“Tell me about it.” He squeezed Holly’s hip where she sat perched on his lap chatting with Chloe.
“What’s that?” She and Chloe both looked at Maverick.
“Just telling your man what a rockstar you are when it comes to baking shit. Hey, Thunder,” Mav said to the prospect sitting on his right. LJ had yet to figure out why Thunder was at this quasi-meeting too.
“’Sup, Mav?”
Mav handed his empty plate to Thunder. “Fork me over another slice.” He turned back to Holly. “You’re gonna make me fat, woman.”
LJ snorted at the same time Holly’s cheeks pinked and she giggled. “Glad you like it, but I’m pretty sure you could eat the whole thing and not gain an ounce.”
“I get plenty exercise.” Mav shot her a wink. “Hey,” he said around a mouthful of cheesecake. “You guys hear Thunder hooked up with Carli?”
From across the fire, Izzy groaned. “Ohhh, Thunder, come on. You kissed my cheek, man. Now I gotta burn half my face off.”
“What?” he said with his mouth full and face the picture of innocence. “I was tanked and horny, and she was there.” He shrugged.
Holly leaned back against LJ’s chest and asked, “Who’s Carli?”
“She’s a club whore who tried to stir up all kinds of drama when Steph and Mav got together,” Shell said. “She had some misguided idea he was going to make her his ol’ lady because he liked to…spend time with her.” She sent a pointed look Maverick’s way.
“Look, can I help it if my dick has the power to make women go crazy?”
Holly burst out laughing as the rest of the women groaned and rolled their eyes. Shell blew a raspberry and gave Mav a thumbs’ down. “I thought she’d left town. Is she back?”
“She did, and she is,” Thunder said. “Something about a sister being here.”
“I gotta admit the woman had serious skills. Even if the devil sent her here from hell-o, baby!” Mav said as he suddenly noticed Stephanie standing over him with a significant frown. “You look so pretty tonight.”
“Nice try,” she said as she walked around his chair. With a bit of a sinister smile on her face—the kind LJ hoped to never see from Holly—Stephanie plopped down on Maverick’s lap.
Hard.
Actually, it was less of a plop and more of a dropped-her-full-body-weight-on-him.
“Oh, fuck me, that hurt,” Maverick said with a pitiful whimper as she no doubt landed on his dick.
“No,” Steph said in a haughty tone. “I don’t think I’ll be doing that for a while.”
LJ winced. Damn, he didn’t envy the man. That couldn’t have felt good. Not that Mav didn’t have it coming.
“Nice, Steph,” Izzy called out. “I’ve taught you well.”
The rest of the women chuckled while the men winced in sympathy.
“Okay, everyone sufficiently fed, and good with their drink?” Copper suddenly asked. He’d been quiet throughout dinner, which did nothing to settle LJ’s unease.
Shell, who sat curled up on Copper’s lap, gave him an encouraging smile. Seemed none of the men wanted their women out of touching distance.
“I’m gonna let Thunder get started and let him tell you all what went down last night.” As Copper spoke, he shifted his gaze around the room. Did it linger just a little too long on Holly, or was that LJ’s imagination?
After draining his beer and dropping his empty plate to the grass, Thunder propped his forearms on his knees. His eyes shifted to Holly as well, and he had an almost apologetic half-smile.
What the hell had happened? By reflex, LJ tightened his arm around her waist as if he could protect her from whatever was coming.
“Sheriff arrested me last night.”
Holly gasped, making Thunder wince. What the fuck was Copper thinking, inviting her here? She didn’t need to hear any of this shit.
“Simmer down, LJ,” Copper said. “I can see you starting to boil over there.”
“It’s okay, LJ,” Holly whispered to him as she stroked his forearms where they lay across her waist. “It’s reality. I know how complicated the mixing of my two worlds is.”
“What the fuck did they arrest you for?” Jigsaw asked. He sat next to Izzy, their hands intertwined.
“Solicitation.” Thunder waggled his eyebrows as though they weren’t talking something serious, and he didn’t give a shit about spending time behind bars. Which in all honesty, the guy probably didn’t. “He caught me getting blown out in the alley behind the strip club.”
“Lovely,” Izzy muttered none too quietly.
The rest of the group, including Thunder, snickered. “Hey, what can I say, she saw me dance and couldn’t keep her hands off me. I was hard, so…there you have it.”
Holly wrinkled her nose.
“Anyway, I’d just finished my set when this chick came on hot and heavy. She dragged me out back and went to town. I hadn’t even had time to grab my money from my g-string, so when she yanked it down dolla bills scattered all over the ground.” He made a motion with his hands like he was scattering money all around.