Page 18 of Marked By the Possessive Biker

Alice laughs. “Yeah, they love that show and watch it every week. They usually make bets on who’s making it to the next round.”

I just shake my head. “I love that show.”

Alice leans toward me. “I bet you didn’t think you’d have something in common with these guys, huh?”

She’s not wrong. “I have something in common with Ben, so it wasn’t too farfetched that I’d have something in common with his friends.”

She smiles at me as if I passed some kind of test. She gestures in the direction where Ben disappeared. “What’s he meeting with Pres about? He making you his ol’ lady?”

I scrunch up my nose. “Ol’ lady? I don’t even know?—”

Before I can get it all out, Ben is back. “Hey, princess, Alice playing nice?”

I nod, still trying to figure out what she meant by ‘ol’ lady.’

Ben helps me from the stool. “Come on, Pres wants to meet you.”

Alice’s smile gets even bigger, and I wave bye to her as I walk with Ben through the crowd. It’s too loud to be able to ask him anything until we’re going down a long hallway and it’s just the two of us. “Uh, why does he want to meet me?”

His hand tightens on mine. “You’ll see.”

He doesn’t knock on the door. He just pushes it open, and my eyes are drawn to the man sitting behind the desk. He stands up, a grim look on his face. Ben stops and puts a hand around my waist. “Pres, this is Lexi Payne. Princess, this is Pres.”

The man stares back at me, and I do my best not to fidget. My brother has always told me to not let them see you sweat, so I’m doing my best to appear like I’m feeling confident even though I’m anything but. I clear my throat. “Hello.”

Pres crosses his arms over his chest. “So you want to be an ol’ lady?”

I look over at Ben and then back at Pres. “Uh, I’m not sure exactly what that means.”

Ben’s hand goes to my waist. “It doesn’t matter if she wants to be or not. She’s my ol’ lady, and she deserves the protection of the club.”

I’m surprised by Ben saying it doesn’t matter what I want, and I can’t keep my mouth shut. “I think you should tell me what ol’ lady means because honestly, it doesn’t sound like anything good.”

Pres unfolds his arms and moves around his desk and sits on the end of it in front of me. “If you’re his ol’ lady… it means you’re his.” He’s pointing at Ben, and I look over at the man I just made love to. Was I a fool? I’m beginning to wonder what I’ve gotten myself into.

Instead of asking Ben, I ask Pres, “What does ‘his’ mean?”

Pres’ grim look finally lightens, and he smiles. “It means that you’re loyal to him.”

“So his girlfriend?” I ask, still not fully understanding.

There’s a laugh from a guy that is sitting in the corner, but with one look from Pres, he stops. Pres just shakes his head. “It’s more than that. It means no one else in the club is allowed to touch you, you’re loyal to him, and you’re protected by the club.”

I look at Ben, and he’s looking straight ahead. He doesn’t do all this emotional stuff, and it’s a little frustrating, so I direct my question to Pres. “And is he supposed to be loyal to me?”

Pres laughs. “Honey, that’s the first time I’ve been asked that. It’s not required?—”

Ben cuts him off and is now looking at me. “Yeah, it means I’m faithful and loyal to you.”

We stare at each other, and I lick my lower lip. This time when I answer, I’m looking at Ben. “Yeah, I want to be his ol’ lady.”

Ben’s eyes darken, and he squeezes my hand.

Pres goes over a few rules, telling me things Ben has already told me and that I won’t be privy to what happens within theclub. I should probably pay better attention because before I know it, I’m being ushered out into the main room, and this time it’s quiet as Pres walks into the room with us. Everyone is looking our way, and Pres starts to talk. “Hey, everyone, this is Lexi Payne, and she’s Boss’ ol’ lady. Treat her with respect. She’s now protected by the club.”

There’s a few hoots and hollers, and when I find Alice in the crowd, thankfully she’s smiling at me. As everyone gets back to what they were doing, Ben pulls me toward the front doors. I stop before I get to his truck. “Do you think you should have told me about that before we went in there?”

Ben lifts his shoulders, not showing any regrets. “No. I mean, I guess I could’ve, but it doesn’t matter. You were going to be my ol’ lady regardless.”

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