Keep It Classy (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 7)

I trusted the prospect.

He was one of mine. I’d met him while in the Navy. He’d been a newbie when I’d been two years in, and we’d passed quite a few times in our time in the service. When I’d gotten out the last time, we’d become friends through gaming, and had stayed that way since. When he’d told me he was getting out during a game of Call of Duty one night, I’d suggested he come here, and the rest was history.

Once I was sure the little prick was taken care of, I called another prospect over to deal with the trash.

“Make sure he knows that this one is banned from the club,” I said. “And any other Bear Bottom Guardians establishment from now on.”

With that, I went back to the group of men.

“Who was that prick?” Rome asked, eyeing the door that the asshole had walked out of.

“No idea, but I put Jarret on him,” I said. “We’ll see what he can find out.”

“Time to patch him in,” Bayou mumbled. “Been meaning to talk to you about him and Slate.”

Slate was actually Rome’s brother-in-law and an ex-cop that was serving the last few years of a ten-year sentence for killing his fiancé’s murderer. Though, if everything went well, he’d be getting out on parole in two months for his good behavior at his next hearing.

Saying that, however, someone in the prison system had a hard-on out for Slate, and was doing his damnedest to make sure that he never made it that far. There’d been eighteen attempts on his life in the last six months, and each of those was getting even closer to making sure that he never reached parole.

Luckily the prison system that Slate was currently occupying belonged to Bayou, who was able to put Slate in solitary confinement. And when Slate was out of solitary confinement, he was able to put Slate into places where he knew he was less likely to be attacked.

“I agree,” I concurred. “It’s been a long time coming for each of them.”

Slate had been sponsored by Rome, who happened to be married to Izzy, Slate’s sister.

“Who’s Slate?”

I stiffened at the feminine words and turned slightly to my right and looked down to see her.

“Where’d you come from?” I asked carefully.

“I’ve been standing here the whole time,” she answered. “It’s not my fault you’re exceptionally unobservant.”

I swallowed hard, trying to control not just my impulse to walk away, but also my impulse to pull her roughly into my arms and kiss the living shit out of her.

There were a few chuckles that came from the men that were watching the play by play, and I felt my hand twitch in reaction to her words. Not because I wanted to beat her, but because I wanted to spank her ass…while I fucked it.

Jesus, what the hell was wrong with me?

“Okay,” I said, shrugging and trying to act like she didn’t affect me. “You okay?”

I knew she was okay.

I just didn’t know what to say to her.

“I’m fine,” she narrowed her eyes. “Why do you ask?”

I chuckled under my breath and brought one hand up to rub at my neck. “I can’t ask you if you are okay after being struck down by a man twice your size?”

“No,” she said. “Not when you know I’m okay.”

Okay then.

“Well, then,” I finally said, unsure what to say.

“Okay,” she countered. “Fine.”

Then she walked away, and I swear to God I almost cried a little bit seeing her ass that up close and personal in that tight dress that left nothing to the imagination.

There was no way in hell she was wearing underwear.

None.

“Why don’t y’all just fuck already?”

I turned to find Zee standing behind me, watching me watch her walk away.

“Because unlike you, who likes the feistiness and enjoys the attitude, I don’t,” I told him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Wade snorted, and Liner, who’d also appeared at some point with Zee while I was checking out Turner’s ass, said, “I give it another two weeks, max.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I’d take that bet,” I told him. “And you’d lose.”

Liner shrugged. “We’ll see.”

***

I wasn’t sure how it happened.

One second the entire club was there, milling about in the parking lot talking, and the next, everyone was gone.

While I’d been on the phone with Easton, talking him through a case that I’d had that might’ve been related to the ones he was working, everybody had left.

The only ones left were me and one other person.

One other person that had royally ticked me off that day and had continued to do it all night as I watched her dance with man after man that wasn’t me.

Why that pissed me off, I didn’t know.

But it did, and I wasn’t too sure I wanted to dig into the why of it just yet.