“Sorry. I just texted T.A. She said she’d ride with me.”
“Fuck.” Crazy Bitch started to ask Pike, but saw Ginger had beat her to it. Staring across the crowded bar, she ticked her options off. There weren’t many. Fat Louise would ride with Cade. The other brothers were quickly rattling off their names to Viper and Stud, who were making a list.
Looney seemed to be having the same trouble she was having. When his eyes met hers, she glanced away. The biker might be good-looking, but he was a wild card—you never knew how he would react. One day he would partner with you, then forget it the next.
When she glanced away from Looney, her gaze was caught by Calder. Hell no, she thought to herself. She would rather ride with Looney.
Giving Calder a haughty look, she started walking toward Looney, only to see him high-fiving Dozer.
“Dammit.” Stopped short, she decided to cut to the chase. Grabbing a chair, she climbed onto it. “Any of you fuckers willing to partner with me?” she shouted out across the room.
Dead silence greeted her question.
“Pussies!” she yelled. “Who doesn’t have a partner?”
No one answered.
“Warrick? Who you riding with?”
“Puck,” the biker shouted back.
“Rolo?”
“Gator.”
“I’ll ride with you if you leave that whip at home.” Calder stood up shakily, holding the edge of the table for support.
Crazy Bitch ignored him, pretending she hadn’t heard his offer. “Killyama, you could ride with me, and Train could ride for The Last Riders. Come on; do a bitch a solid,” she pleaded, becoming desperate. She didn’t want to ride with Calder.
“We decided to pass. We’re going to be babysitters. Someone has to stay home and make sure the kids are fed.” Killyama gave her a sympathetic glance.
Crazy Bitch couldn’t blame her. She wouldn’t jeopardize creating hard feelings, either, if Train were in her bed.
“Looks like you’re stuck with me.”
Crazy Bitch ignored Calder again. “Z, who you riding with?”
“Rooster.”
Her shoulders slumped at his quick response. Jumping off the chair, she forced her feet to carry her toward Calder. He didn’t look at her when she approached.
“I guess I’ll ride with you,” she said glumly.
“Maybe I don’t want to ride with you anymore. I was thinking I could help Train and Killyama with the babysitting.”
“Fucker, you asked me twice,” she muttered, not wanting the rest of the club to hear Calder turning her down.
“And you turned me down twice. The least you could do is ask me nicely.”
Crazy Bitch bit her tongue to keep from saying what she wanted to say. “Will you ride with me?”
“If we win, I keep my bike.”
She nodded reluctantly, the image of her driving his bike disappearing.
“If we’re partners, I won’t have to put up with your bitchy attitude?”
Crazy Bitch stared around the clubroom, hoping she had missed someone she could partner with. There wasn’t.
“I’ll give it a rest until I find the jackets,” she agreed.
“Don’t you mean, until we find the jackets?”
If she hadn’t seen the bike that Calder and Stud had built, she would have told him to bite her. Killyama had also told her about the quality of motorcycles Rider owned in his private stash. It was worth taking some shit from Calder to get her hands on one of them.
“Yes.”
Calder gave her a satisfied smirk. “Then I guess we’re partners.”
Crazy Bitch wasn’t as enthusiastic. “Whoopie.”
7
Crazy Bitch sat at the bar, surveying the occupants of the clubroom. The Destructors were already confidently bragging about what they would do if they won the bikes. The Last Riders just sat talking, cool as cucumbers.
They weren’t fooling her. They wanted the bikes as badly as she did. Some motorcycles were made to be ridden on, and then there were a few that were fucking sick. Hell, half the Destructors didn’t have the capability of riding those bikes without ending up as road kill.
“Why you sitting over here by yourself?” Calder leaned against the bar next to her.
“I’m waiting for Dozer to bring a case of Miller Lite from the back.” She wasn’t about to admit her feelings were still hurt that none of the brothers wanted to partner with her.
“Oh, I thought it might be because of something else.” Calder shrugged.
“Like what?” Her shoulders and jaw locked belligerently.
“Why do you have to be so confrontational all the time? Jesus, I was just wondering.”
“It’s a habit.”
“Then you need to cool it. You used to be a little fun. All the brothers used to fight over who got to dance with you. Now, you rip their heads off if they look at you too long. Just because you’re seeing Sam hot and heavy doesn’t mean the rest of us should be treated like horseshit.”
“Sam and I are history.”
“You are?”
“We are.”
“So, you’re taking him breaking up with you out on us?”
“Get your facts straight! I broke up with him.”
“Then I don’t understand, why the chip on your shoulder?”