29

Dolly

The parking lot of Paradise Brew, Pepper’s bar, was packed. The hurricane had put her back almost a month in opening it. Tonight was her big night. She wasn’t thrilled with Micah and me dating, but she’d accepted it. My going to her and pleading with her to talk to her brother had much to do with it. She had finally agreed that I seemed happier and so did Micah.

He had been sleeping at my apartment for a month now. I hadn’t been back to the club, but with my work and fall semester starting up, I hadn’t had much time. Micah and I had the evenings together. Most weekend nights, he left me after I was asleep to go handle club business, but rarely did I wake up and he wasn’t in bed with me.

Tonight, however, was special. We were here to celebrate Pepper’s first night with her doors open for business. The number of bikes outside meant that The Judgment had shown up in support. I was so happy for her that I could bust.

Micah bent down and pressed a kiss to my lips before placing his hand on my back and leading me into the bar. A live band was playing, and the place was full. The inside of the bar had a rustic elegance to it. The exposed beams in the ceiling had what looked like antique light bulbs hanging from cords that wrapped around the wood. The bar itself was in the center of the room. It was circular with old barrels lined with mirrors surrounding it. There was dark brown leather seating with occasional black leather mixed in and carved wooden tables that looked as if they’d been made two hundred years ago from the finest oak.

“Stay close to me so I don’t have to break a fucker’s arm for thinking he can talk to you,” Micah said close to my ear as we went farther inside the bar.

This was so far removed from my scene that he didn’t have to worry about that, not one bit. He led us to the bar, where Pepper was laughing at some men seated at it, pouring a drink. She seemed to be beaming with excitement. My heart felt full when I saw her like this. She’d been talking about this for years. It had been her dream, and now, she had made it real.

Micah started in the direction of the pool tables, and I noticed Nina at one of the tables beside it, holding a beer in her hand and talking animatedly to Goldie, who was across from her. Nina’s husband, Jars, was sitting at the seat beside her with his arm around the back of her chair, leaning back and smiling at whatever his wife was saying.

When we approached them, Jars had already spotted us and pushed out the chair across from him with his booted foot, then nodded for Micah to take it.

“Dolly!” Nina squealed and ran around the table to pull me into a hug.

“She’s on the other side of tipsy,” Jars said from his seat with an amused smirk.

I returned her hug, smiling, enjoying her enthusiastic welcome.

“I keep telling Micah to bring you back. He’s keeping you all to himself,” she said, wagging a finger in his face.

“I’ll bring her to see you this week,” he said with a crooked grin.

“Sit down!” she exclaimed. “We can find another chair somewhere.”

“No need,” Micah replied, sitting in the chair and pulling me down to sit on his lap. “Keep those legs together. I don’t want anyone getting a glimpse of those pink panties,” he whispered in my ear.

I felt my cheeks warm, thinking about the fact that he had made sure my pink panties would be damp tonight from his cum before we left.

I crossed my legs and looked up at him through my lashes. “How’s that?”

His gaze dropped to my legs. “Fucking distracting.”

If he kept looking at me like that, I was gonna have a hard time visiting with his friends.

“Jesus Christ, get a room,” Jars muttered.

Nina slapped his arm. “Shut up, you! I’m loving this.”

Jars raised his beer and put the bottle to his mouth with a roll of his eyes.

“Micah?” a female voice said.

Before I could even turn to see who it was, I felt his entire body tense up. His hand tightened on my leg for a moment, then released me. I glanced at him, then swung my eyes to whoever had gotten this reaction out of him.

She was blonde. Of course she was. She was also tall and willowy. Long, dark lashes, red lips, and a body that made other women feel inferior.

Please, God, let this be some long-lost relative I don’t know about.

“Calista,” he replied. His voice was casual, but the way his body was rigid told me something else entirely.

She glanced at me only briefly, and then her eyes swung back to him. “I thought you might be here tonight.”

He nodded once. “Pep is my sister,” he replied tightly.

“Thought you’d moved to California,” Nina said. “You back, visiting your momma?”

She smiled at Nina, and my stomach sank further. She belonged on magazine covers or television. How did she know them? I needed someone to tell me she was related to Micah.

Please, oh please, let that be the case.

“I had some things happen that sent me back home. I’ve been hoping to run into you actually,” she said, and I realized she was looking at Micah, not Nina.

“Yeah, well, you did,” he replied.

She was silent for a moment. “I see,” she finally said. “It was good seeing you, everyone.” Her gaze dropped back to me again. “I’m Calista.”

She seemed nice enough. I wanted to think she was nice. I also wanted to think she was a lesbian or a relative of Micah’s, but my gut was telling me neither was the case.

“Dolly,” I replied.

Calista’s catlike green eyes went back to Micah. “She’s your…”

“Friend,” he replied a touch too sharply.

The relief on her face was obvious. I just hoped the pain in my chest wasn’t. He’d called me a friend. Was that what he thought of me? We hadn’t labeled what we were doing, but it was definitely not friendly. Not by a long shot.

“I see,” she said. “My number is the same,” she told him. “I’d love to catch up when you have time.”

Micah only nodded once, his jaw clenched tightly.

Calista looked back at the others and said one last goodbye, then turned in her short black dress and strutted on her mile-long legs back into the crowd. Men turned to watch her as she walked by. A few let out whistles. I felt like I was torn between throwing up and bursting into tears.

“She hasn’t changed much,” Nina said loudly, then held up her hand. “I think this calls for a round of shots. What about some Cuervo?”

Micah’s hands were on my waist, and he moved me off him to stand up. “Stay here. I’ll be back,” he said, not making eye contact with me.

I watched as he walked off and had to force my legs to bend so I could sit down in his vacated seat. He wasn’t walking in the direction she had, but why was he acting like this? Who was she? My chest was hurting so bad at the moment that I was struggling to breathe.

“He just needs a minute, sugar,” Jars said from across the table.

I looked at him, and I saw the concern in his eyes. They all knew her. Who she was and why Micah was acting so strange. I wanted to ask, but I was scared to know. Terrified actually.

“That boy can’t be that stupid!” Nina snapped, glaring after him.

Jars looked at her and shook his head, as if to warn her from saying more. I had to get out of here. I needed some air. I felt like I was going to suffocate, and if I was about to have a complete breakdown, I’d prefer it not to be where folks could see me. I wanted to do that alone.

A tray of shots was set down on the table in front of me.

“Did I hear someone say y’all needed some tequila?” Pepper asked.

My eyes shot up to meet hers.

“Thank you, Pep!” Nina said, forgetting her moment of anger.

“No problem. You all drink up. I’m taking my girl here for a bit,” Pepper informed them.

Pepper held out her hand to me, and I took it, standing up. She pulled me through the crowd, past the bar, and to the door in the back that led to her office. I’d been here a few times, and that was the first room she had finished. Once we were inside with the door shut and the sound of the bar muffled, I walked over and sank into the plush tan chair that sat in the corner.

Wringing my hands together in my lap, I took a deep breath. “Who is she?” I asked, knowing Pepper had seen the woman and that was why she’d come and gotten me.

She let out a heavy sigh. “Calista Churro. Her daddy was in Judgment before he was killed in a motorcycle accident about eight years ago. She only stayed around about six months after that and then left without warning to California. She has an aunt that lives out there or some shit.”

I continued to stare at Pepper. There was more. More she was not wanting to tell me. I could see it all over her face. But I also knew she would. Pepper was the most honest person I knew.

She leaned back on the edge of her desk. “Calista and Micah grew up in the club together. They were friends for years until they were more. Micah…well, Micah was in love with her. But Calista could only truly love herself. She’d always been that way, but Micah was too blind to see it. She left him with nothing but a letter, apologizing. I thought he’d chase off after her, but he didn’t.”

Micah had been in love. Micah had been in love. Micah had been in love.

I felt as if I might break into a million pieces right here. Part of me wished I could.

Micah had been in love. With…a woman who looked like a supermodel.

“Stop it,” Pepper said, standing back up and walking over to me. “This was seven years ago. Micah has long since moved on from his childhood love he had for Calista.” She bent down in front of me and took my hands in hers. “Don’t do this. You’re getting in your head and making this more than it is. If he had wanted Calista at any time, he had known where she was and could have gone to find her. He never did.”

I took a deep breath, feeling the burn of it all the way into my chest. “He told her I was a friend.” My words barely came out as a whisper.

Pepper’s hands tightened their grasp on mine. “He’s going to regret that. It was just the shock of seeing her here. This thing with you is new to him. He’s never in his adult life felt like he does about you with any woman. You make him happy. As much as I was against the two of you, I will admit that I’ve never seen my brother so damn happy in his life. He’s settled. He isn’t searching for something. He isn’t restless anymore.”

“Pepper, don’t,” I said, shaking my head. “I saw her. I cannot compete with that.”

“And you don’t have to because you win, hands down. You DO NOT know her. She might look pretty on the outside, but it is skin deep. Micah found that out the hard way. Your beauty is inside and out. She can’t compete with you. She doesn’t even hold a candle.”

I shook my head just as the door to her office swung open, and Micah came storming inside the room.

His gaze went from Pepper to me. “What the fuck are you telling her, Pep?” he demanded.

Pepper stood up and placed a well-manicured hand on her hip. “What you should have told her before just running off like an asshole.”

“I needed a goddamn minute!” he shouted. “I didn’t need you to come take her and tell her shit that doesn’t concern her.”

Pepper threw up her hand and stalked toward Micah. “Doesn’t concern her? Are you shitting me right now?!”

“Come on, Tink,” he said, looking past her to me. “We’re leaving.”

I stood slowly, not sure if going with Micah was what I should be doing, but the idea of him leaving me also felt unbearable. He held out a hand in my direction, and like a moth to a flame, I went to it. Knowing that the woman he had loved thought I was a friend of his. She was back and wanted to talk to him. It had affected him too strongly for there to be no feelings left there anymore.

His fingers wrapped around my hand, and he tugged me closer to him. “Congratulations on your opening,” he said to Pepper, then all but dragged me toward the door.

“Don’t fuck up,” Pepper warned him.

He didn’t turn around or even slow down. We walked through the bar and right back to the front door we had entered earlier. I didn’t look around or make eye contact with anyone, although I knew every Judgment in here was watching me being hauled away by Micah.

When we got outside and I saw my pink helmet sitting on his bike, I wanted to burst into tears. I had thought his buying that meant something. That it had been his way of saying I was his. That we were together. That he cared.

He didn’t say a word as he walked me over to his bike, put my helmet on me, as he always did, then climbed onto the bike. I took his hand and threw my leg over, sliding in close to his back, then wrapped my arms around him.

Tears burned my eyes as I inhaled the leather vest and wondered if this would be my last time on the back of his bike.