Corrupting Cinderella (15 page)

“Okay.”

The corners of Sophie’s mouth turn down. “You don’t sound so sure. You guys looked pretty tight last week at Jonny’s show.”

Lilly bristles at the mention of last weekend. Damn, by not being up at the clubhouse all week, I missed out on all the gossip. I wonder what ended up happening with Z.

“I don’t know. Some of the same issues kinda came up. That overbearing caveman thing is starting to get on my nerves. Then, two of those bitches from his club showed up there.”

“Oh, fuck no, they didn’t, babe. Why didn’t you point them out to me?” Sophie asks. “I woulda had Jonny kick them out.”

“You were preoccupied at the time,” I tell her with a pointed look.

She giggles. “Which ones?”

“Uh, Foxy and Cherry.”

Mara frowns. “What kind of names are those?”

“Whore names,” Lilly declares with a completely straight face, then she turns to me. “Do you mean Roxy?”

“Maybe?” I shrug.

“Definite whore.”

Mara taps my shoulder. “Go back to the overbearing caveman thing. That sounded hot.”

I half smile. “It is most of the time. Except, you know, where he punches some guy out for grabbing my butt.”

Sophie shakes her head at me. “Are you kidding? I was glad Jonny and Rock took care of those two assholes.”

“Well, he made a big deal out of chasing me down when I went to a client appointment too.”

“Why?” Mara asks.

“Bad neighborhood.”

“You went by yourself?”

“Yeah.”

Everyone is staring at me now.

“Honey, that man loves you and wants to keep you safe. That’s okay. That means he’s a keeper,” Mara informs me in a very stern tone of voice.

“Mara’s a sucker for the strong, dominant type,” Sophie says with a giggle.

“Shut the fuck up!” Lilly shouts. “You let that sexy hunk of man meat tie you up and spank you and shit?”

“Jesus Christ, Lilly—inform the whole bar, why don’t you,” Mara scolds back.

Now we’re all staring at Mara, who is bright pink from chest to cheeks.

“We’re not hardcore or anything.”

“You have a dungeon in your basement,” Sophie says with more laughter.

If it’s possible, Mara blushes even harder. “Playroom, not dungeon,” she corrects.

“I will never look at Judge Oak the same,” I mutter to the ceiling.

Mara stares at me in alarm. “You can’t say anything. It could really mess up his career if certain people found out.”

“Mara, I barely have a clue what’s going on, so, we’re good there.”

Poor Mara is still red in the face as she stands up. “I’m going up to the bar to talk to Brian. Ross wanted me to feel him out while I was here.”

“I’ll go feel him up,” Lilly snickers.

Mara ignores her and heads to the bar.

Sophie’s watching me intently. “What else happened after you left the show?”

I sigh, because I’ve felt bad about this all week. Maybe it will do me good to get it off my chest. “I kind of went off on Rock about the bimbos who keep hassling me at the club.”

“Wow. What did he say?”

“I don’t know. He seemed surprised, which just pissed me off more, you know? I drive through a bad neighborhood or some guy looks at me funny, and he jumps all over it. But where I feel the most uncomfortable and unsafe, his own clubhouse, he has no clue?”

Sophie reaches across the table and squeezes my hand. “Honey, he’s not a mind reader. You told me yourself, those bitches are sneaky.”

“I know. That’s why I feel bad. I don’t know what to say…"

Sophie raises an eyebrow, encouraging me to continue.

“We haven’t spent the night together since, kind of at my request.”

Lilly and Sophie both looked stunned of course.

"I need a little space. Frankly, I'm shocked he's actually letting me have it. But it also freaks me out."

Sophie chuckles at my inconsistency. "Yeah, must be killing him."

I shake my head, because her words pile on the unease I'm already feeling in my gut over the whole situation. "His best friend there, Wrath, already hates my guts and thinks I don’t fit in, so I'm worried about causing trouble.”

“Is Wrath the big, hot, hulking blond guy?” Lilly asks. Of course she remembers those details.

“Yeah, he’s also mean and scary.”

“My favorite kind,” Lilly giggles while rubbing her palms together.

“Don’t get any ideas,” I warn her. “He and Z are really tight.”

At that, Lilly shrugs and looks away.

“You’re going up there tonight, right?” Sophie asks, steering the conversation back where she wants it.

“Yeah.”

“Talk it out with him. I bet you anything he’ll be watching out for you like a hawk now that he knows.”

I’m not sure if I like that idea or if it makes me feel even more helpless.

Mara returns, shaking her head. “I wish Ross would grow the fuck up and start dating guys in his own damn age range,” she grumbles.

Sophie makes a wide-eyed, twisty mouthed face that makes me snort water out my nose.

“So, about this dungeon,” Lilly prompts as soon as Mara reclaims her seat.

“Oh, jeez,” Sophie mutters, rolling her eyes heavenward.

“I need to come stay at your house,” Lilly whines.

“We’re not swingers,” Mara hisses.

Lilly slaps a hand to her chest as if she’s offended. “I’ll bring my own boy.”

We go around and around like this for awhile. Even though I haven’t had any alcohol, I’m laughing just as hard as my three drunk friends. I’ve really missed this.

Hope has ignored every call and every text I’ve sent her. At first, I figured she was ignoring me to prove a point. She’s having fun with her friends. Maybe we’ve been too fast, too soon and she needs a break. After a couple of hours go by and still no word from my girl, I start to worry.

Of course, there’s also the announcement I made earlier. I made a big speech about people showing Hope respect, and now she’s not even here…

…Something Roxy comments on as she straddles my lap. “Where’s your ol’ lady, prez?”

Shoving her off my lap and onto the couch, I ignore her question.

Roxy isn’t put off that easily. “Wanna go upstairs? I won’t tell goody-two-shoes,” she purrs.

Christ. What the fuck did I ever see in this bitch? “Roxy,” I warn. “Were you paying attention earlier? Do
not
talk about my ol’ lady that way.”

She pushes her lips into a duck-like pout and stomps away.

Trinity takes her place on the couch. “That looked awkward.”

Running my fingers through my hair, I nod.

“What’s wrong?”

“Haven’t heard from Hope all night. She went out with some of her friends, but she’s supposed to come up after.”

“She probably can’t hear her phone if they’re out clubbing or something.”

“Probably.”

“You think she’s ignoring you? I’ll call her.” Trin pulls out her cell phone and dials Hope. I’m surprised. Didn’t realize they’d traded numbers.

“Hey, first lady, it’s Trin. Just wondering if I’m gonna see you tonight. Call me back if you get a chance.”

My head snapped up when she started talking, then fell back when I realized she was just leaving a message.

“Sorry, Rock. Went straight to voicemail. Maybe she’s someplace where they have bad service.”

“Yup.”

“Do you know where they went?”

“No,” I answer with a good amount of cranky asshole in my voice.

Her brows lift, but there’s a softness to her expression. “That’s not like you.”

I let out a sharp exhale. “She’s getting fed up with me being so overprotective and shit. I didn’t want to push her.”

Trinity snickers.

Wrath drops down next to us, ending our conversation.

“How’s the training coming?” I ask him.

“Good. You know I don’t sweat these fights. Live for that shit.”

“Yeah, you just been putting a lot of effort into it lately,” I answer with a smirk.

Wrath glares at me.

“What are you so pissed off about?”

He doesn’t answer, just keeps giving me the same hard stare, as if that will shut me up.

“Well, boys, seems like you’ve got things to discuss,” Trinity says with a laugh. She pats both of us on the shoulder and hightails it away from the couch.

“Dick,” Wrath grumbles at me.

“Asshole,” I answer, making him chuckle.

“I’m gonna have Hope come to the fight with us,” I tell him.

Wrath lets out a sharp laugh. When I don’t join him, he stops and stares. “You’re fucking kidding, right?”

“No, why?”

“That’s no place for Cinderella. She’ll freak the fuck out.”

That reminds me. “Listen—whatever you’ve got against Hope, knock it the fuck off.”

Wrath cocks his head at me. “She complaining about me already?” As if that would justify him being a dick to her.

“I know you
think
you’re doing your job. I appreciate that, but don’t fuck with me on this. She’s going to be part of my life, so stop trying to scare her away. Focus on keeping her safe—that’s in your job description too.”

“Why the fuck you think I’m trying to scare her away?”

Christ, he’s impossible. I just continue to glare at him. He breaks our staring contest first. “Fine. You sure taking her to the fight is
safe,
though?”

Ignoring his sarcasm, I answer his question. “She’ll be fine. Z, Teller, and Murphy will be with us.”

Wrath’s jaw tightens. “Fine. I’d like to have Trinity there. Maybe it will make her feel more comfortable if Hope comes.”

My mouth stretches into a genuine smile. “Good. You want more of the guys to come?”

“Nah. It’s bad enough being in Viper territory. We’ll have the all clear for us, but we bring too many in, it could get ugly.”

He’s right about this.

“We’ll just have to make sure we keep our girls safe,” I say, completely serious.

Wrath’s eyes search the room, finally landing on Trinity. “Yeah. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

CHAPTER NINE

At exactly ten o’clock, my three drunk friends and I are on the sidewalk in front of Hamilton’s waiting for Mara’s husband. He pulls into a space in front of the restaurant and greets his wife with a big, sweep-her-off-her-feet hug.

I definitely miss Rock.

When they come up for air, Mara reintroduces each of us.

“Hi, Judge Oak,” comes out of my mouth automatically, because I’m nerdy that way.

He huffs a laugh. “You
can
call me Damon, you know.”

Through the back window, I spot baby Cora asleep in her car seat.

“Can I take a peek?” I ask Mara.

“Of course.” She hits a button, and the back window slides down.

“Oh my goodness, she’s so cute. I want to smoosh her little cheeks.”

Mara giggles. “Don’t. She really hates being woken up.”

“Wonder where she gets that from?” Damon teases in a low voice, and suddenly I can’t get the image of him tying my friend up out of my head.

He looks each of us over. “You girls okay to drive?”

Lilly chooses that moment to sway on her feet.

His mouth turns down. “I’m guessing that’s a no.”

Turning away from the baby, I answer, “I’m driving them, Damon. It’s okay.”

“That’s crazy, Hope. Sophie’s at least forty-five minutes away. How are they going to get their cars tomorrow?”

I shrug, because we really hadn’t thought that far ahead. In the back of my head, I know I’m just looking for any excuse to get to the clubhouse as late as possible.

“You girls can come home with us. I’ll bring you back to get your cars in the morning.” Damon gestures to the back seat. “Just don’t wake Cora.”