Worth The Battle (Heaven Hill Series) (10 page)

“C
an I get ginger ale in a beer mug?” Meredith asked Jasmine, the waitress who had come over to their table and who had previously worked with Bianca.

Amused, Bianca and Jessica looked at each other, both snickering.

“What?” She shrugged. “I want to at least feel like I’m part of the group. Just because I’m trying to get pregnant doesn’t mean I can’t have a good time.”

“I hate to break it to you,” Bianca reached over and put her hand on Meredith’s arm, “but you’re ridiculous.”

“Let her do what she wants,” Jasmine chided them. “What can I get for you?” She turned to Jessica.

“Whatever Bianca’s having, I’ll have too.”

Bianca glanced at the other woman, and then looked around the room. Jagger sat over to the side, talking with Steele, who was doing protection at the club for them on this night. “Oh, what the hell! Let’s do a Crown and Coke tonight.”

Jasmine took their orders, promising to be back soon.

“So what do you think?” Meredith asked as she glanced over at Jessica.

That was a loaded question. Never in her life had she been in a place like this. She hadn’t been one of those Hollywood starlets that were known for going out and being crazy. No matter what racy roles she took as a youngster, she had worked hard to come out from underneath that shadow. That had always been the women she was compared to. Save for that one moment where she threw caution to the wind and let nude pictures be taken of her. “It’s interesting,” she finally answered.

Meredith leaned closer. “Interesting good or interesting bad.”

“Not sure yet,” she answered honestly.

Jasmine came back with their drinks and proudly sat a frosty mug in front of Meredith. “Here ya go, do you want me to pour it for you too?” she teased, opening up the bottle of ginger ale.

“No, smartass, I can pour it just fine.”

The lights of the club went lower, and Jessica’s eyes were drawn to the stage. There she saw a scantily clad woman doing things to a pole she’d only seen in movies. Men sat at the edge, ogling her, pushing money towards her.

“You did this?” She looked over at Bianca, her eyes wide.

“Oh, no, I didn’t do that. I was a waitress like Jasmine. Having said that, I’ve had plenty of situations that I didn’t want to be in because men were so overbearing. That’s kinda where Heaven Hill came in. They started working protection for the club.”

“Is that where you met Jagger?”

Meredith snorted from her seat. “That’s an even better story.”

“I kinda fell in Jagger’s lap,” she said carefully, crossing her legs under the table. “I may or may not have been half-way naked. Either way, we met each other, and the rest, they say, is history.”

Jessica sat back against her seat and watched the two ladies. They were obviously very comfortable with one another. “Have you two known each other a long time?”

“No,” they laughed.

“It’s funny about these guys,” Meredith explained. “They make anyone who comes into this group part of the family, and it just sorta stays that way.”

“Even when you’re hesitant about it and you don’t think that you want any more family than what you already have,” Bianca finished dryly.

There were so many things that Jessica was curious about. Most of it was Layne’s life that even she hadn’t been privy to. “So you’ve only known Layne for a short period of time?”

“You could say that, but really I’ve known him since he started hanging around with the club. Since they worked protection here, I became acquaintances with most of the guys. But I didn’t get to know any of them on any kind of personal basis until Jagger and I hooked up.”

“So have you ever seen him with anyone?” Jessica wasn’t sure why she asked that question, she really didn’t want to know the answer.

“Can’t say that I ever heard him mention anyone but you,” Meredith told her. “And that wasn’t until very recently.”

“And if you’re asking if he’s ever had a woman around the club, I haven’t seen it,” Bianca told her. “He must either be a monk or very discreet.”

Jessica wasn’t sure that she believed either of those statements. “So what’s this about showing me a good time?” She grinned, putting on the face that she wore at most premieres. If they expected her to be the life of the party, then that’s what she would be.

Layne was not in the best of moods. The last thing he had wanted to do was go on the run that had just ended. Combine that with the fact that he had to go to
Wet Wanda’s
to check on the ladies, and he was downright pissed off.

“You want me to go in there and get ’em?” Tyler asked, as the two of them parked their bikes.

“Jagger should be bringing their asses out here. He’s been with them all night,” Layne reasoned.

“He texted me about an hour ago and told me he was gonna need some help.”

What the fuck did that mean? “Fine, let’s just go get them and get the hell outta here.”

Layne threw open the door to the club and inhaled deeply. What greeted him was not at all what he expected. Jessica and Bianca stood in the middle of the room, dancing and laughing. Meredith stood to the side, clapping her hands and egging them on. It wasn’t that they were being obscene, but others watched them. Where the hell was Jagger? He was supposed to be keeping an eye on them.

His brown eyes swept the inside of the building, looking for his friend.

“What the fuck?” Tyler’s deep voice asked as he came to stand beside Layne.

“My thoughts exactly…where the hell is Jagger?”

“He’s around here somewhere.” Tyler was much taller than Layne, and within seconds he’d spotted the other man. “There he is, right there in the corner. Shit’s under control.”

Making his way over to the corner where Jagger lounged, Layne couldn’t take his eyes off the women dancing. As they got to where Jagger sat, he tore his gaze away from them. “How long they been doin’ that?”

“Just started an hour or so ago.” Jagger shrugged, taking a drink from his beer bottle. “Nobody’s gotten out of line with them, and Meredith looks like she’s havin’ a good time, so I didn’t want to bust it up.”

“What the hell is she doin’ drinking a beer?” Tyler asked, a frown marring his face. Since they had been trying to get pregnant, she’d completely stayed away from alcohol. Was this her telling him that she was giving up?

He chuckled. “It’s ginger ale. She asked for it in a frosty mug, and they brought it out to her.”

Layne couldn’t help the grin that tilted up the corner of his mouth. “That’s cute,” he admitted.

“That’s my lady.” Tyler shook his head, finally walking over to where the girls stood, and picking her up in his arms.

“You can’t take our friend away,” Bianca playfully yelled at him.

“It’s past her bedtime,” he threw over his shoulder as he carried her out of
Wet Wanda’s
.

“Well, guess that’s my cue.” Jagger finished his beer off and stood. “You gonna get Jessica home, or do I need to take her with me and B?”

That was a good question. He wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do with her.

“I can take her with me if you want me to.”

Watching her closely, Layne noticed the smile that was on her face. It was one of pure pleasure; she’d had a really good time here with his friends. He hated to put an end to that, but there was a small piece of him that wanted to be a part of her good time too.

“Nah, I got her. We’ll take the bike.”

“You sure?” Jagger’s eyebrows raised almost into his hairline. Layne didn’t ever have women on the back of his bike.

“I’m sure. Maybe it’ll give her a little thrill, ya know, being on the back of my bike.”

It was on the tip of Jagger’s tongue to tell the other man that maybe he might be the one getting a little thrill, but he decided to let it go. “Well, we’re out. See ya later, man.”

Layne watched, his eyes not missing anything as Jagger walked over to the group and bent down, whispering something in Bianca’s ear. The smile that spread across Bianca’s face told him that it’d probably been a little bit dirty. That was further evidenced by the way she leaned her body fully back against him, trusting him completely as his arms came around her midsection and clasped tightly before letting his teeth lightly nip her ear. They left without a backwards glance at anyone else. It wasn’t that Layne was jealous, not really. But he wanted someone that he could be at ease with like that. He wanted to be able to treat someone like that without having all the flashbacks and the confusion. Sighing, he walked over to where Jessica watched him just as carefully.

“You wanna leave?” he asked, his voice low and tight.

She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to or not. She was having a good time here, but she knew that good time was partially because of Bianca. “Sure,” she shrugged.

“We’re gonna have to take my bike. Bianca and Jagger already left with the truck. You okay with that?”

Did she really have a choice? “Yeah, whatever you want to do.”

Pushing her in front of him, he directed them out to the parking lot and motioned towards his bike. “Have you ever ridden a bike before?”

She gave him an “are you kidding” look, and he bit his lip to prevent the grin that wanted to break across his face.

“Take that as a ‘no’.”

“You’re seriously a genius. Did you know that?” she played along.

“Put this on.” He shoved a helmet in her hands.

Now would probably be a good time to tell him she had no idea how to do that, but she was already embarrassed enough. From the things she’d heard around the club, Jessica had figured when she finally got to ride Layne’s bike with him, it would be an awesome experience. This, however, was proving to be anything but. Her fingers shook as she tried to put it over her head. It was a full face one, which she was thankful for, but that still didn’t explain to her how to put the damn thing on.

“I need help,” she admitted before he turned abruptly back to her.

With sure fingers, he took the helmet from her hands and situated it before putting it over her head and then fastening the clip. “Good?” he asked her.

If anything had ever made her feel like a child in her life—that had. “Yeah,” she nodded, her voice tight.

He got onto the bike and then motioned for her to follow him. Never before had she done anything like this, so with the grace of an elephant, she flung herself behind him. Layne fought to keep the bike upright.

“Easy,” he reprimanded.

“If you had given just a little bit of instruction, it would have been helpful,” her clipped words were loud inside the helmet.

His eyes bore into hers as he looked over his shoulder at her. Surprise was written all over his face at the words that had come out of her mouth.

“Sorry,” she told him, this time her voice didn’t hold the irritation that it had before.

“No, you’re right,” he nodded at her. “I should have given you some instruction.”

Before she could say anything else, he started the bike, and she had to grab on tight as he hit the accelerator and they took off like a rocket out of the parking lot.

“Hang on,” he yelled belatedly back at her.

The only thing she could do was hang on to his cut for dear life.

Chapter Ten