Ho Ho Hennessy

Chapter 1

“Have you thought this through?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.” While meticulously hanging her clothes in the closet, Arin sneakily hid a present she had brought with her behind a shoebox.

“I mean, really, really thought it out?”

Sighing loudly, Arin turned to face her friend. “Yes, Jewell. For the thousandth and one time, I have thought it out.” She sat on her friend’s bed and stared at her in earnest. “I’ve been letting my divorce with Marcus affect me longer than our marriage lasted.”

“If Marcus had done to me what he did to you, I wouldn’t have been able to jump back in the dating pool either. He shredded your confidence. You just needed time to rebuild it again.” Jewell affectionately tried to excuse the boring existence she had been living since her disaster of a marriage had ended.

“The problem is that I want to jump in on my own terms. The men I’ve gone out with think they’re going to run all over me like Marcus did because of my weight. Or, because of it, I should just lay down and spread my legs to them. They’re disgusting. And, no matter how nice I think a guy is, when I meet them, within one date, their true colors show. I can’t keep blaming them for their behavior when I have to change mine.

“I’ve lost forty pounds. Now all I need to do is build my confidence back. That’s why I need one of The Last Riders.”

“I’m willing to share my smorgasbord of men with you, but why not with one of the men you dated or pick someone where you live?”

“I’ve only dated a few men that my friends fixed me up with, and I’d rather not have my friends know I’m a dud in the bedroom if I’m as bad at sex as Marcus says I am.”

“There are dating apps for this, you know?”

“I’m afraid of them. What if I swipe on a Bundy or a Gein? I’m afraid my body parts will be disposed of in a two-mile radius. You know I’m a coward where my safety is concerned. I don’t want to have look under his mattress for a hacksaw before I let him take my bra off. This is the best place that I can think of that I can get back on track and be safe.”

“The men might fuck you to death, but they’ll leave your body to be found,” Jewell joked, getting off the bed to go to her closet, and pulling on a pair of boots.

“As long as they don’t say they’d rather fuck a sex doll, then I’m up for anything.” Arin was proud of how sure she sounded. Marcus had never loved her. He had used her love for him as bargaining chips to coerce her to do anything that he wanted. In return, he’d stripped away any pride, vanity, and self-love she had until the only thing remained was a shell of the care-free loving woman she had been.

Her and Jewell had been friends since high school, and there wasn’t much they didn’t know about each other. When they had parted ways after high school—when she had married Marcus and had moved away with him to North Carolina—they’d remained close, despite his objections. They spoke on the phone several times a week, and Jewell visited her twice a year, blatantly ignoring Marcus’s efforts to sabotage their relationship. When Arin had divorced, she moved back to Ohio. Her friend had been there to help her to pick up the pieces and rebuild a new life. Arin owed her a debt she would never be able to repay. When Jewell moved to Kentucky from Ohio, Arin had felt her loss more than the dissolution of her marriage. While Jewell usually came to Ohio to see her during vacations, this was the first time Arin had taken her up on the invitation to stay with her.

The last dating fiasco she had endured wasn’t the only reason she’d accepted Jewell’s invitation. She’d been trying to convince Jewell to come to work for her since her business had taken off. So far, though, Jewell had refused. Arin was determined to convince her friend to leave her job working for the Last Riders as a manager of their factory and move back to Ohio. She had even tried to convince her that since The Last Riders had their original club there, she didn’t have to leave them totally behind. Jewell would still be able to participate in the sexual activities with the bikers, which she made no excuses about enjoying. Arin couldn’t blame her; in fact, the sexual encounters Jewell constantly bragged about was why she was there.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go into town with us?” Tugging her coat on, Jewell looked hesitant to leave. “I hate to leave just when you got here, but I need to get my naughty Santa presents. None of us have had time since we’ve had to work overtime. But the game starts tomorrow.”