Page 61 of Bombshell

I couldn’t think of a time in my life when I had been happier than I was right now.

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.

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