Page 41 of The Echo of Violence

“You following me, biker boy?”

“I think you’ll find I was here first. I saw you come in and wanted to apologize for my friend. He’s mentally unstable. We’re having him tested.”

I fight a grin, not wanting to be charmed by him. But his smile seems genuine, and he is a lot prettier to look at than the guy I just scared off.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Eightball

“Eightball.”

I stare into her eyes, surprised as fuck to see her here tonight, but I’m not one to pass up an opportunity when it lands in my lap like this. She looks different than the other times I’ve seen her—her face, at least. I’ll admit she intrigues me. The woman must be part chameleon.

“Jinx.”

“Well, Jinx, what brings you to my neck of the woods?”

“Your neck of the woods? Oh, that’s right, your clubhouse isn’t far from here.”

I nod, taking her in and licking my lips at the sight of her. How she manages to fit right in and still stand out in this crowd is beyond me. “Didn’t answer my question, babe. What’s a girl like you doing in a bar like this?”

She snorts just as Jasper, the bartender, reaches us.

“I’ll take a gin and tonic,” Jinx orders as Jasper looks at me and sighs.

Yeah, you snooze, you lose, buddy. Not that it would have made much difference if he had beaten me to her. When I want something, I tend to get tunnel-vision in my pursuit to get it, and I sure as fuck don’t let anyone stand in my way.

“Jack and Coke for me,” I tell him before returning to Jinx. “Well, are you going to tell me, or do I have to make you tell me?” I ask.

“You’re a pushy bastard. That shit work for you?”

I grin and lean closer, eliciting a shiver from her. “I’ve never had any complaints. Now answer the question.”

She shrugs before turning toward me, the motion making the side of her breast brush against my arm where I’m gripping the back of her stool. “Cab driver dropped me off here. Said it seemed like my kind of place.”

I bark out a laugh and shake my head. “Your kind of place? Was he on drugs? This place is for lost souls. You sure as fuck don’t seem like a lost soul to me.”

“I guess that means that he saw something in me that you don’t,” she says quietly, taking the drink from Jasper with a thank you. She sips it, her tongue peeking out to lick the rim of the glass where the icy liquid has splashed over the side.

I groan and adjust myself before picking up my own drink and knocking back half of it. “Put it on my tab, Jasper, and bring us another round when you’re done.”

“Water for me this time, please,” Jinx insists. I don’t push, knowing somehow that she’ll just shut me down. She’s a bit of an anomaly to me. When she was at the clubhouse, I could see that she was wary of all of us, but there was no fear. She has an air of vulnerability about her, which is odd given the sass she likes to give.

“Where are your men?”

She blinks. “My men?”

I know they aren’t really her men, but I wanted to see her reaction.

“Ah, you mean Rex and Nico? They’re not my men. They’re my brothers.”

I rear back at that. None of them look even remotely alike.

She chuckles as if sensing what I was thinking. “Not by blood. But then you’d know all about what that’s like, wouldn’t you?”

I incline my head in confirmation. “Touché. I never gave much thought to men and women having that type of friendship, or any type of friendship, really. It seems to me it’s destined to fail. Eventually, someone always catches feelings.”

“Well, that’s what you get for making assumptions. My guess is the women you mix with have no intention of being your friends. Sure, they tell you that, but it’s so they can get a little closer to claiming the elusive old lady cut. That’s not how friendship works. You can’t go into it because you hope to get something out of it.”

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