Page 26 of Eagle

I stood up and she did as well, walking around her desk and grabbing my face. “You’ll fit in great here. You let me know if you need anything okay?”

“Thanks, Mama Hen,” I said before giving her a big hug, then walking out of her office.

Jeannie was still waiting at the table I left her sitting at. She looked up from her phone and smiled, standing as she grabbed her keys from the table. “Ready?”

Looking around, I noticed Butch wasn’t still lingering around.Great. He’d be back at the door. I still didn’t understand why he stood at the door. At the clubhouse they had new guys with no patches guard the driveway and stand around the edge of the property’s tree line, as well as at all the doors. I’d come with Eagle the first time and been around him enough that nobody ever questioned me. Hanging around all the time, I noticed their cuts were different and asked some of the other girls and they explained they were prospects. They wanted to be in the club, but had to earn their patch. Seemed silly all they had to do was stand guard at what was already a fortress.

Determined to stand my ground with his brothers since I planned to be around a while, I lifted my chin and walked outside, hoping my poker face was as good as I imagined.

“Not sticking around?” Butch asked as soon as we walked outside. A plume of smoke surrounded him as he flicked the tip of the cigarette he held.

“No. We’re taking off,” Jeannie said before I could answer.

“You ladies have a nice day,” he said dryly.

I smiled and answered, “Thanks, you too.”Fucker. He had always been a douche, but before I just thought it was because he was being respectful to Eagle or something. But, no, apparently my intuition was right. At least he mostly stayedoutside. Although he did make it a point to come ogle when I auditioned. I mean, it was a strip club and that’s exactly what I was there for—men to ogle—but something about him made it creepy. He had been outside when we came, then went back out when I was done.

Shaking it off, I hopped in the car with Jeannie, and she squealed as she started the engine. “I knew you’d get it but I’m still so excited for you, girl! Let’s go grab some snacks and drinks to celebrate!” She cranked up the music and peeled out of the parking lot.

I was surprised and relieved when we pulled into a grocery store. When she said drinks and snacks I assumed she meant out somewhere. I grabbed my bag and stepped from the car, following her inside. “What kind of snacks should we get?” I’d rather hang at Jeannie’s place and veg out. It was great to finally get out of the clubhouse but I was a homebody. An extroverted introvert I guess they called it. I enjoyed getting all dolled up to dance, and having such control over men was fun. But some of the best times I had were laying around the clubhouse with the bunnies watching TV and sitting in the courtyard, soaking up the sun with Daisy. Thinking of the clubhouse pulled at my heart. I missed Daisy and the others.I missed Eagle.

“Sound good?”

“Huh?”

Jeannie laughed and grabbed my arm, dragging me down an aisle. “Girl, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I answered with a big sigh. “Just a whirlwind. New place. New job. Lots of new.”

“I was saying just grab a bunch of frozen snacks, we can pop ‘em into the oven, a few beers of course. If you want something besides hard seltzer and wine, we’d have to go to the liquorstore. Or did you want to go out?”

Shaking my head hard, I said, “No, staying in sounds perfect. Plus, I don’t feel like partying. Chilling at home is perfect.”

After we got more junk food than the two of us could ever eat and a case of beer, we headed back to her place. I changed into comfy clothes and washed my face. I hadn’t done stage makeup in so long it was irritating my eyes. Plus, it was so muggy here compared to back home and it just got all cakey and shiny. I’d have to invest in some better primer and setting spray, but I wouldn’t have any more cash until I worked. I’d make do with what I had for now. Plus, Jeannie already said we could go shopping again once I had a few shifts under my belt.

I went to the kitchen and she had already preheated the oven and gotten several cooking sheets ready with our snacks and put the beer away.

She pulled two out of the fridge and once I took mine, she tapped her bottle against it. “Cheers to all the new, my sweet friend.”

“Cheers,” I said before taking a long swig.

Once the oven beeped, she put the food in to cook and changed. We found our movie line-up while we waited on the food, then put our spread on the coffee table before grabbing our next beer.

We ate, drank, and were merry, watching a mix of scary movies and RomComs. I was relaxed, with a pretty good buzz, and having so much fun.

“Next time, we need to do a girls night and get Daisy’s ass over here,” Jeannie said as she came back with more beer for us both.

The snacks were picked over, but like I assumed, it was much more than we should have prepared. Feeling bad, I leaned overto grab a lukewarm mozzarella stick. “She would love this. I miss her already. But,” I said as I put my beer down and finished off my bite of food, “you’ve been such a great friend. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Jeannie’s blue eyes sparkled and she squeezed my hands. “It’s been fun having someone here. You’d do it for me.”

My breath hitched as sadness and embarrassment crept up. “Yeah, if I had anything to offer. And this is so stupid, but I miss him. I miss him so much it hurts.” The truth of it was only exacerbated by the vocalization and sent a wave of sheer sorrow through my body.

Jeannie pulled me close as my body shook and rocked us as she squeezed me. “Aww, that’s not stupid. I get it. And it’s not your fault the position you’re in. You’ll be back on your feet in no time.” She pulled away and grabbed my cheeks. “It’ll all work out. You’ll see. But for now, at least you have a little space to get your head straight, right?”

I swallowed down the lump that rose in my throat and smiled. Wiping my cheeks of the tears that rolled down, I sniffled. “Yeah, I just didn’t realize I’d be so emotional. It shouldn’t be this hard.” We were never officially together and it had only been a few months.Why was I so upset?Stupid alcohol.

Jeannie shrugged. “I wish I could help, but matters of the heart seldom make sense. But with time, it’ll get easier. I’m sure of it.”

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