Page 43 of Jagger
I’d hung out at the bar with him on Saturday night, and although we talked and texted numerous times each day, we’d only managed to see each other twice the following week, including dinner with Emma and her husband. That had gone well, with Mark and Cole spending most of the evening talking about motorcycles and the Indianapolis Colts. Emma and I didn’t have anything to contribute to either subject, so we sat there and quietly discussed our men instead. Each date had ended with a make-out session that grew progressively hotter, but Cole was adamant that we hold off on sex. By the time the weekend rolled around, I was just about crawling out of my skin with my need for him, and decided I would need to pull out all the stops to weaken his resolve.
I spent the day Saturday running my errands, as usual - grocery shopping, dropping off dry cleaning, and getting my oil changed, while Cole spent some time working at the bar. There was a party at the clubhouse that night, and he’d asked me if I would like to go. He had warned me that it would get pretty wild later in the night but offered to take me home before then if I was uncomfortable. I was nervous when he arrived to pick me up, second-guessing my outfit as his eyes roved over me. I was wearing my favorite jeans which fit me like a glove, a clingy black top with a deep, scooped neckline, and a pair of black sandals with a three-inch heel. I’d left my hair down in soft waves, took a little extra time with my makeup, and accessorized my outfit with some chunky silver earrings and several silver bangle bracelets on one wrist.
“You look incredible, Angel,” Cole said huskily as he stood in my doorway looking me over. He reached for me and gave me a deep, hungry kiss that left us both breathing heavily once he released my lips. “You’re really testing my ‘no sex’ idea tonight, aren’t you?” he murmured, nosing his way across my jaw and down my neck to nuzzle the base of my throat. He inhaled deeply, groaning as his fingers tightened on my waist and pulled me closer. He kissed me again, but it was soft and sweet this time, and he finished with a quick peck on my upturned nose.
“Let’s go while I can still walk, woman,” he commanded me, adjusting himself in his jeans as I closed and locked my door, remembering at the last second to set my alarm.
“Good girl,” he praised softly, palming my butt, and giving it a little squeeze as he guided me toward the stairs. I shivered in response, wondering how far I would need to push him later to make him give up on his stupid sex ban.
The parking lot was filled with bikes and a few vehicles when we pulled up to the MC compound. There was a prospect sitting in the guard shack to open the gate for visitors, and he gave Cole a small wave as we pulled in. There were several people standing near the corner of the building smoking, and I remembered Cole had told me that smoking was banned inside the building the day after his Grandma Frankie had been diagnosed with lung cancer years ago. A couple of the bikers in the small group called out a greeting to Cole, eyeing me with curiosity as we walked toward the front door.
The music inside was loud, and the voices even louder. Cole held my hand as he led me through the crowd, heading over toward the bar. Several of his biker brothers greeted him as we pushed through the sea of bodies milling around. I glanced toward the stage in the corner, not surprised to find a woman in a skimpy bra and tiny boy-shorts gliding around the pole to the delight of the bikers sitting in front of the stage. I spotted Trick at the pool table with a group of bikers I hadn’t met yet, and Lucky was on one of the couches with a woman sitting on his lap. I tried not to look too closely at what they were doing.
Bull had been sitting at the packed bar when we walked up, and he quickly stood when he spotted me, offering me his stool. I thanked him, and he clapped Cole on the shoulder before grabbing his beer and heading over to join the men lined up by the dart board.
I ordered a rum and Coke, since I wasn’t much of a beer drinker, and the Prospect tending bar tonight placed it in front of me moments later. I swiveled around on my stool, leaning into Cole who was at my side against the bar. He bent down to speak to me, so that I could hear him over the music.
“You OK, Angel?”
I smiled up at him and nodded, then looked around with interest. I’d been half-afraid we would be walking into an orgy, but aside from a few couples grinding on the dance floor and the now-topless stripper working the pole, nothing much was happening aside from people talking, laughing, and having fun playing pool or darts. There was a card game - poker by the looks of it - going on at one of the larger tables where King and Viking sat along with several other men. King looked up and caught my eye before he grinned and said something to the other men at the table that caused them all to look our way. He motioned us over, and Cole cursed under his breath.
“Oh, hell’s bells, Angel, I’m gonna go ahead and apologize now for whatever’s about to happen,” he said in my ear, before helping me off the stool. I grabbed my drink and held on to his hand as he weaved his way through the crowd, stopping alongside their table.
An older man, looking to be in his late sixties, maybe early seventies, immediately stood up and rounded the table, shouldering Cole out of the way to greet me.
“Hello, I’m Virgil Morgan, but these idiots call me Sinner. You can call me Pop,” he said as he bent to kiss my cheek. “I’m this one’s grandpa,” he said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at Cole, “and I’ve heard a helluva lot about you. Viking was right for once, you sure are a pretty little thing,” he said with a charming grin, which turned into a bark of laughter as Viking flipped him off with a scowl. I had a feeling that Sinner, or Pop rather, had been quite the flirt in his day.
I couldn’t help but smile at him, definitely able to see the family resemblance. His hair was steely gray, but he had the same tanned skin, strong cheekbones, and warm brown eyes that Cole, King, and Rome all have. His beard was longer than theirs, but still immaculately kept, and he was in better shape than any of the men his age I had ever met. Once again, I was seriously impressed with the Morgan family gene pool.
I glanced around at the other men seated at the table. Viking greeted me with a smile and a wink, then went back to studying his cards. Ace was next to him, and I let my gaze skim over him as he sat there eyeing me coldly. The guy gave me the creeps, and I was amazed how different he was from the other men in his family, not only in behavior but also in looks. Remembering what Cole had told me about his family, I assumed that Ace took after his mother’s side, with his light brown hair and pale blue eyes. His hair was long and scraggily, as was his goatee, which was more gray than brown. His skin was aged by the sun and too many cigarettes, if I had to guess, and he looked like he’d lived a hard life. His arms were covered in faded tattoos of snakes and skulls, and God only knows what else, and he had chunky silver rings on most of his fingers. He looked more like a stereotypical biker than most of the other men here. There were two more men sitting at the table, both looking to be in their forties. One of them was probably the biggest man I’d ever seen in real life. Sitting down, he was half a head taller than every other man there, and they all topped six feet easily. His shoulders and chest were twice as broad, too. The other man was lankier, with lean muscles, and short blond hair. There was something about him that told me life had been hard for him, too.
“Hey, old man, are you done hitting on my girl?” Cole asked, and Sinner surprised me by flipping him off before clapping a weathered hand to the side of Cole’s face and patting it roughly.
“You did good, boy.”
Cole shot a glance at me and smiled before responding with “Yeah, I got lucky.” I could feel myself blushing under their scrutiny, and by the way Cole laughed softly and pulled me close to his side, I knew they could tell.
“Molly, I’m sure you remember Viking and Ace,” Cole said, tightening the arm around my waist slightly when he said Ace’s name. “The hulk-looking dude over there is Brick. His Old Lady is Theresa. I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.”
The man in question looked up from the cards on the table and nodded, giving me a polite smile.
“This,” Cole continued as he stepped forward and put a hand on the lankier, blond man’s shoulder, “is Cowboy, my uncle by marriage and the club VP.”
The man stood up to greet me with a quick kiss on the cheek, much as Pop had. “It’s nice to meet you, darlin’.” He had a faint southern drawl that told me he wasn’t originally from Indiana.
“You, too, Cowboy,” I replied. I hoped I’d be able to remember everyone without having to read their name patches.
“Hey, sweetheart, I’m glad you could make it tonight and meet all the boys.” King stood up and greeted me with a big hug and a kiss to my forehead, before leaning down to whisper in my ear. “If you need anything while you’re here and Jag isn’t right there with you, you let me know, OK? If you can’t find me, then go to Sinner, Cowboy, or Rome. Understand?” He pulled back to look me in the eye, and I nodded. He smiled and kissed my forehead again, before giving Cole one of those one-armed man hugs that guys did when they were too cool to hug for real.
“Molly!” I jumped as I heard my name shouted above the din and turned around to find Rome standing on top of a table on the other side of the room, trying to get my attention. He waved us over, and I laughed as Abby tugged on his T-shirt to get him down.
Cole laughed at his twin, and King hollered at him to get his ass down off the table before he broke something. Several of the bikers in the room laughed, and Trick waved money in the air and told Rome to“take it off baby, show me some skin!”Rome just smiled good-naturedly while flipping him off with both hands, and Abby laughed so hard I was afraid she would go into labor. She was still red-faced and giggling by the time we made it over to them. Rome hopped off the table and swooped me up in a hug.
“I’m glad you’re here, Molly. Abby and I want to thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for taking pity on Jagger and going out with his sorry ass.”
I laughed as Cole shoved Rome off me, pulling him into a headlock and trying to give him a noogie. Rome was trying to return the favor, and the two of them went round and round like a dog chasing its tail until Abby yelled at them to sit down and behave.
“Yes ma’am, we’re sorry,” they said in unison, then looked at each other and laughed. I sat down next to Abby, and Rome and Cole took seats on either side of us.
