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Andrea
MONDAY MORNING HIT me like a hammer. Rolling to my side, I turned off my alarm. It was one of the first times the rising volume of ocean waves did not put me in a mellow mood. Normally, I took Mondays off, but unfortunately, I had three appointments today. I had gone to bed grumpy after Liar’s terse words, and now here I was cranky as all hell. What kind of bullshit was that he spouted at me, anyway? Don’t get clingy. Fuckin-A, I had to come on to him in order to give us both the release we clearly needed. Fucking men.
In an effort to change my mood even slightly, I decided to eschew my normal purple scrubs and pulled out my Bright Crazy Cat Print scrubs. They were a rainbow of colors, but heavy on the color orange and outlines of kitty heads could be seen throughout. It was the perfect outfit for today, so much so my own calico cat Mr. Snuffles came out to weave in between my legs in approval. He shied away from people and last Monday’s impromptu girls night in threw him for a loop. He let me know all about it the following morning. I suspected he’d be just as vocal this morning about my lengthy absence yesterday.
Dressed in my brightly patterned scrubs, I made my way to the kitchen and stuck to the routine of making a bowl of oatmeal with honey, flax seed and a cinnamon-nutmeg blend I liked. While I waited for the water to heat up in the microwave, I noticed the Dunkin’ Donuts cup on the counter. Yesterday, I never drank it. It was a blatant reminder of Liar and his infiltration of my space. I took an extremely deep breath to keep my temper in check because if I didn’t my first inclination was to throw that cup against the wall with all the force I could muster. That wouldn’t do because it would just create far more housework than I had time for, and it would probably give Mr. Snuffle a kitty heart attack because God knew he’d never had any caffeine on my watch. Men!
Stirring my oatmeal to a decent consistency, I stupidly let my mind wander. I should’ve known things with Liar would blow up in my face. There were mirrors in my home, so I knew what I looked like, and while I didn’t think I was conceited, I still knew I had ‘it’ going on. Whenever I walked to the grocery store or the Urban Bean, I got more than my fair share of cat-calls. I used to attribute that to those trucks being driven by blue-collar men with lower standards than most, but Janie quickly and firmly put me in my place. She told me she’d kill to have even half of my looks, so I realized there was something to the horn-honks and whistles thrown my way. With that in mind, I never should have thrown myself at Liar. Perhaps I didn’t exactly throw myself at him, but it damn sure shouldn’t have taken so much prodding on my part to convince him to have sex with me.
Then for him to tell me not to ‘get clingy’ with him. What a bunch of bullshit that was. How in God’s green acre could I get clingy with him when it was nearly all me who initiated sex? Something about that request had bugged me at the time, causing my hackles to rise and I gave him a false bravado; but after sleeping on it, I realized his request was disingenuous. If I didn’t know better, he said that in an effort to keep me at arm’s length. The question was whether or not I’d allow him to keep me at such a distance.
My appointments tended to stick to the allocated times, but for whatever reason, my eleven o’clock wrapped up earlier than expected, which was to say five minutes early. I always blocked out noon until two o’clock for lunch and other possible chores or tasks to be handled before my later appointments. While I was switching out the massage table cover, my cell phone rang in the outer office. I grabbed it without looking at the display.
“Hello?”
“Andrea? Martin Reynolds with the Best Bet Poker room. Hopefully you remember me?”
Even though I didn’t mean it, I smiled because I knew the facial expression would sound in my voice. “Martin. So good to hear from you. What makes you call today?”
I could hear a smile in his voice too, but I suspected it was even faker than the smile in my own voice. “I heard there was the possibility that you might be providing our dedicated players with your services in the coming weeks. Wanted to make sure that you knew we have your best interests in mind, and whatever security measures you need, we are ready to provide those to you.”
My eyebrow arch was skeptical at best, but he couldn’t see it, so it didn’t bother me. “I’m glad to hear that, Martin. Shayla tells me you will need a copy of the restraining order for your security team. Do you need just the one or should I drop off two?”
There was a pause, and I could hear Martin shuffling papers as though he was sitting at a desk. “Mmm, you know. Now that you mention it, having two copies of the order wouldn’t be a bad idea. I definitely need a copy for the Sherriff’s office because they always have a deputy on premises, but another on file just in case would be great. Will that be a problem, Andrea?”
I had to swallow the smart-ass remark on the tip of my tongue. “It won’t be. But, Martin, is it going to be difficult for you to provide adequate security on the evenings I work the floor?”
With a half-scoff, I could all but see him brushing me off. “Andrea, please. We run a tight ship here in Orange Park. No worries about that guy! We have deputies here every night, and there’s no way a guy like that would tempt fate like this.”
“Fine. I’ll get you what you need, Martin,” I said and disconnected. Once I redressed my massage table, I grabbed my purse and keys. Locking the door behind me, I walked the block and a half to the nearby Winn-Dixie. I went to their deli and ordered a “Jaguar” sub with mayo and no mustard. Then I grabbed a Big-Grab sized bag of Doritos and a bottled Diet Dr. Pepper from the small display refrigerator at the register and paid for my lunch items.
I had just finished my sandwich when Janie called me, and she read my voice immediately. “What’s wrong? You sound weird. Like you’re pissed, but not fully and you’re definitely irritated.”
Blowing out a breath, I chuckled. “It is damn safe to say I’m irritated all right. I’m kinda pissed at myself, and I’m extremely irritated with a biker.”
“Really? Not the one who was ‘in’ your place and looked down his nose at you, was it?”
“One and the same. It’s a weird story, but bottom line, Jackie invited me to her house, I did not expect him to be there. He practically shouted, ‘What the fuck’s she doin’ here?’ I knew he was unhappy about my presence. I stayed just long enough to not be rude, and when I left, he cornered me at my vehicle.”
“Really?” Janie asked. From the tone of her voice, I could tell she was not just smiling, but she was downright merry about my issue.
“Yes, really. Then he sent me all manner of mixed signals, but not before he took it upon himself to use WD40, whatever the hell that’s made of, on my vehicle without my consent and told me he was comin’ after me. Then he showed up at my place Sunday, and we spent the day together.”
“You spent the day together?” Janie shrieked in my ear.
“Essentially. He took me for a ride, we had lunch in Fleming. When he brought me to my place, he was so tense I talked him into letting me try to work it out of his muscles.”
“Just bet you did,” Janie deadpanned.
“Enough. Then, he got a call from a cousin of his, and next thing I knew we were at the compound.”
“That’s fine and great, but why would you be irritated about this stuff?”
I sighed. “I pretty much had to goad him into having sex with me, and then when he finally brought me home, he had the audacity to tell me not to ‘get clingy’ with him. I was so hurt and pissed last night, I hardly slept.”
“Hmm,” Janie said noncommittally.
“I get the feeling that he said that to keep me at arm’s length after doing the deed with me.”
“You might be right about that, and really, it might be a good idea to do what he says.”
“Excuse me? You need to clarify, Janie.”
“Well, he doesn’t want you to be clingy, and there’s a popular belief that ‘she who cares the least—’”
“Don’t quote that morning radio show stuff at me.”
“You can’t deny it’s valid. You act like you don’t care and you got your jollies, it might all be good.”
“Or it will all be bad, and I’ll never see him again.”
“Let’s do lunch on Friday, but seriously, as close as you are with Jackie, you ‘never’ seeing him again, is highly unlikely. I’ll text you later.”
I put the phone on silent and tucked it in my drawer so I could wash my hands and be ready for the rest of my day.
***
MY LAST APPOINTMENT left at five-thirty, and by a quarter to six, I was ready to lock up and call it a day. As I pulled my purse from my desk drawer, I heard the bells tinkle from my front door. I looked up to see Liar standing in my lobby. It was hard to say how I managed it, but I didn’t purse my lips at him even though I desperately wanted to, seeing as he was the last person I wanted to see. Okay, maybe not the very last, Gilbert Grant was the last person I wanted to see, but still.
I set my purse on top of my desk and looked at him expectantly.
He sighed and let his arms hang loose at his sides. “You takin’ the gig at the poker room?”
I closed my eyes for a moment as I tamped down the urge to be a complete smart-ass and probably a wee-bit bitchy in the process. “Most likely. I have to get two copies of the restraining order to Martin, and he assures me he’s got security to keep things safe. By the way, hello, Liar. How are you?”
“Volt wants someone to watch your back. So, let us know when you’ll be there.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to advise him that Volt could have called me to let me know these things, but I held my tongue. From everything I heard from Jackie and witnessed when she first got involved with Volt, I knew better than to argue against needing or wanting their protection. They saw it as a gift and a favor, so for me to protest was seen as stupidity at best and an insult at worst.
I swallowed hard so my tone would be neutral. “Is that all you needed?”
His bronze eyes held mine for long moments. I really thought he was going to turn and leave, but finally, he spoke. “I’m not your type of man.”
I waited because that statement sounded like a follow-up was coming, but when the silence stretched, I realized he meant it. “How about... No, let me start again. You hardly know me. How you think you know you’re not my type of man is beyond me, but I can tell you this, I’m damn well able to judge who is or isn’t the type of man for me. If you have it in you to leave it at that, we might not have any problems.”
“I wear the pants.”
A snort was bubbling up my windpipe, but I managed to stop it. This guy could not be believed. “Never said you don’t. Are you trying to say I’m too masculine or something?”
His arms crossed on his chest. “I’m saying, you made the first move on me twice yesterday. Not down with that shit. I set the pace.”
“Even if that pace should be downright glacial,” I blurted. I shouldn’t have done it, but I couldn’t help it. The air changed in the room. His energy was powerful and stifling. I hesitated to look him in the eye because, with that kind of shift in the atmosphere, I knew I wouldn’t like what I saw. It couldn’t be avoided though, so I gave him my eyes and his were glittering.
“Yeah,” he clipped. “Snail pace, glacial, or even a fuckin’ trickle, it shouldn’t matter. You don’t come on to me.”
I bolted up from my seat. “You don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. Hell, what we shared was...”
No way could I admit that he was the best I ever had and the best I ever would have. That seemed like too much of an ego stroke to a man like him, and with his very mixed signals, I wasn’t about to give him that stroke. My prior experiences with men hadn’t been the best, so I was reticent for that reason as well. I couldn’t put my feelings about last night out there only to have him take advantage of me. Then he’d be no different than the many men in my past who took my giving and caring nature and used it to their benefit. Rarely did they reciprocate those caring or giving feelings. My thoughts were interrupted by Liar.
“Pretty damn great. What we shared was great, but I’m telling you, no more pullin’ shit to get me to give you what you want. I won’t be led around by my dick. Yesterday excluded, obviously.”
If it hadn’t been for Jackie, I would have been supremely offended by his remark. However, Jackie had told me plenty about the many issues facing the various brothers of the Riot MC, and I knew that a few of them had a tendency to be influenced too much by their libidos. It would seem the only downside to that would be for those men, but there was a downside for strong women, too. These men viewed women who were aggressive sexually as women who were insistent to lead them around by their cocks. While the knowledge Jackie had imparted to me meant I wasn’t offended, it didn’t mean I wasn’t pissed because I was.
Planting my hands on my desk, I leaned toward him. “You have some nerve assuming shit like that about me. I have no damn desire to do that to you. It was clear you had some cockamamie reason for keeping your distance, and I didn’t agree.”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t get pissed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Gee, is there anything I can do? First, you tell me not to get clingy, now I’m not supposed to come on to you or even get pissed with you. I think the woman you’re looking for has the last name of Stepford,” I said in a saccharine sweet voice.
Liar didn’t roll his eyes, but he did close them. “Fuck me. She ain’t just a pain in the ass, but a supreme smart-ass to boot.”
“I am standin’ right here, man. No need to refer to me in the third person or do you refer to yourself that way too?”
That wasn’t only a not very nice thing to say, it was apparently the wrong thing to say. Slowly, Liar stalked around my desk. He invaded my personal space and tilted my chin up to look at him. His eyes slayed me. Angry, hard, bright, or even dull, they were gorgeous, and right now they were hungry with a dash of irritation. “You need to keep that shit in check.”
I pressed my lips together, but I couldn’t hold it back. “That another order?”
His eyes bulged, and then his mouth took mine in a rough kiss. It was hungry, it was angry, and it was delicious. I almost thought he could give me all the so-called orders and demands he wanted to; if disobeying him resulted in kisses like this, then my disobedience was going to be a ton of fun.
Liar
This woman thoroughly fucked with his resolve. All day he felt like shit for sayin’ what he said to her the night before, and just being around her made him lose his train of thought. Not only could she see through his bullshit, but she was also irritatingly smart about it. So irritating it turned him on, and he had to kiss her. Her arms wrapped around his waist and her magical damn hands were stroking from his lumbar down over his ass. He wasn’t sure if being around Mallory, Frankie, Neil, and Jackie had put this spunk in her or if she was that way naturally, but Liar was quickly sensing what made his brothers put up with those feisty women of theirs.
His hands rose to her cheeks, and he pulled away from the kiss. “It wasn’t an order, but a strong recommendation,” he said in answer to her earlier question. “You’re irritating as all hell, not just because you’re a pain in the ass and smart about it, but because you cut through the bullshit.”
Her molten brown eyes gleamed. “I don’t cut through bullshit. I just won’t put up with any.”
His lips quirked upward. “One and the same where I’m from, babe.”
Her lips pulled down slightly at that, and he could tell she was gearing herself up to say something to him, so he beat her to it. “I’m sorry about sayin’ what I did last night. It was a dick move, and I did it to protect myself.”
“From me?” she asked, her skepticism clear.
He nodded shortly. “Yeah, from you. Anyway. You got plans tonight?”
Her lips pulled to the side. “No, but I suspect you’re going to tell me I do now.”
Liar shrugged a shoulder. “No, but I’m willing to take you to the compound for a drink if you want.”
“Okay,” she said with a smile, then added, “but for the record, you should keep your bossiness in check. Not an order, just a strong recommendation.”
Fuck him, Liar thought, she could be damn near perfect.
***
“WHY WOULD SHE THINK canola oil’d be better than WD40?” Rage asked.
“Dunno,” Liar said sipping on his beer.
Andrea fidgeted on her barstool, clearly irritated that they were talking as if she wasn’t right there. “It’s oil, and it’s viscous!”
Rage’s eyes went to her. “Did you say ‘viscous’?”
“Yes!” she cried with exasperation.
“I don’t think you know what you’re talking about,” he muttered into his beer bottle.
“I do – oh, this conversation is deteriorating...just like the planet!”
Rage pointed his beer bottle at Liar. “Jesus, Liar, you damn sure know how to pick ’em. You pick her up at the hippie new-age bookstore in Daytona?”
Andrea stood up and put a hand on her hip. “He did not, and I’m not a hippie, just environmentally aware! And even if I was a real hippie-chick, there’s nothing wrong with that either.”
“I didn’t say there was, babe. I’m just tryin’ to figure out where I can find someone like you, but different,” Rage said with a suggestive eyebrow arch.
Liar shot Rage a look, but it wasn’t too heated since he knew his brother wasn’t actually flirting with Andrea. Major’s gruff voice pulled Liar’s attention away from Rage.
“This our girl, Jackie’s friend? I’m Major, it’s nice to meetcha.”
Andrea turned toward Major and gave him a beaming white smile. Liar felt that smile like a punch to his gut. “I am. It’s nice to meet you too, Major.”
Right behind Major, Blood ambled up and clapped Liar on the bicep while shaking his hand. “Liar. Heard you were gettin’ the info on Jackie’s friend’s problem.”
Andrea turned confused eyes to Blood. “I don’t have a problem. And no disrespect intended, but who are you?”
Blood lifted his chin at her insistence of no disrespect. “I’m Blood, the Vice President of this chapter. Volt said you have a stalker.”
Liar watched as Andrea shifted on her stool, so her back was to the bar, her arms were crossed under her breasts which in and of itself was a spectacular show. Her small chin jutted toward him and the feisty fire burned in her eyes. “I don’t have a stalker.”
“Just be—”
Her eyes narrowed as she jabbed a finger toward Liar. “What I have is a restraining order. This is craziness. There are deputies at the Poker Room, they’re fully equipped to —”
“Cover their own ass, is all they’re fully equipped to do,” Major’s gravelly voice cut into her rant.
Andrea’s jaw went slack, and Liar envisioned that slack jaw and open lips wrapped around his cock. Bad timing for what would otherwise be seriously enjoyable thoughts, but then her mouth snapped closed, and she pouted which was cuter than any woman had a right to be.
Major was not to be denied. “Those officers of the law are not likely to escort you to your car, and even if they did, it damn sure doesn’t mean they’re keepin’ close tabs on your car while you’re workin’. That means they can’t know if that motherfucker has eyes on you or not, and if he does and you high tail your sweet ass to your home, that fucker then knows where you live. Maybe you’ll rest easy that night, but you can bet that fucker’s gonna do somethin’ and ain’t no deputy gonna be there when he does. I understand the asshole cornered you once, ain’t no way Riot’s gonna stand by and let him do it again whether you’re fully part of our fold or not.”
Andrea held Major’s fierce gaze for a moment and then she looked to Liar and to Blood. Her eyes narrowed the slightest bit at Blood’s satisfied smile. “I’d say Major took the words right out of all of our mouths. So, I’m here to let you know a few things about Gilbert Grant.”
Liar wasn’t sure if Blood saw it or not, but in no way did Liar miss Andrea’s body tightening at the mention of that scum’s name. That had to stop, and if Liar had anything to say about it, he was going to be the one to make sure it did.
“He lives in Orange Park. Works in Ortega. Not certain just yet, but we’re thinkin’ he still frequents the poker room. He doesn’t have a player’s card, or our IT guys would have his digital trail. Since cash is king in poker, his comings and goings at Best Bet are more difficult to track.”
Andrea’s thin eyebrows crunched together. “How do you even know all that stuff about him? I mean, a digital trail? Seriously?”
Blood put a hand on the bar which caused him to lean toward her. Liar buried the jealousy which flared seeing any man leaning into Andrea, even if it was one of his brothers. “You don’t need to worry about the how. You need to worry about you. We’re gonna have your back, and you need to be aware of your surroundings so you can stay safe.”
Andrea sat up straighter. “This just proves I should turn the gig down. It’s only temp—”
“No,” four male voices said in unison.
This surprised her, but she only looked at Liar. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”
Liar opened his mouth to answer, but Blood got there first. “That fucker’s done enough to you. No damn way he’s takin’ money outta your pocket if you want or need the cash. If he weren’t in the picture you wouldn’t have even debated the issue, now would you?”
“No,” she said quietly.
“There you go, darlin’. Tell Liar when you’re gonna be there and for how long, and we’ll keep you covered.”
