Page 23 of Forty

“Hell, yes,” I say, no hesitation. “What do you have in mind?”

“Last night did not go quite as planned.”

“Are you okay? You didn’t get in trouble for bringing me around the clubhouse, did you?”

I don’t think that was what was going on, but Dizzy sure did yank her up as soon as he saw us waltz in. I know him from back in the day, and he was never violent. More of a downtrodden, sad dad type than a wife beater. It sure looked like he was gonna wail on her ass, though.

“Just a little. And just the kind of trouble I like. No worries.”

“Is this a kink thing?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Cool.” I don’t judge. Variety is the spice of life.

“So what happened after I left?” she asks.

“You mean after your man threw you over his shoulder and started tanning your hide?”

She snickers. “You saw that, did you?”

“Everyone saw that.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time. So, quit stalling. Did Forty see you? Were there fireworks?”

“He wasn’t there. Three chicks jumped me, and then Heavy broke it up and kicked me out.”

“Well, that sucks.”

“Yeah. But Forty came by my place later.”

She squeals. “Fireworks?”

“He honked his horn a lot. And told me to stay away.”

“But in a hot, smoldering, filled-with-longing kind of way?”

A picture flashes in my mind—Forty standing on the front walk, ramrod straight, shoulders squared and chest raised, his eyes eating me up. Devouring me. My pussy spasms.

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

Fay-Lee screeches so loud I snatch the phone from my ear. “This is gonna beepic. I’m gonna pull off the greatest shenanigans Steel Bones has ever seen. Harper Ruth thinks she’s the puppet master. She ain’t nothin’!”

I disagree. Besides being a lawyer, Harper Ruth is a perfect ten and a next-level evil bitch. She was off at college when I was with Forty, but whenever she came back on break, she’d sow chaos and gnaw on the bones of unsuspecting sweetbutts. She’s legend.

“What are you even talking about?” If Harper’s involved, I’m out.

“Okay. Let me back up. You know Crista Holt, right?”

Of course. Crista is Shirlene’s niece and the daughter of Pig Iron, the club treasurer, and Deb, the woman who actually manages the money. Crista’s younger than me by a few years. Her older sister Annie was one of the reasons I left town. Annie’s not afraid to go for your eyes, and she wears inch-long acrylics.

Anyway, not long after I skipped out, Crista was attacked by the Rebel Raiders MC. Retaliation for something. What they did to Crista…it was brutal. Lou told me about it, and he was shaken up. Crista almost died.

“Sure. What about her?”

“We’re taking her dancing tonight. To Sawdust on the Floor.” Sawdust is a honkytonk with five-dollar pitchers of beer and an extremely lax carding policy. Every Petty’s Mill high schooler’s first drink at a bar is at Sawdust, whether you’re into country music or not.

“Okay. And how does this count as shenanigans?”

---