“You planning on heading back with her tomorrow?”
“Yeah, Viper and Lynch are coming, too. After he gives everything a good once over, Viper will head back, and Lynch and I will stay for the remainder of the week.”
“You thought about how this thing is gonna work with you two?”
“Well, Lynch isn’t exactly my type, so it shouldn’t be an issue.”
Rafe’s tone turned serious. “I’m not fucking around, Country.”
“I don’t know what to tell ya. I guess we’ll just take things day by day and see how it plays out.”
“That’s fine, but don’t fuck it up.” Rafe motioned his head at the back table. “Or that pack of wolves over there will have your ass.”
Rafe gave me one of his looks, then turned and headed over to the back table to check on Marlowe. I finished off my beer, then turned and motioned to Caitlyn, one of the club’s hang-arounds, signaling I needed another. She nodded, then reached into the cooler to grab me a cold one. Caitlyn was a cute blonde with a killer figure, and she always made a point to show it off by wearing low-cut tops and skin-tight miniskirts. Everyone knew she had a bit of a thing for me, so I wasn’t surprised when she sauntered over with a seductive smile. She placed my beer down on the counter, then leaned forward, making sure I saw every inch of her cleavage as she purred. “Here ya go, handsome.”
“Thanks, Caitlyn.”
“You having a good night?”
“Yeah, I can’t complain.”
“Well, if you’re looking to make it better, I’m free later tonight.” She inched a little closer. “I’ll show ya a real good time.”
“I’m sure you would, but—”
“He’s got other plans,” Kiersten interrupted. “He’s got some bells and whistles to tend to.”
“Excuse me?” Caitlyn glanced back over to me with confusion. “Bells and whistles? What the hell is she talking about?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I slipped my arm around Kiersten’s waist and pulled her closer. “I thought you were still with the girls.”
“I was.” Her eyes skirted over to Caitlyn as she said, “I just came over to get another beer.”
“Mm-hmm. Okay.” I looked over to Caitlyn. “You heard the woman. She needs a beer.”
Caitlyn rolled her eyes and huffed as she whipped around and headed over to the cooler. Kiersten was glaring at her as she asked me, “Who is that anyway?”
“That would be Caitlyn. She’s one of the club’s hang-arounds who helps out at the bar from time to time.” Remembering our earlier conversation about Locke, I decided to use her words against her and said, “You’ve got nothing to worry about, babe. She was just being nice.”
Realizing what I was doing, she cocked her eyebrow and sassed, “Really? That’s how you’re gonna play this?”
“You know,” I lowered my mouth to her ear and whispered, “You’re beautiful when you’re jealous.”
“I’m not jealous, Grayson. I was just asking who she was.”
“Whatever you say, boss.” I grabbed the beer Caitlyn had left for her on the counter and handed it to her. “You having fun with the girls?”
“I’m having a great time with them.” She glanced over her shoulder, making sure no one could hear then lowered her voice and said, “They’re nothing like I expected. I mean, I met Parker when she and Menace were at Dad’s, and she seemed super nice, but even she’s different than I thought she’d be.”
“Not sure what you mean.”
“It’s hard to explain. I spent weeks watching them on your security feed.” My back immediately stiffened, causing her to wince. “I know that’s a touchy subject, and I’m sorry about that, but it’s not something I can take back.”
“Just finish what you were saying.”
“Okay, well, I saw them on the surveillance footage. They were all so beautiful and seemed so self-assured. When they got together, they looked like they’d been best friends forever. I guess I just thought they wouldn’t be quite as welcoming as they’ve been.”
“They’re cool girls. You’ve got nothing to worry about there.” Hearing how she’d watched our security feed spurred a thought—one I’d failed to consider until that very moment. “So, did you see me on that security footage?”
“Well, yeah... Many times.”
Kiersten answered like it was no big deal, but to me, it was huge. The deal of all deals. I immediately became enraged—not just at her but at myself. I couldn’t believe I’d been so fucking stupid. I’d known all along that she’d hacked into Menace’s computer and had gained access to our security footage. I should’ve put two and two together and realized that she’d seen me on it, but for whatever reason, it just hadn’t sunk in—more than likely because I didn’t want it to. I wanted to believe Kiersten was telling the truth when she said she didn’t know who I was the night we met at that bar, and it hit hard to discover that she hadn’t been honest with me.