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Zach
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“She’s hot. That’s more than enough reason for me.” Aaron shrugged as he tossed back the rest of his drink and dragged his hand across his mouth. I couldn’t argue. The little number he’d just set his sights on across the club was smoking hot, and I already knew I’d lost my best friend for the night.
I didn’t mind. Hell, it was the main reason he and I were here. We didn’t want to waste time with the women back home, though home was only a couple of towns over. Less than two hours on the freeway, and we’d be back, but this was still a nice break.
Who was I kidding? I thought. Any break from my father was a nice break, considering how domineering of a man he was. It was in his blood, I knew that much. He was the leader of one of the most violent and notorious motorcycle clubs in not only California, but in all of the surrounding states.
His territory – our territory – might not stretch out of our cluster of towns in Northern California, but his name certainly reached further than that. It was his reputation for violence and not putting up with shit from anyone that actually caused very few fights between our club and rivals.
No one wanted to deal with a man who was as ruthless yet capable as my father.
And most of the time, that included me.
My father had high hopes for me. One of these days, I was going to be the leader of the club, and I was to do our family proud. The Painters had been in charge of the Folded Flags for several generations, and neither my grandfather nor my father had any intention of seeing our dynasty come to an end.
Not that I blamed them – there were a lot of perks that came with ruling the roost. The only problem was, I hated the politics of the club.
I didn’t even want to inherit my grandfather’s diner when he passed, but since I was the only son of his only son, I was handed the place practically with a red ribbon around the doors.
Of course, that was after my military career. Coming back from spending eight years as a SEAL left me with some severe PTSD, there was no denying that. I supposed I should be grateful for the fact that I was given a business to run, complete with employees, profit, and the like.
But to me, the diner was nothing more than a job. And, it was just as big of a pain in my ass as my father much of the time.
Could I leave? Probably. But where would I go? I couldn’t get out of the club and expect to stay in town. There’s no way in hell my father would have gone for that idea. He was willing to chase me out of the state if I didn’t maintain my loyalty to the club, that went without saying.
Then again, what would be the point of leaving? Most of the people I knew were connected to the club in some way, whether they were direct members, or they were related to people who were. Then there were those who were our primary customers – people we were happy to do business with both on our bikes and otherwise.
Small town Santa Rosa had a grip on me, and I already knew there wasn’t much I could do about it. Aaron often argued with me Santa Rosa wasn’t that small. With a population of nearly two hundred thousand, he often reminded me there were more people there than I realized.
But it sure felt damn small to me. I could admit that was partly my fault. I did spend most of my time in the southern half of the city. There wasn’t any reason for me to head north, so why would I? When the need to wander struck, we both knew we’d get a lot more action if we were to head south than the opposite direction.
And tonight, that’s what we’d done.
We were safe enough in this club. This town was still under my father’s control, though I couldn’t remember the last time he came this far south. He liked to stay in Santa Rosa and rule his kingdom from his shop and the diner. There wasn’t any need for him to leave the territory, and he didn’t flirt with the outside world like I did.
But this was still a much-needed break from his harassment. Aaron and I wanted to come down here, get a few drinks in us, and get laid. And, from the looks of the hotties hanging around the club, that wasn’t going to be hard for either one of us.
We’d started the night with a round of shots, following that with another round. As the buzz started to take over, I switched to beer and Aaron decided to get a rum and coke. He was a year older than me at thirty and could still drink me under the table.
I did hold back to an extent. I didn’t want to ride back home hungover the next morning, so I wasn’t going to go too crazy. Hell, with how quickly Aaron was able to spot a chick to take back to a hotel with him, I figured he wasn’t going to have the chance to get too drunk, either. We didn’t technically have a place to stay in town, but we were both willing to drop the fee for a room for the night if it meant we got to leave with a hot chick.
Which would probably do him some good.
Now alone in the club, I scanned the crowd, looking for a target of my own. I wanted a girl who I could get out of there at some point in the night, not one who was going to be surrounded by her posse of friends. While those were always a fun conquest, and I felt accomplished when I did manage to get them away from their bodyguards, I wasn’t in the mood for that tonight.
Tonight, I just wanted to get laid.
In the corner of the room, there was a redhead laughing with another girl with shocking blue hair. She might be fun in bed, I thought. Hell, she certainly wasn’t afraid to make a statement. Against the wall near the bar was a brunette chatting with a shorter blonde.
Both were gorgeous, but it was the brunette who really caught my eye. She wasn’t as skinny as her friend, but her curves practically screamed my name. She had a smile that was worth dying for, and even across the darkened room, I could see how sparkly her eyes were.
She was too far away for me to see whether they were brown or blue, and I knew I was going to have to go in for a closer look. It helped that the barstool next to theirs was vacant, and I easily slid into place with my cold beer in my hand.
Both girls glanced my way for a brief moment, before going back to talking. However, I did hear the blonde point out how attractive I was. That was my cue.
I turned slightly toward them and nodded down to their empty glasses.
“Can I get you a round?” I asked.
“Shots?” the blonde asked with a grin.
“Whatever you like, cutie,” I said with a flashy smile of my own. She giggled and gave the brunette a look.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“I think I’d rather know your name before I take a drink from you,” the brunette replied tartly. Feisty. I liked that.
“Zach,” I said simply. “And, what about you two angels?”
“This is Vanessa, and I’m Lynne,” the blonde said. “But I think you’ve caught me at a bad time. I’ll take that shot, but I was supposed to meet with someone in just a few minutes.”
This girl knows exactly what she’s doing, I thought. I flashed another smile to her. Bless her soul, she clearly wanted her friend to have as good of a night as I myself wanted. I hoped it wasn’t too obvious that I wanted the brunette, Vanessa, more. But then, maybe she actually did have someone she was going to meet.
“You’re not actually going to go through with that, are you?” Vanessa asked with a laugh.
“Of course, I am! Do you know how long it’s been?” Lynne shot back.
“Yeah, I do. You tell me every time you do it,” Vanessa said with another laugh and a shake of her head. I looked from one to the other and smiled, pulling both of their attentions back to me.
“What’ll you have?” I asked.
“Lemon drop,” Lynne replied.
“Make that two,” Vanessa said with a grin.
“Excellent choice,” I said before ordering the shots. The bartender poured both and a shot of whiskey for me, then we all tossed them back and set the glasses down on the table at the same time.
“Well, if I’m going to make a bad decision, I better commit and make it,” Lynne said. “Nice to meet you, Zach, and thanks for the shot.”
“Nice to meet you,” I nodded. She hopped off the stool and headed toward a corner of the room, but I quickly turned my attention back to Vanessa. She was watching her friend and shaking her head, and then she turned to me.
“You’re going to have to excuse her. She’s a little bolder than she means to be, but shy at the end of the day,” she said.
“And you aren’t?” I teased.
“No,” Vanessa said. “I’m the outgoing one, if you can believe it.”
“I’m a little skeptical,” I flirted. “Seems to me like Lynne has far more to say than you.”
“She’s like that in the beginning, but then she makes her escape and leaves me to deal with the consequences,” Vanessa said with a shrug. “Bless her heart. She means well, I don’t doubt that.”
“I hope you don’t mind dealing with these consequences,” I said. “I was hoping that you might let me buy you another drink.”
“I’d like that,” she said, finally replying without missing a beat. “But I don’t want to hang out at the bar; it’s too loud with the music playing right there.”
“Agreed,” I replied. We both ordered a fresh round of drinks and headed to a booth near the back of the club. I was starting to get the impression Vanessa had seen me – and possibly expressed interest – before I ever approached them. She was subtle in her tactics, but she was definitely encouraging my attention.
We settled into the booth and sipped on our drinks as we talked. I was amazed at how open and outgoing she really was. Her laugh was like magic, and the way she tossed her hair over her shoulder when she was listening to one of my stories drove me crazy.
Her curves were beyond distracting, though I had to admit, she looked a little cleaner than any of the women I’d normally try to seduce. She didn’t have a tattoo to be seen, and her ears were only pierced once. She looked very...well, normal. Not at all like the bad girls I often prided myself in taking home. But then, I wasn’t home.
It didn’t take long for things to head up between us, and before the end of our second round, we were already kissing in the booth. It was relatively private compared to the rest of the club, and I was taking full advantage of the fact this woman was so willing to be so open with me.
God, I had to have more of her. The pressure of her breast against my arm as she leaned into the kiss was almost more than I could handle. The soft, suppleness of her lips against mine... There was only one way this night could end with me being happy.
We were leaving together.