"They'll be happy to teach you the ropes. You ready?"
To meet a clubhouse full of stone cold sober bikers who all had to be curious about me?
"Not at all," I admitted, sliding out of my booth. "But let's go."
As I expected, Ty must have gotten word back to his friends - likely through Sugar - that he was bringing me over for the night. Because the place was packed whereas he told me it was generally just the single guys who hung around all the time now.
And that list was short.
Roan.
Cam.
And, I guess, West.
I wasn't really sure if they counted him in anything yet until he was out of the prospecting phase.
But he was there. So was Cam, sitting in the living room. West offered me a simple Hey pretty lady. Cam opened the lid of a box of donuts, silently - of course - offering me one.
"No thanks. We just had breakfast. It's nice seeing you again, though.
"Alright, who's ready to see the woman who made good old Don't-Give-A-Fuck Virgin give a fuc... shit," another voice trailed off, looking at me guiltily. I knew him from sight.
Roderick.
"I'd apologize, but it's the truth," he admitted, shrugging it off. "You came in here knowing you'd be facing all of us? Brave woman," he decided, reaching for a donut for himself.
"Alright, so you know Roderick, Cam, West. This is..." Ty started, motioning to a man who really needed no introduction.
"Sugar," I cut him off, sending the man a genuine smile. "Ty told me a lot about the trouble you guys got into when you were younger."
"Ty did, did Ty?" Sugar asked, shooting his friend a raised brow.
I wasn't sure, but I figured maybe Ty giving me his real name, his government name, meant something.
"Your name is Ty?" West asked, almost seeming amused by that fact.
"What's your real name?" I shot back, defensive.
"Apparently, we only give real names to the women we shack up with so they call us it when they come," he told me with a smirk. "So by you asking, I can only assume that Ty here hasn't been performing like you..."
"Easy," Sugar called, making my head snap in his direction, finding him with a palm slammed into Ty's chest, holding him back.
Yes, holding him back.
The most calm, laid-back, didn't-give-a-fuck person I had met had his fists balled, chest puffed, jaw set to stone. Like he was planning on beating the hell out of West for just a comment.
"Who isn't behaving?" yet another voice asked, coming out of the hallway. He was tall, thin, red-haired, tattooed. Attractive. With almost unsettlingly sharp eyes, like he could see right in under your skin. "Dad is here, we need to behave," he added, drawing my attention to the man following him out. Tall, dark, handsome, and a bit, well, terrifying. I didn't have to know to know that was the president. Reign. He carried himself like he owned the place. Because, well, he did.
"The fuck you say now, West?" Reign asked in a sort of resigned father way, the tone he used on a particularly trying, rule-breaking child. "You didn't get enough from Lou earlier?"
Lou.
I rolled through the list of names I had been trying to remember.
Lou wasn't a guy. It was Adler's woman. A bounty hunter.
"I just asked her an innocent question," West insisted, but his lips were twitching.
"You asked her if she liked it when someone used her own cuffs on her in bed," Renny corrected.
"What did he do?" Reign asked, looking at me, then Ty. I was never so thankful for someone to look away from me before. I felt like a little girl facing up the principal. Even though I hadn't done anything wrong.
"Ran his mouth," Ty told his boss.
"Clearly. The fuck never had a mother wash it out with soap as a kid, and it shows. Look, I don't really give a fuck what happened, but you need to remember that you're a prospect, not a brother. You show respect. You bite your fuckin' tongue if what you are about to say insults the patched members. Or their women. Not only do they have a say in your future here, but I'm not protecting your ass from a beating if they get pissed off at you." With that, he turned his attention back to Ty. "Kinda interesting to see you riled up though," he said, shrugging it off. "I'm assuming if you got your girl here, you want off the patrol tonight?"
"I'll cover for him," Sugar offered. "Peyton is going to a - and I quote - Pussy Pleasure Party. Whatever the fuck that is, I don't think I want to be involved. I'll hang back tonight."
"Alright, sounds good. West, doesn't the bathroom need to be re-grouted?" Reign asked.
"Which bathroom?" West asked, dread already in his tone, knowing the answer.