Lessons in Corruption (The Fallen Men 1)

“Yeah, it’s a bit much,” Maja agreed.

This was Buck’s ‘old lady’ (a term I’d just learned meant something a little more intense than ‘girlfriend’ but could also mean ‘wife’). She was wearing skin-tight, distressed blue jeans that rode so low on her hips, I could easily see the stamp across her back that declared her ‘Buck’ed up.’ A fifty-something woman, she wore the outfit surprisingly well, probably because she looked like a) she didn’t give a fuck what you thought and b) if you voiced your unwanted opinion about said outfit in any way, she’d fuck you up.

Seriously, the woman carried a gun in her metal-studded clutch purse.

I knew because she’d showed me in the car on the way to the store.

“I think you should try on the pink one,” Tayline commented from her spot on the floor. She held a tub of popcorn on her lap that she’d bought from the old school movie theatre across the street. Apparently, she never went shopping without sustenance.

“Agreed, we need to sex her up a bit,” Cleo chimed in. She was two years younger than me and her dad was also a member of The Fallen who apparently went by the name of Axe-Man.

I didn’t know where they came up with these names and when I’d asked the ladies, they’d laughed at me but not in a mean way, more in a ‘bikers are crazy people, what can we say’ kind of way.

“I think King wants to sex her up enough as it is,” Harleigh Rose told the others with a wrinkled nose. “He spent like an hour and a half upstairs ‘comforting’ her after her crazy parents and ex-hubby blew through.”

“Jealous,” Cleo breathed with stars in her eyes.

“Rock on,” Lila crowed. She wasn’t anyone’s old lady or relation but she seemed to be an intrinsic part of the group that had assembled at the store to help me pick out something appropriate for me to wear to my first biker party.

When I blushed, Hannah, the owner of Revved & Ready and a woman who showed most of her skin but most of it was tattooed so it was somehow cool instead of indecent, waved away my embarrassment by saying, “Girl, I’ve been livin’ in Cougar Town a long time. Can’t say it’s a bad place to be. Those boys can keep a woman satisfied all through the night.”

“Um, ew,” Harleigh Rose made a puking sound. “We’re talking about my brother here, Han. Can you maybe rein in your inner pervert?”

“One day you’ll meet a man and you’ll understand,” Hannah told her.

Harleigh Rose made a face but then quickly ducked behind a thick sheet of her hair so she could hide her flush.

Interesting.

But I was really done with the talk of my sex life with my student so I retreated back into the change room while mumbling something about trying on the pink dress.

Seconds later, Tay pushed through the curtain with her popcorn bucket tucked under her arm and took a seat on the stool. When I paused in my undressing, she said, “Oh go on, it’s not anything I haven’t seen before.”

“Yeah, on yourself. Not on me,” I pointed out.

“Girls get naked in front of each other, Cressida, it’s not a big deal,” she said like I was stupid but then she winced. “I’m sorry, I know you’re new to the whole ‘normal social behavior’ thing.”

“Somehow I doubt this is normal social behavior,” I answered drily but I did wiggle out of the leather dress.

“So, are we going to talk about the last forty-eight hours or what?” she asked just before she unhinged her jaw and shoved a fistful of popcorn into it.

I sighed, but I’d known this was coming since the moment the bell chimed above the door as Harleigh Rose dragged me into the store to meet some of the biker babes and Tayline ended up being one of them.

After King and I finally got out of bed to shower (together in the end, so it took a little longer than normal), we’d joined Zeus and Harleigh Rose in the living room where they’d made themselves totally at home. The pack of beer my dad had left behind was beside Zeus as he reclined in my huge leather chair and he was already on his fourth one while Harleigh Rose had appropriated one of my romance novels and was reading it while sitting upside down on the couch.

I’d worried that it would be awkward because, well, it was awkward. Instead, the Garro family had all acted like we spent every Sunday together like some kind of screwed up modern day family.

It was the best Sunday I’d ever had.

Harleigh Rose helped me cook. Not because we were ladies, but because the men were bikers and the only things they could successfully do with their hands was make engines roar and ladies purr (this they told me themselves). When I’d opened my mouth to sass them, King’s sister had quietly informed me that they would cook if I wanted them to but that it would be far from edible.