Lucifer held out his hand and I shook it.
“You know,” he said, cocking his head to the side. “Maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to leave. The Diablos are entering a new era. Perhaps we could work out the terms for an alliance. Come spend a couple days at the clubhouse and we’ll talk it over. I’ll even give you access to my tech guy, Demon. He’s one of those whiz kids, and I’ll bet he can find out something on these fake Diablos.”
I nodded, pulling out my phone to text Mav. This went better than expected. I thought for sure I’d have to kick someone’s ass. But instead, we were getting an ally and intel on our enemy. Which was great for the club, but sucked for my love life.
16
LEXIE
One week later
“Hello?”Unknown Callerblinked up at me as I answered my phone. Probably a robot calling about my nonexistent car’s warranty, but I was in between classes, so I had time to kill.
“I’m looking for Lexie. The caterer?” a gruff voice sounded over the line.
I ducked into an empty classroom and pulled out a pencil and notebook.
“That’s me. How may I help you?” I hoped I sounded professional because inside I was screaming. Months ago, I’d posted flyers at a few libraries and coffee shops. Had one of them finally paid off?
“My club is having a meeting tomorrow night, and we’d like to book your catering services. Sorry this is last minute, but our usual caterer backed out.”
“Your club?”
“Yeah, the Diablos Motorcycle Club. I was told that wouldn’t be an issue?”
My smile grew. Not the fliers after all. This must be the referral Mav had promised.
“No issue at all. I love motorcycle clubs. They’re my favorite kind of club.” I cringed, covering my mouth before I embarrassed myself further. “As it happens, I am free tomorrow night.” The bar manager job wouldn’t start for another week, and Monday was my night off from the senior home. “What kind of food do you need and how many people?”
We hammered out the details and I gave him my Cash App name so he could send a 50% deposit. Mama didn’t raise no dummy. Well, Mama didn’t raise me at all, but the system didn’t raise no dummy. Plus, it wasn’t like I had the funds to front the cost of ingredients. But one day I would.
I skipped down the hall, working out my shopping list in my head. It was a pretty simple one of fried chicken and sides. Probably potato wedges, green beans, my signature mac and cheese, and banana pudding.
I ignored my homework and spent my evening with a bottle of wine and my recipe binder. I just had one small problem. How the heck was I supposed to transport all the food over to the clubhouse? Last time, I had Bear, but he was still out of town. Not that I would ask him after what he’d done. I’d thought he was different. But he was like all those families who acted all friendly at first but never wanted to keep me. I felt my eyes well up and blinked back the tears. Although, Bear had apologized, which was new. And he’d texted me every night he’d been gone. And he sent me a gift. Not flowers, which would have been nice, but a brand new KitchenAid stand mixer with all the attachments. Like ALL the attachments. Last night I’d stayed up until 3am spiralizing zucchini. So maybe he was different.
My phone buzzed, and I rolled my eyes when I saw the name on the screen. Although, when the universe offered a solution…
I pressed the green circle to answer the call. “Hey, Jordan. How’s it going?”
“Better now that you answered, Sexy Lexie.”
I barked out a laugh. Okay, maybe he wasn’t so bad. Not my type, but someone fun to hang out with. Every once in a while.
“Is that all you needed? To hear my voice?”Please don’t ask me out. Please don’t ask me out.Then I would have to say no, and it’d be a real mean girl move to ask him for a favor after that.
“I’m just checking in on you. We didn’t get a chance to talk after everything that happened. I wanted to make sure you’re doing all right. No nightmares, any of that crap.”
“Oh, wow. That’s really sweet.”
It was one thing for Bear and Dan to reach out. But a club member I hardly knew? Maybe he really did just want to be friends and there was something to all that brotherhood and family crap. My eyes watered and I blinked back tears for the second time today. I shook my head. I must be about to start my period. I added chocolate to my grocery list.
“I had something really good happen today.”
“Oh, I hope it was the lottery.”
I laughed, shaking my head even though he couldn’t see me. “No, not quite. I got a new catering gig. Mav referred me to another MC and they want me to cook for their meeting tomorrow night.”
“Seriously? That’s awesome, Lexie! Congrats. You totally deserve it.”
