Page 29 of Trident: Mayhem Makers

Jacie

I’d set an alarm to vibrate my smart watch last night to make sure I woke up before Nevaeh did. Being careful to not make much noise, I slipped from bed and got dressed before I grabbed my handbag and crept out of our hotel room. I mentally shook my head as I padded down the hallway. This was now two weekends in a row I’d snuck out of a room while someone was sleeping in there. This was getting to be a habit, one I didn’t want.

I’d already been freaking out last night over Trident’s determination to claim me as his old lady. It was way too soon. Being a biker’s old lady was like being his wife, for fuck’s sake. We’d known each other a bloody week. When he’d started preening for Nevaeh, I’d lost it. My temper flared and as per usual, my mouth ran away on me.

Dashing at the moisture in my eyes, I made my way down the hallway toward the elevator. Nevaeh hadn’t said a word after my outburst. She’d gone into the bathroom, came out changed in her PJs, then climbed into bed and, facing away from me, went to sleep. Sparrow and Mirabelle pulled the same. When I tried to talk to them, they’d just shaken their heads and returned to their room. Closing the door behind them.

Some fucking birthday. Seemed I should have taken the bloody hint last weekend that I wasn’t meant to celebrate this year, and canceled this trip. I could be home right now playing with Lolly. And still have my three best friends. Instead, I’d pushed away a man I actually liked, even if he was moving way too fast and was possessive as hell, and hurt my besties to a point I feared I’d lost their friendship. Dashing more tears from myface, I exited onto the ground floor and headed directly for the exit, not bothering to look around the lobby. I had zero desire to chat with other readers or models, or even worse, any SCMC brothers that were no doubt still lurking around this morning.

Pulling my sunglasses from my bag, I slid them on as I left the hotel and made my way down the footpath. Finding a quirky looking cafe, one I was certain no self-respecting biker would ever be seen dead in, I ducked in. Removing my sunglasses, I looked over their menu, happy to see they had one of my favorites. Stepping up to the queue at the counter, I took in the woman serving.

At a guess, she was in her early thirties, and she had her long, straight hair tied back in a ponytail. The lower half was dyed a bold green, while the top half blue; I could imagine how, when it was down, the color underneath would peak through the top one as she moved. Along with the several small hoop earrings in each ear, she had a star shaped silver stud in the left side of her nose and a ring through the center of her lower lip. Her eyes had a splash of green eye shadow that matched her hair, and black winged eyeliner that was so perfectly even, I was in awe of her skill. I didn’t often bother with makeup, so I was far from an expert. I had tried to apply wings a few times so I knew how bloody hard they were to master. I’d gotten so frustrated every time I’d tried, I’d ended up cleaning my attempts off and not even bothering with eyeliner.

If the cafe wasn’t so busy, I might have asked her how she did it but there were already three people lined up behind me so I didn’t take up any more of the woman’s time than I needed to. With a smile, I ordered myself a cappuccino, with almond milk, along with a ham and cheese sourdough sandwich, toasted. With a smile, I took the stand she gave me with a table number on it before I headed to the booth in the back corner I’d spotted when I’d come in. Once I’d gotten comfortable on the bench seat, Ipulled out my phone and tapped the screen, out of habit. When it stayed black, I remembered how I’d turned it off last night so Trident couldn’t try to call me after I’d kicked him out. Chewing my lower lip, I stared at the black screen trying to decide if I should turn it on or not. With a mental shake of my head, I decided against it. I was already hanging by a thread, no way could I handle anything else. Whether it came from Trident, one of my girls, Flick or Taz. Tucking it back into my handbag, I pulled out my notepad instead. I was hoping that journaling down my thoughts would help clear my mind; it might even give me some damn clarity on what I should do about it all, or how to at least fix my friendships.

Holding my pen, the page remained blank. I had no idea where to even start. The scent of freshly brewed coffee hit me moments before my order was placed beside me.

“Here you go. Enjoy.”

Before I could respond the waitress was gone, off to collect the next order. Setting my pen down, I wrapped my palms around the warm mug, closing my eyes to inhale the aroma.Hmm, so good.Leaving it to cool down a bit more before I drunk it, I moved to pick up my toasted sandwich. Nearly moaning out loud after I took my first bite, it was that good. Not too hot, with the perfect ratio of ham to cheese to bread.

As I continued to eat, I let my thoughts wander, and paused to jot down some notes as I did, that was until I spotted Animal coming my way. Having just finished my food, I tidied up, putting away my notebook while making it look like I was just clearing things off to enjoy my coffee. I didn’t want anyone reading my private thoughts and notes, especially not Animal.

By the time he approached my table, I had my mug between both my palms and had lifted it to begin taking sips of the delicious drink. With how pale and sickly he looked, and the way he flexed and tapped his fingers against his thigh as he walkedbetween tables, I had to agree with Trident’s guess that the man was hooked on something, and it looked like he hadn’t had a fix yet this morning. He held my gaze as he moved around to the side of my table, his eyes were red rimmed, and his pupils didn’t look right. I frowned when he slid into the seat beside me as though we were good friends. He sniffled then cleared his throat as he shuffled in the seat to face me. My temper flared at his brazenness, and I set my drink down to help resist the urge I had to pour it over his head.

“Ah, what do you think you’re doing?”

He gave me a sleazy grin he no doubt thought was sexy.

“Saw you in here and figured I’d stop in for a little chat, hot stuff.”

Oh jeez, and to think I complained about Trident calling me girlie. I’d take that any day over ‘hot stuff’.

“And what exactly would we have to talk about, Animal? Last I heard, you’d put a bet out on my demise.”

He huffed a half laugh and reached for my drink, picking it up and drinking half of it on one gulp.

Sitting up straighter, I glared daggers his way. “What the fuck? Get your own damn drink if you want one.”

Ignoring my comment, he banged the mug down with a grimace. “What the fuck did they do to your coffee? Whatever the fuck that shit is, it should be illegal.”

I rolled my eyes, not giving two shits that he didn’t like my choice in beverage.

“It’s got almond milk in it. I like how it tastes. Now, why the fuck are you here bothering me? Wouldn’t have thought you’d be an early riser, especially not on a Saturday.”

He shrugged a shoulder, and I expected him to spout off some bullshit, but instead he winced and hunched to his right, an arm banded across his middle, his hand going under his cut.

Frowning, some of my anger dissipated to be replaced with concern. No matter how much of a douchebag the guy was, if he was unwell, I’d try to help him. It just wasn’t in my nature to let anyone suffer.

“Animal? You okay? If you’re not feeling great, we can go to the hospital, or I could ring Trident. Your club has a doctor, right? We can get you help.”

At least I’d heard of a SCMC brother called Doc. While it was one helluva assumption that the bloke had medical skills, considering Animal was most likely just strung out with withdrawals, it wasn’t like he needed some top notch specialist. More like rehab, but I doubted that would go over well if I suggested it. The guy clearly had one hell of a male ego going on.

With another sniff, he straightened and gave me a forced smile. “Nah, last thing we need is your guard dog to roll up on us. But if you could help me out to my bike, I’d appreciate it.”

Drumming my fingers on my thigh under the table for a moment, I tried to puzzle out what he was up to. No way did he need my help to get outside. And why’d he come in here in the first place if he wanted to leave already? Nope. He was up to something.

“Considering we’re not exactly friends, Animal, and you’ve been talking enough shit about what you wanna do to me that I’ve heard about it, I think I’ll just stay here. Don’t mistake my wanting to get you help for stupidity. Clearly you’re craving whatever poison you’ve gotten hooked on, so, I’ll call in your club brothers, or a cab to take you to the hospital. But that’s it. I’m not—”

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