“Beer,” I snap when I walk up to the bar.
“Sure thing, Prez.”
“Make it three fingers of whiskey,” I amend the second he places the bottle in front of me.
He doesn’t miss a beat, merely sets the beer to the side, replacing it with a rocks glass.
“The usual?” His eyes meet mine. “Or did you want to try some of the new stuff Chains brought back the last time he was out?”
“Usual,” I huff. Chains has a ridiculous taste in alcohol. The last thing I want is Scotch aged in an octopus’ asshole or something as equally horrifying.
He pours my whiskey with a heavy hand, sliding it forward when he’s done, before turning to help Piper fill an order for the guys in the living room.
With keen patience, I wait and watch. He maintains eye contact with Piper, keeping everything professional as she runs down her mental list of drinks. He jokes in return when she says something coy, but his eyes never drop to her tits, which is a miracle. Cowboy bought and paid for those gravity-defying globes, and I don’t know of a single man, other than Briar and myself, who hasn’t been hypnotized by them at some point.
It isn’t until he glances past Piper with a flirtatious smile on his lips that things change. Confirmation seeps into my blood when I flick my gaze over my shoulder to see Candi smiling back in his direction. Her head drops when she notices me watching her.
“You got eyes for Candi?” I ask the bartender after tossing back the contents of my tumbler.
“No, Prez,” he answers too quickly. “She’s yours.”
“Every woman in this place is mine,” I remind him.
“I don’t want her,” he says again.
A sly smile spreads across my face as I watch his cheeks pink. I’d be worried for his safety if I didn’t see the tremble in his hands.
“You have a problem with my pussy?”
“What?” His eyes widen almost comically. “I don’t have a problem with her pussy. I respect that she’s yours.”
I can feel Candi’s eyes drilling into my back, but I refuse to turn around.
“So you want her pussy?” He stiffens further, beads of sweat forming on his brow.
“I’m indifferent to her pussy?”
“Why are you asking me? Do you not know?”
“Quit fucking with the help,” TJ teases as he walks up. Ronan, released from my interrogation, turns to the fridge to grab my brother a beer. “Here.”
I take the lit joint he’s offering and immediately raise it to my lips. Smoke fills my lungs, and I hold it as I spin my bar stool around to look over the room. Purposely, I avoid looking back at Candi. Every man here wants her. I could tell TJ he could have her, and he’d be halfway across the room before I finished the sentence. They’ve all respected my order, and the only one who I suspect would step across that boundary is sliding my brother’s beer across the counter.
“All the girls are talking about you,” TJ muses as he settles on the bar stool beside me.
I pass back the joint and ask, “What’s new?”
“The girls aren’t stupid. They can see you’re treating her differently than you’ve treated them.”
“I’ve never mistreated the girls in this club.” Carrie got a hold of me, and for all of the bravado I showed in front of the other members way back then, she was the one in charge when we disappeared behind closed doors. She taught me how to treat a woman you wanted to fuck, seducing her rather than demanding she lift her ass in the air. She educated me on the proper way to eat a pussy and how to put a woman’s needs first.
She knew I could never trust anyone with a snatch. That seed was planted from birth, but I knew I never wanted to be like my father. I didn’t want to walk out of a room hearing cries rather than exhilarated pants from an amazing orgasm.
She taught me, and then she left.
One day she was here, and the next her room was cleared out. I don’t do repeats because her leaving affected me more than I’ll ever tell anyone out loud. The new motto slid into place the same day. If you don’t get attached, it doesn’t hurt when they disappear.
“No one is accusing you of mistreating them. They just know what the royal treatment looks like now that Candi is here,” TJ says before taking a long toke on the joint. The smoke circles around us before he speaks again. “They chattered about you all day.”
“So everyone is jealous?” They don’t seem jealous. Xena, Velvet, and Legs are all huddled close to Candi and my sister, giggling and drinking, all with wide, happy smiles spread across their faces.
TJ passes the joint back. “I wouldn’t call it jealousy. Our girls don’t really get jealous. They just want you to kiss them and eat their pussies like a starved man.”