“That sounds great. Just give me the dates. If I’m booked, I’m sure I can get one of my, uh, staff to cover.” I cringed, hoping the lie wasn’t as obvious as it sounded.
Bear raised an eyebrow but didn’t call me on it. “We’ll have to cross our fingers. Now if you guys will move along, this little pixie and I need to fire up the grill.”
8
LEXIE
“Oh my god, girl, that was amazing!”
I stumbled as Ivy, or Poison, gave me a huge hug while I refilled the cookie platter. Her dark hair was tipped with a bright green that stood out against her black leather cut. Her makeup was absolutely flawless. I tried not to feel self-conscious standing next to her, knowing by now my hair was a sweaty mess and my face was flushed.
“I don’t know where Bear found you, but I hope he doesn’t lose you. That veggie burger was divine. I’d love to talk to you about doing something for my salon. I’ve been wanting to try a Sunday Brunch and Style, but—“
“Babe. The salon is closed. You’re off duty.” A tall guy with dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard wrapped his arm around her waist. Based on his patch, he was their medic. I suppose that came in handy with… whatever it was they did.
“Fine.” She sighed and grabbed a cookie. “Lexie, I’ll get your info from Bear and text you next week.”
I smiled. “Sounds great.”
They turned and headed to the fire pit. I stared at the “Property of Stitch” patch on the back of her cut. I guess they did take that old lady stuff seriously.
I’d been surprised by the MC’s outdoor setup. I figured their backyard would consist of an assortment of broken plastic chairs, a pile of beer cans, and maybe a busted volleyball net. Instead, there was a gorgeous outdoor kitchen I would give my left pinky toe to own. Not only did they have a Traeger pellet smoker that had my mind racing with possibilities, but the built-in gas grill was large enough it had no problem handling all the burgers and sausages Bear cooked. And damn, did that man handle a grill with ease. He set my catering heart all a twitter. And possibly a few other body parts.
They even had an outdoor pizza oven. Next time, I’d make sure we used it. After trying the burgers, Mav locked in the dates for the next three cookouts. With Ivy’s potential brunch, my business was officially off the ground.
With evening rolling in and the leftovers put away, all I had left was to clean up. Armed with a trash bag, I took my final walkthrough of the backyard. Even though trash and recycling cans were set out in several locations, people had left unfinished plates and half-empty cups lying around. I walked through the picnic tables, filling my trash bag as I went.
Most of the club members were either inside at the bar playing pool or scattered around the fire pit. The music inside the bar was pumping, and the outdoor speakers were also blaring. A few of the brothers played corn hole while Ivy and Stitch danced by the fire pit.
When was the last time I’d hung out with family and friends? Never? Or maybe it was back at Dan’s house when I was sixteen. My heart hammered in my chest.
I hiked the trash bag over my shoulder like Santa Claus and headed around the side of the building to the dumpster.
Bear had long since disappeared. We hadn’t spoken much while grilling, but we’d fallen into a good rhythm. I thought we’d bonded. Slinging a couple hundred burgers and sausages usually did that. But then he’d run off, so who knows. Maybe it only meant something to me. Gah, how pathetic was I?
“Hey, Lexie, I can get that for you.” Baller, an extremely flirtatious brother who’d begged for my number between plates of food, rushed to my side with a bag of his own. “Or better yet, a prospect can get it. Where are those two assholes?”
I chuckled, raising my voice so he could hear over the music. “No, it’s fine. That’s what you’re paying me for. Setup, takedown, cleanup. All part of Lexie’s Limitless Catering.” I gave a short bow.
“Baller, what’s taking you so long? I thought we were going to have some fun,” Kayla’s voice whined from the back door.
Baller looked torn, glancing at his trash bag and back at Kayla.
I laughed. “If you choose a bag of trash over Kayla, I’m not sure she’ll ever recover. Give me your bag and go take care of that poor woman.”
He laughed. “You’re probably right.”
“Baller!” she screeched.
We both turned to watch as she began rubbing her breasts. He cleared his throat. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. This is good exercise.” I grabbed his bag with my other hand and looked across the dark parking lot at the dumpster corral, rolling my eyes. Someone had piled several full trash bags in front of the wooden enclosure. I didn’t understand people sometimes. You made it that far, why not walk the rest of the way and sling the bags inside the dumpster?
“Right, well, thanks for dinner. Talk to you later.” He turned and jogged toward Kayla. Good for them, I guess. More andmore of the guys had disappeared. Were they all hooking up with bunnies? Was that where Bear went? Not that it was any of my business. As long as I got paid, it didn’t matter what, or who, Bear did. Not that whoever he was spending his evening with would appreciate his executive Costco membership like I would. I shook my head. It was officially time for me to get out of here.
I passed the pile of bags and threw my two into the dumpster. Never one to leave a mess, I walked to the front of the corral to grab the bags that had been left out front. As I picked up the one on top, a moan erupted from the pile.
“What the—“
