Page 33 of Vexatious Queen

“And you feel safe bringing Ren there?”

Ouch, now that one hurt. I glared at Matt, and he held up his hands.

“It’s a fair question,” he said.

“Aye, she’s coming and happy to do so, even though she almost died. So, what does that tell ya?”

Matt snorted. “That she either has a death wish or she’s stupid.”

I was across the locker room in three strides and had Matt slammed up against the lockers two more after that.

“Say it again…I dare ya,” I growled.

My arms flexed, and I was ready to kill him. I didn’t care if that sounded insane to anyone else. No one, and I meant no one, talked shit about Ren.

“I’m sorry,” Matt said.

He sounded genuine, so I let him go and glared at the stunned group.

“Go or don’t go, I don’t care either way. But if any of you so much as whispers Ren’s name or looks at her in a way that I don’t like…yer never gonna play lacrosse again, if ya can even walk after. Do I make myself clear?”

I’d played with most of these guys for four years, and I liked them all well enough, but I had boundaries.

Keith raised his hand from the back of the group like he was in class.

“Aye?”

“If you say it’s safe, then I believe you. I’ll go,” Keith said.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped away from Matt.

“We’re leaving at seven. Those who want to come to Volatile can meet me in front of the dorms. You’ll get VIP treatment. If you don’t want to, then no hard feelings so long as you keep my girlfriend’s name out of your mouth.”

After giving Matt one more hard look, I marched for the showers. He had raised one excellent point that we needed to sort out. The club’s numbers had dropped since Halloween, and our reputation had taken a massive hit that first night. We needed to get people through the doors, and having a great chef wouldn’t accomplish that all on its own. I needed to put on my thinking cap, or the club wouldn’t last another year without hemorrhaging money.

JANUARY 16 – FRIDAY 8:25 PM

Liam

My fingers rapped on the marble bar while I waited for Nora to bring me my drink. She was taking her sweet time on purpose, but between the two of us…I was more stubborn.

I glanced over at Theo. But maybe not as stubborn as him.

She set four drinks on the bar for the paying customers and then walked toward me with my club soda and lime. Theo had gotten me onto these. They weren’t half bad. I would’ve rather had a tequila shot and licked the salt off Theo or Ren…maybe both. But this was tolerable for a night sans alcohol.

Nora handed me my drink with a sneer instead of a smile.

“I don’t want to hear it, Liam.”

“Nora, this is serious. That guy is bad news,” I growled at my sister, despite her being five years older than me. She was still my sister, and no biker asshole was going to hurt her.

“Says who? You don’t even know him,” Nora bit back, hands on her hips as she glared at me.

“Do you? Do you even know what they do inside that clubhouse? I do. I saw it with my own eyes. Those sweetbutts that hang around aren’t for show. You really want to be another girl in the lineup of girls he’s fucking? Can you honestly say that you trust him when he’s not in your bed? Or wherever the hell you…you know.”

I had no interest in picturing my sister doing anything that would be considered naked time and was quite happy pretending she was still a virgin.

Her face turned bright red. “Oh…you’re one to talk. You are in a relationship with a guy and a girl who is fucking four other guys. You really want to cast that stone?”