Page 11 of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

It was my turn to question him once again. “Not following.”

Iceman just started at me a moment a longer, and then he grinned. “Fuck’s sake, you know it’s not a secret from me since they had to get approval, but if that’s how you want to play it fine.” He snagged a beer from Cherry. “I’ll be in my office for a bit. Have some last minute shit to tidy up before I join the party tonight. Finally got Carol out of here, so I might actually have a good time.”

Carol was Iceman’s estranged wife and disgraced old lady. She’d shown her ass one too many times around the club to be allowed back around, and when she was banned from coming here for a short time she threw an outrageous fit and made things far worse for herself. Last I heard, Iceman had filed for divorce, and put out a club-wide mandate that Carol wasn’t allowed near the club in any capacity. She had a son that was now with the Sierra High Chapter in Georgia, but apparently she wasn’t welcome there either. I still had no clue what Iceman had been inferring earlier, but I assumed some sort of party would be happening tonight, so I finished packing my shit up and took it on up to my room on the second floor.

When I got up to my room there was a note lying on my bed, which reminded me that I apparently needed to start locking my damn door. I picked up the note to read the demand in whiskey’s nearly illegible scrawl that my presence was required tonight, and that ‘no’ was not an answer. Fine. Tonight, I was going to put all three of my friends in their place, and tell them I wanted no part in their extracurricular activities any longer.

I’d had a bit of a shit day so I went to just lie down and get a fuckin’ nap in, especially since my presence was request at another party that night. When I woke it was to the sound and vibration of loud music, and even louder assholes. Apparently I had slept through part of the party after all.

By the time I got downstairs it was in time to hear the music come to a screeching halt as my buddies climbed up on the stage the strippers usually used when they were in house keeping the guys happy, and they dragged Amy up on stage with them.

“You all know Amy’s our girl, been that way a while,” Whiskey started out in his usual jovial tone.

“Tonight, we officially claim her as ours,” Fox finished for him as he held out a smaller version of the leather kutte they both wore. Only when they turned her around, after putting it on her, the top rocker read, ‘Property of W + F,’ which caused everyone to start yelling like the lunatics they were.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman claimed by more than one man of the club at once before, this is new,” Shameless said to me as we both snagged a beer from Charlie who beamed at us from the other side of the bar.

“I don’t doubt that. I’m waiting to see how it plays out long term myself,” I admitted.

Shameless grinned at me while giving me an odd sidelong glance. “Why aren’t you up there celebrating with them?”

I waved off his question. “This is their moment, let them have it. No need to put my ass in the middle of their business.”

Shameless, once again, tossed an odd look my way before glancing back at Charlie. I caught him shrugging his shoulders at her while she just continued to smile. I felt like the idiot who didn’t know he was the butt of some joke everyone else was in on, but him. I didn’t get long to think on it though since Whiskey plopped a squealing Amy into my lap before I could even realized they were there.

“What the hell?” I asked as Amy just continued regaling me with her infectious laughter.

Fox clapped his hand down on my shoulder. “Where were you, man? We had to start without you, so that kinda sucked.”

“I saw everything,” I explained quickly. All three of them stilled a bit and just stared at me. Once again I was left to feel like the asshole on the wrong side of a joke. Tonight though, I was too tired to care. My recent nap aside, I had just been feeling exhausted lately. “Look, I’m spent. I’ve been pulling long hours with shop and getting ready for the Reno trip coming up.” They all got that look like I’d just kicked their cat or something. “Congrats on all this,” I stated while depositing Amy onto her feet in front of Whiskey. “Seriously, I’m happy for all of you.”

“Happy for us?” Amy asked with a cautious tone.

“Yeah,” I agreed, giving the hair on her head a playful little toss. “Happy for all of you. I promise, I’ll take you guys out to celebrate soon too. I just need to crash tonight.” I didn’t wait for them to try to say anything, talk me out of it, or invite themselves back to my room, and for the first time since I joined the club I locked my door to bar anyone from getting in. A little later I listened as the doorknob jiggled followed by my friend’s incredulous outburst beyond my door wondering what the hell was wrong with me. I was beginning to wonder just that myself, only I knew the answer already. The thing that was wrong with me was that I was beginning to resent my two best friends for continually putting me into a position I didn’t much care to be in so that they could feel they had fixed me, instead of just letting me be, and find happiness on my own terms like they apparently had done. I just had to find a way to get them to understand that my not wanting to be a part of their shit didn’t have anything to do with still being hung up running from the issues Camilla left me with and everything to do with the fact that I didn’t want to be a part of that lifestyle, or any other that I didn’t absolutely want for myself when the time was right.

I was headed to Reno soon for the Lady Luck Tattoo Arts Expo. I was hoping that by the time I got back things would be a bit more settled for the three of them, and I wouldn’t be walking right back into the same old drama, because I was damn near my breaking point where feelings were going to get hurt, and friends might be lost. Before heading back to Spearfish I was planning on spending some time with my mom

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