Virgin (The Henchmen MC 16)

"Sure. But I don't mind handling shit too. These are my people. They need to show you respect. I will make sure of that. Well, except the women. Can't make them do shit. You're on your own with them," he added with a head shake.

"I'm kind of excited to meet them," I admitted. "Especially after the handcuff story."

"Just... don't say I didn't warn you," he said ominously, leaving me to wonder what he meant.

About a week to the day later, I would find out.

And he did, indeed, warn me.

But nothing could have prepared me.

Nothing.

For a woman with mermaid hair and tattoos.

Named Peyton.ELEVENFreddieThere was a quiet knock on Ty's door at the clubhouse, making my head turn in that direction.

The men were all loud stomps and door slams and raucous laughter.

No way was one of them knocking that softly.

So I guessed it was time.

I was going to finally meet the notorious girls club.

I wasn't entirely sure what had kept them all away up to this point.

Maybe Ty had a conversation with his brothers, asking them to keep them away until I settled in more. Which, admittedly, sounded a lot like him. He had this compulsion to try to shield me, like I was so pure, like I hadn't seen a lot of the rougher sides of life. Maybe I should have told him that it was fine, I could handle it, he didn't have to worry about me. But, quite frankly, I liked it. I liked his need to take care of me, to kind of cocoon me in safety. Maybe that all stemmed from what happened with Tanner, the betrayal, the distrust. It was new, refreshing, sweet to find someone so completely on the other end of the spectrum.

I would tell him eventually.

That I could handle myself.

That he didn't have to tell his friends to shut up when they started talking about some of the brutal things they had been a part of, didn't have to jump in and said no for me when I was offered to go to shooting practice with them.

It had only been a couple weeks.

There was time to show him that I was stronger than he thought.

I moved slowly off the bed, feeling a familiar aching in my thighs that had been letting me know on an almost constant basis lately that regular sex was the best leg workout known to womankind.

Reaching down, I slipped on the jeans Ty had pulled off of me just hours before after we came in from dinner with Thad and Colson and - amazingly - Jelly. I was sure Colson would never let those two interact, but something had passed between the men. Maybe they'd shared words when I had been out of the room at some point or something, but whatever hard feelings that were there softened if Colson was letting Ty meet Jelena.

I grabbed one of Ty's shirts, slipping it on, then going to the door, pulling it open slightly to reveal a small, pretty blonde. Who had a whole pack of dogs sitting in the hall behind her.

Blonde. Animals.

This had to be Rey. Reeve's girl.

"I'm not supposed to be here," she informed me with a glance over her shoulder. Like someone might come and track her down, make her pay for breaking the rules. "But I thought you might want a little notice. The girls are taking you out tonight."

"All of them?" I asked, feeling a bit of dread fill me. Meeting a few, I was sure I could handle that. But all of them at once? That would be more intimidating than I felt prepared for.

"Just a couple of us," she clarified. "Peyton, Lenny, Lou, and Liv. I mean, you never know if someone else might show up, but those are the only ones I know about."

"Do you know where we're going?" I asked, inviting her in as I moved toward my bag, rummaging for something to wear aside from Ty's shirt.

"To Peyton's to pick her up. Then it's, ah, her plan. And we're all in the dark."

Words like Pussy Party came to mind.

"I should be scared then, huh?"

"Terrified," Rey agreed. "I hope you're not easily embarrassed," she added, reaching down for one of her dogs - one with a missing eye - holding him to her chest as she stroked his head.

I, unfortunately, was, but I wasn't going to psych myself out of the night before it even happened.

"Should I be expecting them to come charging in with a hood to throw over my head?" I asked from the recently re-grouted bathroom, slipping on a bra and a dusty rose colored off-shoulder peasant top, gliding on some of my lipstick that Thad was right about. It had become my signature look. After trying to make my hair look less recently-rolled-around-the-sheets, then made my way back out to find Rey trying to shoo her dogs out into the hall.