Page 34 of Taming Raptor

The past two and a half months since Raptor had left had been miserable. I’d cried every night until I was sick to my stomach. I’d tried to go back to the way my life was before Raptor, but I wasn’t having a lot of success.

“Sage, why don’t you call him? I gave you his new number,” Blade muttered as I sat at the end of the bar eating a heaping plate of nachos. Willow and I ended up having to dance again on short notice, so I hadn’t had time to have dinner. By the time we got back to the clubhouse, I was exhausted and famished.

Porsche had flaked on us and left town without notice. Nilla did the same. Then Denim had quit showing up for work. I had to let her go, even though I hated to. She was a good dancer, but she had called in sick for the past two weeks and when I offered to have Angel come by to check on her, she hung up on me. Her apartment was vacated the next day. I had no clue where she went.

“And if he had wanted to talk to me, he would’ve given it to me himself.” Blade was silent at my retort. He knew I was right.

“For some stupid reason he’s being stubborn.”

I threw the chip in my hand to the plate and spun to face him. “Stop. He’s probably quite happy and reconciled with his ex. The last thing he wants is me reaching out to him.”

Pissed, I hopped off the stool leaving Blade and my food behind. Trying to make a statement to Blade, I wrapped my arms around Sabre and settled my chin on his shoulder. He stiffened and I assumed he didn’t know it was me.

“Hey, handsome. I thought for sure you’d come see me at some point during all the BS this week. Surely, you’re not babysitting twenty-four hours a day,” I murmured into his ear. He’d been assigned to watch over the young woman that Venom had taken on because she had amnesia.

“Yeah, I, uh, probably won’t be by to see you, Cookie,” he apologized as he winced. Voodoo snorted next to him and sipped his beer. I gave them both a calculating glance. Something was definitely up with them.

Soleil, the amnesia-girl slammed her empty bottle down next to Sabre and he jumped. Curious, I watched everything unfold.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you,” Soleil said sarcastically with a sneer, then told the prospect behind the bar that she needed three more beers and a few waters. She seemed to ignore Sabre after that. She collected the bottles and sauntered back to the ol’ ladies. Sabre watched her with puppy dog eyes and practically pouted as she passed out the drinks and sat back down. Everything clicked into place.

“Ohhh, it’s like that,” I observed with a chuckle as I took my arms off of him and claimed the stool next to him. It was actually a relief, because I wasn’t in the mood. “Buffy isn’t going to like that,” I teased.

Buffy was one of our dancers that he hooked up with on occasion. She would’ve given her left tit to be an ol’ lady, but that wasn’t going to happen.

It had nothing to do with her being one of the dancers and a club girl, but because she was a manipulative bitch. I wasn’t stupid and neither were the guys. They kept her around because she was a damn good dancer who pulled in a lot of customers, which meant money for the club.

“Tough shit,” he muttered.

I pursed my lips as I studied him. We shall see.

Squirrel came up behind us and looped an arm around me, then nuzzled into my neck. I reached back and scraped my nails slowly through his tousled dark hair, but nothing was the same. My interest in any of the guys was nil. I hadn’t slept with anyone since Raptor left, but Blade came in my room enough that I think everyone assumed I had moved on to him. Little did they know.

“What’s like that?” Squirrel asked as he teasingly bit my ear.

“Sabre here got bit by the lovebug. Another one bites the dust,” I explained and chuckled, though I wanted to pull away from his attention.

“Yeah, because—” Squirrel began.

Sabre glared at him, and he snapped his mouth closed. I may be a lot of things, but I was no fucking idiot. I cocked a brow and gave him a questioning smirk, daring him to deny it. Little did he know, his actions gave him away.

“Does she know you’re pining for her?” I softly asked as if he had already confided in me.

“Drop it,” he snapped. My eyes went wide at the uncharacteristic response. And that cemented it. He was head over heels for her. Looked like they were going to have a lot to work through.

“Suit yourself,” I whispered with a shrug and led Squirrel off toward my room. The entire way, my skin prickled uncomfortably where he touched me. I paused with my hand on my doorknob.

“Everything okay?” he quietly asked.

After pasting a fake as fuck smile on, I turned to face him. “It’s just been a long-ass week. Raincheck?”

He cocked his head, and it was my turn to be studied. Then he broke the silence. “Is it true? You and Blade? I’m only curious because prior to Raptor, you were a helluva lot of fun. Since he left, you’ve been spending a lot of time exclusively with Blade. I’m not gonna poach if you’re with him.”

“Um, yeah, well, sort of,” I falsely concurred before apologizing. “I’m sorry, honey. It’s nothing personal.”

Squirrel shook his head with a smirk. He was cute as hell, and secretly a sweetheart, but he wasn’t dumb. “Did I really just get the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ line?”

We both chuckled. He kissed my forehead before he told me “It’s all good, babe. If shit goes south with Blade, you let me know.”

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