“Not all of ‘em.”
; “But most?”
His hands dropped from her hips as she pulled away, stepping back. His arms hung at his side, his hips canted out. “Look, some things never gonna change, darlin’. The male animal? That’s just the nature of the beast. Not all are gonna be faithful. Maybe you want to blame it on the MC, but it’s no different out there.” He nodded in the general direction of outside the clubhouse. “Men are men everywhere. The rest of the world is no different. You want to believe it is, but it’s not.”
“I know it’s not, Crash.”
“But that’s not me, Shannon.” She looked up at him, and he could see the doubt in her eyes, but something else, too. Hope. She wanted to believe him. He smiled a small smile. “I’ll get you there. You don’t believe now, but I’ll get you there, Princess.”
She broke eye contact with him. He’d read her too closely, and she wasn’t comfortable with it. She didn’t want him to see how much she wanted his words to be true. He frowned. Another wall. He’d tear that one down too. One day.
“I’m sorry,” she stated again.
He grinned. “I’ll accept your apology over pancakes and bacon in the morning,” he stated, indicating she should make him breakfast, then he lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “Or, you know, you could just give me a blow job.”
“Crash!”
“Apology sex is the best kind, you know,” he teased, watching her turn red.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He laughed, hooked her around the neck and walked her toward the door. “Come on, let’s go back down.”
They walked out of the room and could immediately hear whoops and hollers from the guys downstairs. Shannon frowned up at Crash. He grinned.
“Sounds like the show’s started.”
“Show?”
“Sonny’s girls. I heard the limo had pulled up before I came up here.” Crash took her hand and nodded toward the other end of the dimly lit hall toward the stairs. A shudder moved through Shannon. Could he feel her tremble?
“So, strippers come put on a private show? And this kind of thing happens a lot?”
“Most Fridays, the ones who aren’t on shift.” He shrugged. “It’s how Mack keeps the guys happy.” He urged her ahead of him with a hand at the small of her back. “The girls get free booze and make some extra cash. It’s a win-win. Especially since Sonny likes to keep a large stable so the acts don’t get stale. Keeps them all working.”
His palm was hot when it slid against her bare back as he guided her down the hall. The large size of his hand at the small of her back reminded her how much bigger he was than she. Made her feel small, feminine and protected.
“Don’t get skittish on me now.” Crash spoke low in her ear, and the touch of his hand at her back became firmer as if he thought she might try to run and he had no intention of letting that happen. She wouldn’t let him think she was afraid. He’d said he’d be with her every minute. Promised her, even. And she didn’t want him to think she was young and naïve. She moved with him, obeying his guiding hand urging her forward. “Can you hear it? The music?”
They’d been in Cole’s room long enough that the vibe of the party had shifted. It had a darker, more erotic feel now. The lighting was dimmer, someone had turned on a strobe light down there, and the driving beat of the bass seemed to throb through her, the pulsations reminiscent of the very act of sex itself. She paused at the top of the stairs. Taking in the scene below her. She could make out two women dancing on a small raised dais that she hadn’t noticed before in the corner. They weren’t completely naked, yet, but they were close.
Shannon swallowed, jerking her gaze away. But there wasn’t any place safe for her gaze to land. There were more circulating among the crowd, some giving lap dances, others rubbing up against some of the brothers.
She looked up at Crash. “You won’t let anything happen that I don’t want, right?”
“Got my word, Princess.”
She felt Crash’s warm hand close over hers, and he tugged her down the stairs and through the crowd toward a table in the back of the room where Cole and Red Dog were sitting. They passed a pool table where one of the girls was bent over backwards while a man was doing a belly shot off her or perhaps it was something else they were doing. Shannon just saw a lot of naked skin and tried to avert her eyes.
They passed a few other women rubbing up against the men. One girl was giving Green a lap dance, her naked body writhing against him. Shannon glimpsed the sparkle of jewelry dangling from the girl’s pierced nipples that jiggled as Green smacked her ass.
Shannon looked away in mortification. This was beyond her experience. These were men who had probably had a lot of women, apparently not just in a bed, but across pool tables, up against walls, and God knew where else. She felt overwhelmed by it all and was about to demand Crash take her home when he arrived at the high-top table in a dimly lit corner where Cole and Red Dog sat. And then the two men were staring at her.
Cole grinned. “You hangin’ in there, sweetheart?”
Crash sat down on a bar stool and pulled her to stand between his spread knees, her back to his chest. He answered Cole’s question before she could. “She’s fine.”