Page 20 of Rook

“I’d beat his ass if he ever called me that, but yeah,” Nyx said with a little smirk.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I thought it was a sign of respect.”

“Tessa has been around clubs since she was a kid. But they sound a little more old school than ours.”

“What, likeProperty of So-and-Soon their backs?”

“Yes, actually. So all the bikers know she’s off limits and clubwhores know to toe the line.”

“Whores,” Nyx repeated, wincing a bit.

“That’s what they’re called,” I said, confused.

“I think a lot of clubs have updated the language a bit,” Rook said. “We call them club girls. But I think there is also… patch bunnies or sweet butts.”

“What biker have youevermet who would use the term ‘sweet butt?’” I asked, more bothered by that name than ‘clubwhores’ or ‘pass-arounds,’ like I’d always heard them called.

“Fair,” Rook agreed, shaking his head. “Anyway, yeah, this is Nyx. Slash’s wife. And also… your boss.”

“Oh, right, yeah. I guess we will go over all of that later,” Nyx said. “You want to show her around? I have to meet Dell and Morgaine.”

“Yeah. I’ll lock up,” Rook agreed as Nyx tossed keys at him.

“Nice to meet you, Tessa. I’ll see you back at the clubhouse.”

“She was… nice,” I said, turning to watch her leave.

“Were you expecting her to be nasty?” Rook asked, head tipped to the side.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I’ve never known a president’s old lady to be nice to a new girl, is all.”

His eyes looked soft for a moment. Like, I don’t know, he felt bad for the me that had to deal with those complicated relationships.

He had no idea.

“You’re gonna find a lot is different here. The girls are all nice and welcoming. Some will be more friendly than others. Dell and Everleigh, for example. They’re just the sweeter types. Murphy is a little more standoffish. Morgaine and Vienna are both a little on the quieter side, but really nice when you get to know them.”

“What about the clubwh—girls?”

“We honestly don’t have a lot of girls you would call club girls in the strictly traditional sense. There are girls in town who like to come and party. And no one cares who sleeps with who. But they aren’t always hanging around and causing drama or anything like that, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

It was.

And I almost couldn’t fathom a clubhouse where the girls weren’t constantly being catty and backhanded, sometimes getting into actual fights. Or, worse yet, turning the bikers against the others.

It was worse than high school.

And the sexual politics just made everything a lot more messy and upsetting.

“Okay. That’s good to know.” Even if I was struggling to wrap my head around it. “So, are you going to show me around?” I asked when his intense gaze made me want to shuffle my feet. Or turn and run.

“Yep,” he said, holding the door open for me. “So, basically, front desk… place for karate,” he said, gesturing toward the padded floors and mirrored wall. “And there’s a room back here for private lessons. And… a shoebox of an office here,” he went on, leading me into a room so small that ‘shoebox’ was probably generous.

“So, where do you work?”

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