Page 3 of Facet

“You walk right by it,” I shot back with an eye roll.

“Fine,” he huffed as he took it from me. Then he grinned. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yep.”

We fist bumped, and he left. I locked the door again, not giving thought that we’d left the door unlocked to go up to the roof. Not like anyone would’ve walked in uninvited. Everyone thought my mom was a crazy witch.

She definitely raised me to be wary and fully trust no one. According to her, I’m a very special child and that one day I’ll be the key to something powerful. If you asked me, she had a funny way of showing me that I’m special.

One thing she did teach me was that I needed to be careful and cautious of who the hell I trusted.

By the time I went to my room, I was deadass tired. I stopped to return her matches, then let my clothes drop as I yawned and climbed into bed in my underwear. As I snuggled into my bed, I could barely keep my eyes open.

“Ugh,” I sighed. The lights were still on. I slapped my hand on the comforter in frustration. The room went dark, and sleep sucked me under.

The smell of bacon woke me, and my stomach growled. My feet hit the floor, and I shoved my hand through my hair. As I passed my dresser, I saw the dark mess on my head sticking up all over the place. Didn’t care. I dragged my ass down the short hall to our kitchen and stopped short.

A blond-haired dude sat at the table eating eggs and bacon while my mom poured him a glass of orange juice. My gaze took in my mom’s fancy belted robe, and the guy’s eyes lifted to me. He froze with a bite halfway to his mouth and slowly set it down. He cast an uneasy glance over his shoulder at my mom.

“Um,” he began, catching my mom’s attention.

Her eyes darted to where I stood in the doorway. A big smile lifted her cheeks. “Damien, baby. I want you to meet someone. This is Ronald. He’s gonna be your new dad.”

I blinked as my eye twitched. Then I muttered, “Does he know you’ve said that four times before this?” I turned to him. “But what’s up, dude? Make sure you bring your own laundry soap cuz there’s never any here. Oh, and quarters for the machines. Unless you don’t mind washing your clothes in the tub with mine.”

“Damien!” my mom gasped.

“Maybe there’s something I’ll bond with this one over,” I mumbled as I sat down and scooped eggs onto my plate. My gaze flicked up to the guy—Ronald. “I like your shirt.”

It was a Nickelback concert T-shirt.

In the end, I kinda ended up liking husband number five because he gave me my love for motorcycles before he left.

“IPutASpellOnYou”—CreedenceClearwaterRevival

“You heard that Blade put in an official transfer request?” Ghost asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. Guess we’re voting on it at church.”

“Like anyone would deny him. It’s just a formality,” Ghost muttered.

“Mmhm,” I absently replied.

Trying not to make it obvious, I watched the petite redhead as she wove between tables at Royal Heaven, the chapter’s strip club. It didn’t matter what lies I told myself and everyone else; I was obsessed with her. In moments like this, I could admit it.

I hated that the customers looked at her perfect ass cheeks that peeked from the bottom of the little black Spanx shorts the waitresses wore. I could’ve throttled Blade when he had recommended them a few months back, before he left. Paired with her chunky tall Harley boots and her hair in pigtails, she looked like a sexy little Harley Quinn.

But if I hated her wearing the minuscule, skin-tight spandex shorts, I despised the nights that she danced. Initially, she only waitressed, which was bad enough. When she started dancing for extra money, I almost lost my shit.

It wouldn’t matter if she was mopping floors, though. Willow was mesmerizing. She somehow maintained a youthful exuberance despite everything she’d been through.

“You’re drooling,” Ghost observed from the barstool next to me. We’d been on duty at the club for the past three hours because we’d had some issues with our dancers being targeted. Since we were down a bouncer while Solomon was taking some time off for his daughter’s visit, we were all taking turns filling in. Chains and Sabre would be relieving us soon.

“Shut the fuck up,” I muttered and returned my attention to the rest of the club. Two of our newest prospects were there enjoying the show during their time off and having a good time. The one I really liked—Riley. Ira, the other one, I wasn’t quite sure of yet.

Willow has been a distraction since Cookie had brought her home to the clubhouse like she was a stray kitten. She had been looking for her family and our chapter of the RBMC had been recommended by someone she met in her search. We had no idea who it was because the person hadn’t given her a real name.

We kept her because she’d been wandering around the country meeting with some really unsavory people in her quest for her real parents.

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