Page 15 of Lulu

As I waited for him to answer his phone my heart began to race. It’d been like that since the beginning. Seeing him across a crowded room, hearing his name mentioned, anything to do with Brody Savage, and I turned into a bundle of nerves and hot wiring. The way he looked at me sometimes…it was too much. A mixture of lust and hate. He wanted me, but he hated himself for it.

“Yeah?”

I cleared my throat. “Hey, I’m calling about Buttercup. You need to come get her.”

His answering growl brought a smile to my face. I could tell by the background noise that he was at a bar. “Good timing,” he grumbled. “Tonight?”

The thought that I was interrupting something only made my smile grow. “Well, now would be preferable. We’re closing up and I don’t feel like spending another night here.” I could clearly hear a woman’s soft tone next to him. I envisioned her sitting close, running her lips up the side of his neck while he was talking to me. Maybe she had her hand on his dick. I shook my head to wipe that thought out of my head.

“Sorry if you’re about to get lucky.”Not really,I added under my breath.

He ignored my comment and released a harsh breath. “Be there in ten.”

I hung up and sank down onto the chair behind the desk to wait for him, trying not to think of him with another woman. I hadn’t been sitting there for long when my cell rang. I glanced down to see that it was Cole, Desert Rebels’ enforcer, and I knew why he was calling before I even answered it.

“I’m not coming,” I said firmly and in leu of a hello.

His laughter came across the line. “You’re still part of this club,” he reminded me. “And when there’s a threat you know we take care of our own.”

His concern and that of the Desert Rebels’ warmed me. “I appreciate that, Cole, I really do. The club has been good to me and is still taking care of me by helping me move on, but things are different now. I’m not involved with any of the men, I’m not related to anyone there, and I know the rules.”

“Know you’re not sleeping with any of— “

I couldn’t let him finish. I didn’t need a reminder of what I used to do for the men. I wasn’t ashamed of it. I loved sex, but now that I was free of the club I could enjoy sex with someone I chose, and for a different reason. “If I need anything I know I can count on you guys, but I’m good right now.”

“Demon wants everyone—”

“Do I need to call Bobbie?” I’d invoked the name of Demon’s old lady as a threat. She would understand why I was resisting running back to the clubhouse the minute there was trouble brewing. All the old ladies knew how I felt. I wanted to be strong and independent, and I’d been dreaming of a new beginning for a long time.

Cole snorted. “You don’t have to threaten me with Bobbie.” He released a resigned breath.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I have a new life now. I have a job I love, my first home, new friends. I promise if anything happens that’s club-related I’ll call. And don’t forget, I know how to handle myself, thanks to you guys. I have a gun and I’ll use it if I have to.”

“Yeah, Millie told all of us how you turned into a bad ass when the Soul Reapers showed up. We owe you for that.”

They wouldn’t forget it, either. I knew how they worked. It was a big deal for someone to help them out in any kind of way, and protecting an old lady was high on the list. “Millie is okay? The situation was kind of tense.”

“She’s good, sweetheart. She’s right here if you want to talk to her.”

“Yes, put her on.”

“Hey,” Millie said the second she had the phone. “I hate lockdown,” was the second thing, and I could hear the irritation lacing her words.

I laughed at her moaning. “It goes with the territory,” I reminded her. Lockdown was hard on the women, especially those with kids. “It’s only been a couple of days.”

I heard her exhale. “I know. I’m just whining because I had to cancel some of my appointments. Loco refuses to let me work, even with one of the prospects following me around.”

The men with old ladies were over the top protective of their women, and Loco was no exception. I’d fallen under that category when I was a club whore because I’d been considered property, and now I was wondering how it would feel to have a man care that much about me not as his property but as his woman.

I snorted. “He’s learned from the best, honey. They’re all possessive and protective and set in their ways. It’s, like, in the rules or something.” We laughed together. “Any talk about what this is all about?” It grew quiet, and I sensed that Millie was conflicted about what she should say. I decided to let her off the hook. “Never mind. I know you can’t say anything, even if Loco were to tell you.”

“He mumbles in his sleep sometimes,” she said finally, her way of letting me know that she did know some things. “Did you know that?”

Yes, I did, but I’d never admit that to her. Thank God I heard the sound of a vehicle outside the clinic, and I assumed it was Brody. “Honey, someone just pulled up. I have to go for now. We’ll talk again soon, okay?”

“Okay, take care.”

“I will. You, too.”

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