“Cowboys, Kurt. Rough and tough, bad-to-the-bone, I don’t take no crap from no damn woman kind of type, Kurt.”
“I see.” He could understand where she might feel that way. From what Coco had told him in the past, Gemma was mixed up with the McDowell boys. They were anything but kind and sweet. They weren’t exactly the one-woman-one-man kind of guys either.
Not that he was in a position to judge.
“Kurt, let me ask you something.”
“Sure, Gemma. Go ahead.”
“Do you and Brandon bang Coco at the same time?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I didn’t slur my words, Kurt.” Gemma leaned forward. “I’ll tell you a little secret. We’ll keep it between me and you.” She paused and he didn’t say anything. “Brianna fucks three men. She likes it. Says it’s the best kind of sex there is. Well, Coco acts like it is the most disgusting thing she’s ever heard tale of and well, we should know how that goes. Our cousins over the mountain?” She threw her head back and laughed. “Why…I couldn’t tell you how many men are in some of my cousins’ beds. A bunch I’d imagine.”
“You don’t say,” Kurt said, narrowing his gaze on an empty shot glass and tempted to drink with Gemma. He might learn a new thing or two.
“I’m telling you the truth, Kurt. That’s like tonight. When Coco said she was going to Paddles and Picnics, I said, ‘Now, Coco. Why do you want to go and get involved in that scene? Isn’t it enough for ya that you’ve already had a man who was a Dom? Isn’t it enough that Brandon and his cotton-pickin’ brothers went and kicked you out on your ass?”
“She wasn’t kicked out,” Kurt said, rising from his chair in a hurry. “And she has no business at Paddles and Picnics.”
“That’s what I told her, Kurt. Believe me. After what happened to Brianna up there? I wouldn’t step foot back in the place unless three or four big fellas went with me.” She grunted and her eyes skimmed over him as if she were trying to sum up how capable he might be in a real bar brawl. “Too bad for me. I once knew a few who could hold their own in a fight, especially if they were fightin’ for a woman. God rest their souls.”
He swallowed. “Gemma, what do you mean by ‘God rest their souls’ exactly? Did something happen to the McDowell brothers?”
“Not yet,” she slurred. “But give ’em time. Before long, they’ll be in some hooker’s bed and I’ll shoot ’em dead just for paying a whore when I would’ve played for free!”
“I see,” he said, backing away carefully. The last thing he wanted was a drunk woman shooting him in the ass because she’d mistaken him for one of her long lost lovers.
“And where are you off to exactly?”
“If I told you, I’d have to take away your whiskey,” Kurt said. “But keep a few extra glasses on the table. I have a feeling you’ll need them.”
She lifted her glass, made a toast to his farewell, and he was on his way.
Kurt quickly placed a call to the McDowells. He and Chad McDowell were business associates and he felt obligated to let him know his woman was home alone and drunk as a skunk.
He then called Zak. “I need you to meet me at the market next to the mountain.”
“Why?”
“Just meet me there. We need to take a ride. And come alone. I don’t want the whole clan going with us.”
“Is a dress code required?”
“Meet me in fifteen.” Kurt disconnected the call. The little fucker already knew where they were heading. Zak and Coco were as thick as thieves so he’d probably called that one right out of the gate.
Come to think of it, why hadn’t Kurt thought about Paddles and Picnics? He clutched the steering wheel tighter. Then again, why would he have thought about Paddles and Picnics?
He’d never even been in the joint.
* * * *
Paddles and Picnics was anything but a seedy joint. Zak noted the expression on Kurt’s face. He clearly wasn’t expecting this.
“Come on, I’ll show you around,” Zak yelled over the crowd.
Zak pushed his way through the throng of people and watched for signs of Coco. They made their way to the back of the club and stood outside the “His” and “Hers” restrooms which was located right next to the “Slaves” restroom which was a couples-only arrangement.