Page 17 of Rebel

“You’ll be in my neck of the woods then,” he commented while looking at me intently.

“Yeah, I don’t socialize with employees. Just thought I get that out in the open.”

He scooped up Katy and glared at me. “Is that what you think of me? As your goddamn employee?”

I was taken aback by his response. “That’s not what I meant,” I told him. Benny had a tendency to get offended too easily.

“I asked you a damn question. Do you think of me as your employee, someone who reports to you and you have control over?”

I took a step back and tried to reel him back in from whatever had sparked his anger. “Jesus, Benny. Calm the hell down. I wasn’t trying to set you off.”

“Why won’t you answer the question? Do you think you’re too good to socialize with me at the clubhouse because you see me a mere employee?”

“I do pay you for going on jobs.”

“If that’s how you feel, maybe I should start looking at you as my office help. You keep my calendar, answer my business line, and sort out my invoices, right?”

“Look, we can call it being co-workers if you like. It’s not a good idea for co-workers to socialize together. It’s not professional.”

Curling his upper lip, he snarled. “I hate to say this but you’re a liar. Want me to tell you how I know?” Without waiting for me to answer, he told me. “It’s because Harvey told me that your folks always invited their employees to their house for cookouts and bowling with them. Correct me if I’m wrong but you said you’d be running this office just like your mother, who socialized with employees, but you think you’re too good to socialize casually with me on my club’s property. Where does that leave me? Should I run and hide every time you decide to come and hang out with my club president’s wife?”

“No, of course not. Why are you so upset? Explain it to me like I’m five because I just don’t get it,” I knew I probably should have phrased my original comment differently, but I really didn’t know why he was getting so angry.

Taking a step closer, his expression turned dark. “I’ll tell you exactly why I’m pissed. It’s because women like you enjoy coming to the clubhouse, hanging around the bad boys and soaking up the biker ambiance but you’d burn in hell before you socialize with us, right?”

Exasperated, I told him, “Turning this business around is the most important thing in my life right now. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize our professional relationship. I’m just trying to set and maintain good boundaries.”

“Yeah, I’m hearing what you’re laying down. You’re the queen bee who sees me as one of your drones. I’m not a real person in your eyes, just a mechanism to make money for your business. You aren’t gonna let anything stand in the way of our lucrative partnership, right?”

“This partnership is working for you as well as it’s working for me. I just don’t want to complicate an already complex situation.”

“I’ll make it easy for you. Offering to show you around the basement at our clubhouse was the biggest mistake I ever made, and I’m fucking thrilled that you turned me down. Trust me when I say, you don’t have to worry about me approaching you for any reason at the clubhouse. I’ll pretend you’re not even there.”

I felt overwhelmed and bewildered by his reaction to our situation. “I’m sorry, Benny. I don’t know what you want from me.”

“For starters, you could stop calling me Benny. It’s Mr. Ross to you. Remember, all you care about is making money and being professional. Fuck the actual human beings, right?”

Before I could respond, he stalked out the door with his cat tucked under his arm. There had been several of these situations where he got a bug up his ass about something. I didn’t think I’d ever truly understand men, but it sounded like he either thought I was frigid and cold hearted and just interested in exploiting him for his labor—or that I liked to hang out at the Dark Slayers clubhouse, and drink their free booze with no intention of letting any of the men get close to me because I thought I was better than they were.

***

Since I wasn’t cold-hearted or frigid like Benny insinuated, I decided to prove it by embracing every new experience I’d been holding myself back from sampling. I decided to go home and put on something that matched my new outlook of trying everything once. I showered, put on lacy underthings, a short black skirt, thigh-high stockings, and spiked heels. I added a white silk button-up vest with nothing underneath and some light makeup and jewelry. After brushing out all my long brown hair into soft waves, I felt sexier than I ever had in my life. Standing in front of my floor-length mirror, I decided that I could give those club girls a run for their money tonight if I wanted to.

On the drive over to the clubhouse, I decided not to mention the disagreement I’d just had with Benny to Zoe or Alison. Truthfully, I simply didn’t want to rehash and analyze it. I preferred to have a nice, cold margarita and kick up my heels for the evening and put the whole thing out of my mind. Tonight I would have fun.

When I arrived, Zoe and Alison were already there sipping on refreshing drinks. Seeing them fitting in, happy and carefree,triggered something in me. I wasn’t a cold-hearted stick in the mud no matter what Benny thought. I vowed to really let my hair down tonight. I was going to drink, not worry about driving home and I was going to socialize with every single brother in the damn building, I thought bravely.

That’s when I noticed that there were no brothers in attendance tonight. I made a beeline for my friends and grabbed an empty chair at their table.

Alison teased me, “Hey didn’t I just see you here like five weeks ago?”

“Yeah, I had a nice time and decided to come back for more.”

“Well, you’re dressed to kill. Every brother in the building is going to try and get with you if you’re not careful.

“Oh, I plan to be everything but careful. Unlike last time, I’m going to leave this clubhouse saying I came, I saw, and I kicked all kinds of ass.”

Zoe and Alison gave me twin expressions of confusion. Alison said, “Say what now? Explain.”

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