Page 65 of Jagger
“Got a hankering for wrinkled titties?” I snickered at Rome’s question, and Trick shot him a glare and flipped him off with both hands.
“Nope, but I don’t want to have to tell Abby and Molly that they need a dose of penicillin because you two assholes caught the clap just breathing the air in this place.”
“You’re a good man, Jason Patrick,” I offered a mock salute, which he returned using only his middle finger before sauntering over to the door. I looked at the shitty little building which had definitely seen better days and just shook my head, wondering what kind of men chose to come here instead of a place like Fallen Angels.
It was fucking ridiculous, with peeling paint, a gutter hanging loose on the front of the building, and potholes in the parking lot big enough to lose my bike in. The best feature, though, had to be the neon sign over the door which had at one point proclaimed “Girls, Girls, Girls.” Unfortunately, one G, one I, and an R had since burnt out, leaving the sign with only “_irls, G_rls, Gi_ls”.
Less than five minutes later, Trick walked back out shaking his head and wiping his hands on his jeans with a look of total disgust plastered on his face. I hated to imagine what he had actually touched in there.
“This shithole is just nasty as fuck,” he complained as he jumped on his bike. “And you owe me fifty bucks,” he pointed at me. “The dipshit cousin said he hasn’t seen Laskey in a few days. Said he’s laying low somewhere, far as he knows. After I flashed him some cash, he offered up the names of a couple of other bars that weren’t on Bull’s list. Let’s roll.”
The other two bars were a bust. No sign of Laskey, and the bartenders claimed they hadn’t seen him for a while. One said he had skipped out on his last bar tab, so he doubted Laskey would be back anytime soon.
I was bone-tired, and fucking pissed that we hadn’t found him. From the texts flying back and forth with the rest of the brothers, everyone else had struck out, too.
“I think we’ve done all we can for now. Let’s call it a night,” I said, sometime around one in the morning. The other two agreed, and Rome headed for home, while Trick and I made our way back to the clubhouse.
The clubroom was pretty quiet when we returned, with only Irish and Bodhi hanging around watching something blow up on the TV screen. Trick decided to finish watching the movie with them, and I headed upstairs. I loved the sight of Molly, sound asleep in my bed. I could just barely make out the shape of her curves under the covers and couldn’t wait to snuggle up next to her. I took a quick shower, trying my best to be quiet so I didn’t wake her.
After I dried off, I tossed the towel toward the basket in the corner of the bathroom, then carefully lifted the covers and slid into bed. She was lying on her side facing away from me, and I gently wrapped my arm around her waist and buried my face in her neck. I breathed deeply, letting the familiar scent of her soothe the tension and frustration I’d been feeling for hours now.
“Did you find him?” Molly murmured sleepily, and I scooted closer to her and curved my body around hers.
“Nope, no sign of the fucker. Hopefully, Bull will be able to dig up some more leads tomorrow. What did you do while I was gone?”
She yawned, then said, “Pop and Viking decided that Lincoln and I needed to learn how to play poker.”
“Oh yeah?” I chuckled. “How did that go?”
“Well, Viking isn’t speaking to me, Lincoln decided he’d rather go scrub the toilets than play anymore, and Pop owes me thirty bucks,” she said with a soft giggle.
I barked out a laugh and rolled her over on her back. I could just make out her features now that my eyes had adjusted to the dark room, and I could see the wide grin on her face.
“Beginner’s luck, or did you hustle them?”
“Hey, it’s not my fault they assumed I couldn’t play,” she protested a little too innocently.
I laughed so hard that my body shook the mattress, imagining how the scene had played out.
“And how, exactly, did you become such an expert at poker?”
“Well, my junior year of college I dated a guy who’d worked as a dealer in a high-roller room in Vegas before moving back to Indianapolis. He taught me. We played a lot, probably because it was cheaper than taking me out on actual dates.”
I clenched my jaw, mainly to stop myself from asking what else he’d taught her or pointing out that she’d dated some real losers. Deciding not to be a jealous dick for once, I changed the subject.
“I never asked you if you got all your phone calls made while I was in Church.” I slid my hand up under her sleep shirt, and absently rubbed my hand back and forth over the soft skin of her stomach.
She sighed at the reminder of all the fucked-up shit going on in her life right now. “I did. Michelle agreed that I shouldn’t come into work until he’s found. She’s going to see if the administration will agree to cover my paid time off, so I don’t have to dip into my vacation days.” She hesitated for a second before continuing.
“I called my parents, and…they want to meet you tomorrow. Well, I guess that’s actually today, I mean, since it’s almost two in the morning. My dad was a little worried about me staying here with a bunch of men I’ve just met,” she reluctantly admitted.
I snorted, hoping it was too dark in the room for Molly to be able to see me rolling my eyes. “I’m sure the fact that we’re a bunch of bikers is the real problem.”
“It probably doesn’t help, no,” she answered honestly. “But I promise, they are really open-minded, and understood when I told them how much I trust you, and how safe I feel here.”
My hand stilled as her words registered. “You feel safe here, Angel?”
Chapter 19
