Page 10 of Rider

She sat up straighter in her seat. “Well if you must know, my friend wanted to bring me out after work and buy me a drink after the shitty weekend I had. And as you know this place is only a few blocks from the salon.”

That made me pause. I didn’t think she was referring to our date so something must have happened to her after Friday night. That could explain why she hadn’t answered my calls or messages. Concern flooded my bloodstream. “Are you alright? Is everything ok”

She bit her lip and looked over to her friend. I could see the strain on her face and it pained me that she was so upset over something that I didn’t even know the cause. I shifted my weight trying to figure out how to get her to open up. “Rayleighn, can we talk alone?”

She looked over to her friend and took her hand on the table top. “I’ll be right back.” She then slid out of the booth and took my outstretched out. Her friend stayed behind at the table, eying me like she wanted to give me the finger.

Rayleighn

I was in Monday hell. I was dead on my feet. I had been cutting hair since ten—now it was six—a long eight hours on my feet. I hadn’t slept well in days. All week long I had avoided anything to do with Grayson. After Mrs. Lopez left Friday night, I turned my phone off and went to bed. I was so shaken up by his message that I slept in the chair in Colton’s room. I felt safer right where I could see him, and could reach him. He had been my entire world since the moment he was born and the thought of anyone coming in and trying to take him away from me felt like someone pouring hot acid on my skin.

I spent the entire weekend playing with Colton and sticking close to home. I could tell that Mrs. Lopez knew something was going on but I wasn’t ready to talk about it. Talking about it made it real and at the moment I wanted to live in denial. Today had been harder, Carmen was a chatter and when we were both without clients she always wanted to talk about our weekends and gossip about shows, books and everything in between. The problem was that I wasn’t in the mood and didn’t have the energy to fake it. She gathered quickly that something was wrong with me and became relentless in her pursuit to find out what had put a gray cloud over me.

“Ray come on, what’s going on with you? Are you having money troubles? Is it Colton? Is he going through another sleep regression? I’m telling you girl, you’ll get through that. My oldest didn’t sleep through the night for like three years and I thought I was going to rip my hair out and have to walk around cutting and styling hair looking like latin Mr. Clean.”

I laugh in spite of my current situation. “No, it’s not his sleep. He’s actually doing well right now. And money is always tight, you know how that goes.” I give her a pointed look because she’s always talking about how she’s broke but in reality she hoards her tips and puts them into her savings account every Friday. “It’s just something that upset me Friday and I keep thinking about it.” I try to act nonchalant so she won’t keep digging and asking for more. I don’t want to get into it at work. Much to my surprise she seems to accept my answer for now.

“Well if you wanna talk about it, you know I’m here. Don’t forget we are getting a drink tonight after work. You told me last week you would and I made sure both of us don’t have any clients coming in for the last half hour so you don’t have to worry about getting home late to Colton.”

Shit. I had completely forgotten. Lord, the last thing I wanted to do tonight was sit down and drink and have to talk more about my life. I took a deep breath and just accepted my fate because when you make Carmen a promise you always have to keep it.

Twenty minutes later, I found myself sitting in a plush green booth in Venom Lounge. If I had to guess this was somehow related to the Mystic Venom MC. While I had passed the bar on the way to and from work for over a year now, I never put two and two together to realize it had anything to do with a motorcycle club. I surveyed the room from my seat worried that Rider would pop up at any moment. While I wasn’t avoiding him, I hadn’t answered any of the messages he had sent when I finally turned my phone back on. I’m sure he thought I was blowing him off. In addition to Rider, I kept searching for anyone I would have seen on Friday night at the clubhouse, especially the guy Rider had thrown up against the wall.

Carmen quickly caught on to my nerves. “Ay-ay-ay, girlfriend. You are a live wire right now. What is going on with you?”

“Carmen, is this bar part of the motorcycle club? Have you been here before?”

She smiled at me. “Yeah, I think it is. My brother is always talking about this place. He says it’s great for two things, picking up hot dates and cheap drinks. So it’s a win—win for us.”

“I just went on my first date in years on Friday and he’s a part of the club. I haven’t called him back yet. If he finds out that I was here, he’s probably gonna be a little put off by that fact or thinkI’m crazy and out here stalking his ass.”

She smiled at me and put her elbow up on the table and her chin into her palm. “This is why you need to tell me these things ahead of time and we could have gone somewhere else. Now spill it girl. I want all the details on this date. Is he hot? I bet he’d have to be if he’s in the MC. All of those guys are hot as sin, covered in tattoos and have bods you could bounce quarters off of.” As she was fanning herself from overheating thinking about the men of the club, I kept looking around the room.

One of the waitresses came to take our drink order and left. When she walked away, my adrenaline immediately kicked into high gear. Rider was sitting at the front of the bar. I saw his face as he talked with a woman who quickly approached him. I must have missed what Carmen said to me because she waved her hand in front of my face to get my attention. “Hey, what’s got you full of nerves all of the sudden?”

I nodded towards the direction of Rider. “That’s the guy I went out with on Friday night. He took me to the club’s toy drive and then we hung out at their clubhouse for a while. We had a good time but then one of his fellow club members propositioned me like I was a whore to be passed around and it kind of soured the evening so I asked him to take me home. I do like him and I’d like to see him again but I just don’t know if it’ll work out now. I might have screwed it up by not responding to any of his messages since then.”

“I see he’s got a fly buzzing around him right now.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, I bet he gets that a lot. She’s pretty. I don’t know if I could compete with that.”

Carmen looked over at me and pursed her lips. “Ray don’t even think that. You are sexy as hell so don’t let anyone tell you differently. Plus you’re smart and a great mom. I bet that chick drops her two different baby daddy kids off on other people and doesn’t give them a second thought.”

I laughed it off but couldn’t stop thinking about him with that woman. They clearly knew each other. After a few seconds, I saw the girl kiss Rider and my heart sank into my stomach. Maybe I had misjudged him. Maybe he had women all over him all the time and I was just his Friday night date. I would just be the girl who didn’t put out and never be heard from again. Before I could tear my gaze away, he slipped off the booth and started to leave. I almost breathed a sigh of relief that he wouldn’t see me but then something must have caught his attention because he turned his head and looked directly at me. He marched over to the table and before I knew it we were walking hand in hand to the other side of the club.

He led us down a long dimly lit hallway. I could see the restrooms and emergency exit up ahead. When we were far enough from everyone else and the noise, Rider stopped and turned. He leaned forward and gave me a hug and leaned down to give me a soft kiss on the lips. Lips that had just touched another woman. I needed to remind myself of that fact. I had seen it happen. I pulled away from him, putting space between us.

“What’s going on, Rayleighn? I haven’t heard from you all weekend and then you turn up in a bar owned by the club.”

I didn’t answer him, instead posing a question of my own. “Who was the girl you kissed?”

He stood up straighter, frustration and annoyance written all over his face. He ran his hand through his hair and looked at me. “She’s absolutely no one. Honest truth. She kissed me before I could even avoid it. I’ve set her straight multiple times that nothing will ever happen. She’s just some club hang around and tries to get with all of the patched in members.”

I raised one eyebrow and looked at him. “So nothing ever happened between you two?”

He looked at me guiltily, the answer clear. “I was in a really shitty place mentally about a year ago and at one of the club functions I got drunk and ended up sleeping with her. I woke up the next morning and realized what happened and set her straight. Then I got the fuck out of there. I’ve been doing my best to avoid her since.”

He seemed honest, but it reignited the insecurities that I had with his affiliation with the club. He reached forward and clasped both my hands in his. “Please tell me what’s bothering you? What happened this weekend after I left?”

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