But not for Jazz, who smiled while the other two laughed.
“Here we go,” said Toni. “It’s so wonderful. Every girl should be with two guys at once. The orgasms are incredible.” She rolled her eyes, butchering the impression of Jazz’s voice.
“Hey! I do not sound like that, bitch!” As she spoke, Jazz whacked Toni’s arm with the back of her hand, but even she couldn’t keep from chuckling.
Shell laughed as well. “Yeah, you sorta do. You’re all kinds of braggy since you bagged Screw and Gumby.”
“Well…” Jazz winked at her friend and coworker. “Can you blame me?”
Shell snorted. “Copper is more than enough man for me, thank you.”
Makenna watched the back and forth with a smile on her face. She’d never had friends like these women. Not that they were friends, but they were a blast regardless. So comfortable and open with each other. They seemed more like cousins or even sisters than mere friends. Sometimes, like now, when they delved into the sex talk, she just smiled and nodded along as though she knew where they were coming from. Jumping into the conversation with talk of her sixty-two-year-old husband who needed little blue pills and smelled like BenGay probably wouldn’t cut it, so she always stayed quiet.
“Seriously,” Toni chimed in. “I think I’d die if I had to manage two bikers.” She winked, and then all three of them were staring at Mak.
She blinked. “Uh, do I have something on my face?” She didn’t feel anything when she ran a hand across her chin.
With a laugh, Toni shook her head. “Do you have a man?” she asked at the same time Jazz said, “You seeing anyone?”
Mak dropped her eyes. If they only knew. “Uh, no. No man.” And no plans for a man. Her family was her focus.
With a shrug, Shell said, “Guys, she’s only lived here a few weeks. Give her a hot second. Besides, we know plenty of men to set her up with.”
“Oh, yes!” Toni clapped her hands. “This is a fabulous idea. Who are you thinking? Monty, maybe?”
She felt like she was watching a ping pong match with the way this conversation bounced back and forth across the table. Actually, she felt like the ping pong ball itself. “No, I’m good. Not looking for anything right now. I already have a lot on my plate.” It wasn’t a lie. With five younger family members to take care of, she was more than overtaxed. Besides, the possibility of Roger or her father finding them always lived at the forefront of her mind. She’d never subject a man to that fate.
“Ahh,” Jazz said with a nod as though she understood Makenna’s situation. “Bad breakup? Or bad relationship?”
As she scanned the understanding and compassionate faces, Mak found herself nodding and revealing more than she had…well, ever. “Something like that.”
“Oh! That reminds me.” Shell straightened and turned toward her. “Are you still looking for some extra cash?”
With a snort, Mak said, “Always.”
“Well, the club is having a party for Thunder’s patch-in on Saturday night. They could use an extra person to help out behind the bar.”
What the heck was a patch-in? “Um, I’ve never worked as a bartender before.”
With a wave of her hand, Shell said, “You’d really just be getting beer and pouring some straightforward drinks. You can totally handle it, and you won’t be alone, so if there is something you don’t know how to make, Monty can do it for you.”
“I can show you anything you’d need to know before then,” Jazz added.
“We’d need you for five hours, from nine to two, and it pays two hundred and fifty dollars,”
Shell said. “If that helps incentivize you.”
If? Two hundred and fifty dollars for four hours of work? She cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah, that helps.”
The three women chuckled. “We can practically hear your mind exploding,” Shell said. “So, you’re in?”
Emmie needed shoes, Rissa’s jeans were about two inches too short, and she hadn’t purchased a new bra in years. Yeah, she was in. “I’ll do it. Just, uh, one thing?”
“Yeah?” Toni said.
“What’s a patch-in?”
All the ladies’ eyes widened. “Oh, boy,” Jazz said with a laugh. “You’re in for an education, girl.”
Mak swallowed. The ladies began talking all at once about the parties at the Handlers’ clubhouse. By the time she left, she’d laughed more at their stories and antics than she had in years.
A pit sat at the base of her stomach. Forming friendships beyond work acquaintances with these women would be as foolish as finding a boyfriend. She couldn’t afford to divide her attention between friends and family. At all times, she needed to remain vigilant and on task. She also had the responsibility of protecting anyone she came in contact with from her father’s wrath.
If her mother had known what Makenna knew about the community, would she have made different choices? If she’d known the community leaders would kill her for having an affair, or that her lover would become a brutal example for any woman in the community contemplating forming a relationship with a man outside their walls, would she have slept with him?