Page 135 of On The Rocks

“Sometimes,” Breaker interjected. “There are genres within the genre. MFM, MMF, MFMM, MFMMM, and so on. Though I’m not exactly an expert.”

He shook his head at me slowly. “I don’t have a Scooby fuckin’ Doo what you’re talkin’ about. What the fuck do ya mean by MFM, MC, MCMF, ABC, and XY fuckin’ Z?”

Breaker leaned his hip against the bar. “It’s all I’ve got. If you want the deets, you’ll have to ask one’a the women.”

Atlas tipped the neck of his cider bottle toward Breaker. “I cannot fuckin’believethat our ol’ ladies read books where the sex scenes are like a goddamned free for all, and not one ofyou fuckers has clued me in on it? I always tell you shitheadseverything.”

“Don’t I fuckin’ know it,” I muttered pointedly under my breath.

“Does Toots read those kinda books?” he demanded, his head snapping toward me.

My mind went back to the conversation where Maeve told me how she lost her virginity to a vibrator, and my cock stirred for the first time in a week. “Probably.”

Atlas almost fell back against the counter. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

My stare swept through my friends. Donovan would fucking love this conversation. He was almost as loo-lah as these assholes. I could only imagine what their conversations in their biker meetings were like if this one was anything to go by.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

“Boss,” Adam called, raising his voice over the thumping music. “We’re getting low on your beer.”

“Better go re-stock,” I told the guys. “You fuckers are going through this stuff faster than we can make it.”

“It’s good shit,” Bowie agreed, taking a swig.

I turned to walk behind the bar when the doors opened. A flash of red hair caught my eyes, and I froze as Maeve scurried in from the street. Immediately, our stares caught, and I watched her body lock as she took me in.

My heart began to race at the sight of my wife standing before me, looking no less welcome than an oasis in the middle of a hot desert to a man dying of thirst. That was what being without Maeve was to me—like somebody had taken away my life force, and I was slowly fading without her.

One side of her mouth quirked into a sad smile, and she raised a hand awkwardly.

I lifted my hand back and did a glass-to-mouth motion with my hand.

She inclined her chin shyly and turned toward the table where her friends sat, giving Tristan a one-armed hug before taking the seat he’d pulled out for her beside him.

Mae looked good. She was a little pale, a little thinner, and a little sad, but she was still so fucking beautiful and still so fucking mine.

Wrenching my eyes from her face, I turned toward the bar and motioned for Adam to get Maeve a Coke before heading out back to the shed to grab a couple of crates of freshly bottled beer.

Maeve had still been working at fermenting and bottling the booze, as evidenced by the stacks of crates that magically appeared in the bottle shed when I went in to check stock every morning. It was just like her to keep looking after me, even though I didn’t look after her as I should have. I hadn’t seen her around, but she started work earlier than me, and by the time she left, I’d already opened up for the evening shift. All she had to do was slip in and out the back door, and I’d never know she was there.

After hauling the crates in, I went behind the bar and down on my haunches to stock the fridges while simultaneously handing bottles up to Adam as he kept up with orders.

Maeve’s giggle-snort filtered across the bar, and my shoulders slumped at the pure relief I felt because somebody had made her laugh.

But still, hearing it cut me deep.

I missed her so much. Being without her was slowly killing me. It was Christmas in a few days, and I’d be alone. My mam was hosting her usual big lunch, but I wasn’t invited this year because Maeve would be there, and Mam thought it would be awkward.

Still, I was happy my woman would get to experience something good. I’d have rather boiled my own head than allowed her to spend Christmas alone, and I knew Mam, Ash, and my brothers would look after her. One year on my own wouldn’t kill me, and I could always open the bar for a few hours or even go over to the Speed Demons’ clubhouse if my thoughts turned dark.

I’d be grand.

With the fridges fully stocked again, I stood to my full height and immediately noticed Maeve’s Coke sitting on the bar, ready to go. The waitresses were busy at tables, so without thinking, I grabbed it and walked back out onto the floor.

“Wish me luck,” I muttered to Bowie as I strode past, making a beeline for Maeve and her friends. It was like walking into a lion’s den, made even worse by Tristan, who caught my eye and shot me an icy glare as I approached.

He leaned down and whispered something in Maeve’s ear, which made her eyes shoot up to meet mine.

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