Page 29 of Now and Forever
If this was a normal situation, Golden wouldn't mean it at all. Driving to Holter, an even smaller town with a dangerous history, to go to some dive bar and flirt with some notorious ex-bikers. Yeah, no. But again, it was that or go home alone and face the hurt she was actively trying to avoid as well as the calls from the man who started it. What choice did she have?
Golden nodded, despite everything telling her not to. "Yes."
A few hours later they were driving down the two-lane interstate. After Lydia got off work, they stopped by her house to change into appropriate clothes since Lydia looked absolutely horrified that Golden had every intention of going to the bar in her work clothes. Now dressed in a short denim skirt, a red leather halter top, and matching boots, Golden felt like one of those women on TV who always hung out with bikers. She wasn't sure if she liked it, but Lydia was more than happy. She was dressed in a black leather romper and black cowboy boots.
"Just a heads up, I want Victor," Lydia announced as she drove.
"Okaaay," she drawled out the word, giving her friend a speculative look. "I'm not necessarily on the hunt tonight butduly noted. Although you should probably tell me who this Victor guy is if you want me to be a good wingman."
"Oh, you’ll know him when you see him. Out of the Three Heathens, he is by far the hottest and that's saying something because the other two are drop-dead gorgeous."
The Three Heathens? Lydia had mentioned that earlier when they were getting ready. Something about the three bikers being in a gang at one time and now running a bar out in the boonies. Did they seriously call themselves Heathens or was that just the bar name? Normally, Golden would turn to her trusty phone and Google it but she was too afraid to even look at her phone. She could just imagine the texts and the number of missed calls from both Gaige and Grayson.
Nope. She would deal with that tomorrow. For now, she was going to keep pushing back the pain creeping around her heart like vines, with Lydia and her antics as a distraction.
Looking away from the dark nothingness from her window, Golden tuned back in to her friend.
"He has shoulder-length black hair that he sometimes keeps in a ponytail or sometimes down," Lydia groaned with appreciation. "He has muscles on top of muscles. I mean seriously his shoulders are huge. I just want him to bear hug me to death."
"And the bear hug of death is after you get some dick, right?" Golden clarified with a smirk.
Lydia's eyes practically glowed in the dark like a cat on the prowl. "You fucking know it. I can just imagine riding him until I die in an orgasmic firework."
Golden threw her head back in laughter. "I should be disturbed all of your fantasies with Victor involve death of some sort."
"It will be a warrior's death,” Lydia claimed excitedly.
For the rest of the way, they laughed and talked about Lydia's vast list of exes until they were finally pulling off onto a gravelly parking lot. A building with a neon sign of skulls and fire, spelling outHeathens,glowed in the night.
A part of her expected the parking lot to be filled with parked bikes, their chrome gleaming in the low light. Maybe even a few burly tattooed men leaning on them, giving people dirty looks. But instead of discomfort, Golden just got a sense of normalcy as she glanced around the parking lot. Though dimly lit, the parking lot was neat and orderly. A few bikes were parked along the front but everything else was just the usual beat-up pick-up trucks and old cars one would expect in a small rural town. The few people hanging by the door greeted them as they walked through the blacked-out entrance and into the bar.
As soon as she stepped inside, Golden was hit by the smell of smoke. The dim lighting cast a yellow glow over the wooden interior, illuminating the walls. Covered in random photos of bikers, motorcycle memorabilia, and neon signs advertising various beers, the place had an odd sort of appeal. She could easily see people perched on the leather barstools pulled up to the long polished wood counter sitting there for hours drinking and talking their problems away while never knowing the sun was rising and falling beyond the blackened windows.
Working their way through the slight crowd of the tables taking up the main floor, they were able to secure a spot at the bar. The bartender, a blonde man covered in tattoos, glancedover at them and gave them a wink of acknowledgment. Lydia giggled next to her while Golden had to bite down a smile herself. The manwasvery attractive. They watched him as he quickly filled up four tall glasses of beer while steadily talking to a group of chatty older men.
"Oh, here comes Hayden," Lydia whispered.
"So that means the blond is Joel?" Golden asked, testing out her crash course on Holter's Three Heathens she was given on the forty-five-minute drive there.
"Yeah, and if God loves me one fucking bit, Victor will be here somewhere," she grumbled, craning her neck and looking over the crowd.
The big man, Hayden, walked past Joel behind the bar and stopped in front of them. Golden had to tilt her head back to look at the huge man.
"What will it be ladies?" he asked in a gruff voice.
Golden just blinked at the man owlishly as Lydia ordered their drinks. He had a shaggy mop of thick brown hair that hung over his eyes, only letting her see glimpses of the dark gaze beneath. He freaked her out yet intrigued her.
Opening a tab and taking their drinks, they were able to score a table close to the back of the building by the jukebox playing classic rock and next to the pool tables. Needless to say, they had to practically shout to speak.
Two shots and two beers later both she and Lydia were trying and failing to suppress their giggling as they watched the three Heathens work the bar. Victor had finally made his appearance not too long ago emerging from the back room in all his darkglory. Even through her tipsy haze, Golden could agree with her friend, he was sexy. Hell, they were all sexy.
With near synchronized movements, the three men worked perfectly in tandem with each other as they served the busy crowd. Somehow, they even managed to talk to their patrons as they took endless orders, laughing at jokes, making their own, all the while still managing to squeeze in a few suggestive smiles and hot looks at the women who practically threw themselves at them.
"They seem very popular," Golden shouted over the loud rock song booming from the jukebox next to them.
Lydia gave her a pouty nod. She was clearly disappointed that she hadn't had an opportunity to talk directly with Victor yet.
Although it wasn't as if the Heathens didn't know they were there. All three of them kept glancing over to them every few minutes or so causing both her and Lydia to giggle and blush like idiots. Golden knew she was going to look back on this moment and cringe in the morning but she was just tipsy enough not to care.
