Page 64 of Cinder
I haven’t beenin the clubhouse bar since the night I came here as Cheezy’s date and met Lars.
The smell hits me first. Sweat, bourbon, and stale cigarette smoke.
Luke Combs bleeds from the speakers, singing about no love in Oklahoma. A couple of club girls dance on the bar, while a girl in a sparkly thong and five-inch heels twists her amazing body around the pole at the other end of the bar.
I’ve never tended a bar before. And let me tell you, tonight I’m being baptized by fire.
Despite six bikers missing from the crowd, the place is packed with the remaining bikers, old ladies, club girls and friends of the club.
Thankfully the only thing anyone wants is a beer, a wine, or a shot of something. There are no fancy cocktails here. Just beer, wine, and hard liquor. Which is pretty hard to fuck up.
When there is a lull, Mya stops by the bar.
“How you doing tonight, bestie?” I ask with a grin.
She bubbles over with enthusiasm. “I love club parties. How are you coping?”
“Surprisingly well.”For someone with absolutely no experience.
“Despite the boys being away, it’s a full crowd,” she says, looking around the room. “Have you met everybody yet?”
The last few days have been quiet, so there are still a lot of people I don’t know yet.
“Well over there you have Belle.” Mya indicates a beautiful blonde woman in the corner. She is the same woman I saw nursing her baby in the library. “Then beside her, you’ve got Annika, Rina and Sophia.” I look at the three women sitting next to her. “They’re old ladies.”
Annika, the Viking queen, looks up, and our eyes meet across the room, and I feel a shiver roll down my back. So I give her a smile, but it goes unreturned. She only looks away when Luna joins them at the table.
“Then you’ve got the club girls. That’s Luna who just sat down. And Bambi, of course. Isla is away visiting her folks in California and Nova is on vacation. And then of course there’s me.”
She names all of the bikers who are here too. Some of them I see in passing when they stumble into the kitchen for abreakfast coffee and some eggs and beans. Others I haven’t seen at all.
“Who are they?” I nod toward a table of women near the far wall.
There’s five of them. All dressed to entice. Smooth hair. Plump lips. Makeup perfect.
Mia leans her elbows on the bar. “We call them Outsiders. I suppose you could call them patch groupies. They’re here for club cock.”
I’m learning not to be surprised by what comes out of Mia’s mouth.
“How do they fit into the hierarchy?” I ask.
“They don’t. They’re not family. And if they go near an old lady’s man then they learn real quick where they are in the order of things.” She straightens and smiles brightly. “But don’t you worry about them. They’re here for fun and won’t cause any trouble. Ooh, there’s Opie. He owes me fifty bucks.”
“For what?”
“He bet me I couldn’t tie a cherry stem with my tongue.”
“And you did?”
She winks at me. “Oh honey, you’d be amazed by what I can do with my tongue.”
Mya moves away and my gaze automatically slides to the entrance of the bar.
I keep telling myself I’m not looking for Lars
I know he’s not due back until tomorrow.
But I can’t help but keep looking for him.
