Page 23 of Penn

“Plus, Penn would skin us alive if we let anything happen to you because we were being sloppy.”

“I can take care of myself,” I say, my tone a bit harsher than I mean it. “But I appreciate the consideration.”

I wipe down the counter again, just to keep my hands moving. What I feel for Penn still isn’t clear to me yet, but I don’t need anyone thinking I’m some special pet project he has. Like taking the classroom pet home for the weekend, seeing if the kids will keep it alive or not.

Kannon lifts his glass to his nose and sniffs it before taking a sip like some whiskey connoisseur. Considering how much whiskey he drinks, some might think he is, but I’ve seen him drink an entire bottle of bottom-shelf whiskey, claiming the taste was no different.

It is different.

When he looks at me after finishing the glass and sliding it towards me for a refill, I notice how dark his eyes look in the dim light. Not necessarily black but devoid of light. Like he’s already dead inside, and a chill runs down my spine. “You’re Penn’s girl now, Dixie. That makes you club business. We don’t let our own get hurt.”

Penn’s girl.

The title makes my heart flip in a weird erratic dance. Unable to keep eye contact, I look down at my hands on the counter, and I stare at my left hand. That special finger bare and completely devoid of the ring I was certain I’d be wearing by now. The ring Stephen would give me to make an honest woman out of me because he’s old-fashioned that way.

I’m nobody’s girl. I’m just Dixie. A girl who made a series of bad choices throughout her life and had everything blow up in her face again after thinking she’d finally gotten settled. A girl trying to figure out how to survive the fallout.

Looking at Kannon again, I suddenly appreciate his intense presence because it gives me a boldness I didn’t have two seconds before. Or maybe I’m just desperate for answers to the questions that I haven’t bothered to ask Penn yet. “Can I ask you something?”

“You can ask. Don’t know if I’ll answer.”

A Daredevils standard answer, it seems. Leaning forward, I lower my voice enough to make sure Lainey doesn’t hear, even though she’s busy texting on her phone with Nancy gone on a bank run. “It’s about Penn.”

“I really might not answer then.”

At least he’s being honest. “He’s a biker. He has the look, the club, and the outlaw lifestyle. Which tends to come with breaking rules. All rules in many different facets.”

He narrows his eyes. “What’s the question exactly?”

“You guys own a brothel. When he’s there for business, does he ever stay for something more… personal?”

Zeppelin laughs out loud, startling me as he chokes on his soda. I didn’t realize he could hear me, and I try to force the flush of embarrassment down. “You don’t pull any punches, do you, Dixie? Just get right to the point.”

Kannon doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t even crack a smile. “No.”

“No, what?” I ask, my eyes locking onto his. “No, you aren’t going to tell me, or no, he doesn’t spend personal time with the girls?”

“No one sleeps with the girls there,” he says. “Club rules are simple. Members can’t sleep with the girls once they’re employed at Velvet Desire. The interview process… well, that’s different. But there’s no sampling the inventory.”

I raise an eyebrow. “And I’m supposed to believe a group of bikers follow the rules and don’t touch the beautiful women paid to please men?”

“Not just men,” Zep says with a nod of his head. “We have female clients, too.”

That was something I didn’t actually know. “Really? Good for them.”

“Yes, we follow that rule. If we didn’t, and we got caught, we’d be on our ass without our leather. That makes us easy targets for the Venom, and it’d be the last time we were ever seen,” Kannon says.

“There is an exception to the rule, but it’s a loophole made for only a couple of guys,” Zep says. “Kannon and Capone can fuck Queenie, but she’s not a working girl. She manages the girls. But Penn’s never been interested in the one-night thing. Or paying for it.”

I’d be lying if I said this didn’t intrigue me. A loophole? But only for two of the guys in the club? That seems a bit favorable, but it clearly doesn’t bother people.

And then I start to worry about what exactly this is between us. If it’s not casual, what is it? It’s not like I’m sleeping with him, but I’ve thought about it. Not just because I think I owe him but because I want to. Something I’d never want to do after what happened with Stephen.

“Is he only being this nice to me because I’m unattainable?” I ask, regretting it the moment it slips out.

It’s a thought that’s been clawing at the back of my mind. What if he only does this because he thinks we won’t ever be something, but then something happens? Will he suddenly lose interest? Will I find myself on the curb with nothing to my name because he bought everything I now own?

I seem safe. I’m carrying another man’s baby, and I’ve made it relatively clear that I’m not interested in him. Even if it’s a lie most of the time.