Worry instantly settled into her. “The rundown biker bar right outside of town?” She was wide awake now and stared at his naked, muscular back. “I’ve heard that place is pretty dangerous.” And where the scum of the earth liked to hang out. Charlie was going there, and in the middle of the night no less?
“Yeah, and it is only getting more dangerous with Ford there starting a bunch of drunken shit.” He looked over his shoulder and smiled at her. “Don’t worry. Everything will be okay. Go back to sleep, baby, and when you wake up, I’ll be right next to you.” He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.
She watched in silence as he quickly shoved his legs into a pair of jeans and pulled a T-shirt over his head. He kissed her once more before he strode out of the house and to a place nightmares were made of.
She lay there alone, in his huge king-sized bed, smelling his scent surround her and wishing she wouldn’t worry so much. He could take care of himself, had been long before she came around. She had heard horrendous stories about prostitutes, drugs, and near murder at Slater’s. Why were Charlie’s brothers at a place like that anyway? Why that bar hadn’t been shut down was beyond her, but one thing was for sure—there was no chance of her going back to sleep anytime soon.
Slater’s was one of the roughest bars Charlie had ever been to. Because of its location, it made it damn near impossible to see from the road. So if you didn’t know it was there, you would never stumble upon it. He took the long, winding dirt road that took him past the pines and blue spruces until the dim lights of the bar came into view.
He parked his truck beside a line of Harleys and made his way inside. Slater’s was on the edge of Sweet Water city limits, hidden behind a thick line of trees and off the main road.
Classic rock blasted through the shitty, scarred door and surrounded him when he walked inside. Cigarette smoke, alcohol, sweat, and sex lingered in the air. The interior wasn’t big and only held a handful of tables, some busted up chairs, and a few stained barstools. The sound of breaking glass had him turning and looking to his left.
There, in the center of a loose circle, stood Ford. Bram was holding him back for the time being. An aged, human, beefy biker stood in front of Ford, his thin lips spreading over his yellow, crooked teeth, and his huge, rounded belly shaking up and down from his laughter.
Ford looked on the verge of shifting, and Charlie was surprised he hadn’t yet and that Bram was able to keep him under control.
Ford’s mouth moved, and whatever he said had the biker’s laughter dying and his face turning a deep shade of red. An old and used-up looking human woman stepped up to the biker and whispered something in his ear. He shrugged her off, peeled his faded, leather Cut off his body, and cracked his knuckles.
“Shit.” Charlie ran a hand over his jaw. If that human knew what the fuck he was messing with, he’d turn around right now and walk his ass out the door. Charlie shoved the people aside until he was standing beside his brothers.
The stench of sweat was overpowering. He turned toward the biker and looked him up and down. He had to give the old human some credit, because there wasn’t an ounce of fear permeating from him.
“Listen, just walk away, man.” He could practically see the steam coming from the human’s ears.
“Whatchu say, boy?” He took a step toward Charlie, his fists in balls by his side, and the sound of his teeth grinding filling the space between them.
“Whatever my brother said to you to get you pissed off, I apologize. He’s drunk and clearly going through some shit. I’d be happy to buy you and everyone else a round of shots, or beer if you prefer.” No doubt, Charlie and his brothers could have taken all these humans, but he was tired and certainly wasn’t in the mood for any fucking drama. Placating the lot of them seemed far easier.
All he wanted to do was get Ford and Bram back to his truck and crawl in bed with his female. It took a moment, but slowly the human’s anger dissipated, and he took a step back.
“All right, but after that, your boy needs to get his ass outta here.”
Charlie nodded, because he intended to do just that.
He and Bram carried Ford out, who didn’t know when to keep his damn mouth shut and yelled out every curse word in the English language. At least with Charlie and Bram’s manpower they were able to drag him to the truck.