.
“Hanging out with the foxes at the Sorority House.”
“Is she spending the night there?”
“Yeah.”
“Will you struggle to sleep without her in bed tonight?”
