2:30
That was the last text I got from her, even after texting her back to tell her I'd be there.
As for me, well, my night took a different direction.
Where I planned to get wasted with my brothers and maybe raise a little hell, I needed to hold myself to three drinks so I could be sober enough in the law's eyes to take off on my bike.
"It's that gym chick, right?" Sugar asked a while later over the rim of his fifth drink. He was close to being able to keep up with me with booze. Close, but not quite. He was still as sober as a judge. "You fucks are dropping like flies. Pagan, Cyrus, and now you found a woman to lock you down. Who's next? Fucking Roderick?"
"Yeah, don't think that kid is settling down for a while yet," I said with a shrug as I made a refill for Summer who was on her fourth martini. And she was a lightweight. Her cheeks were flushed, making her freckles stand out a little more. Her eyes were glassy and dancing, matching the huge smile she gave me when she demanded I 'hit her' again like we were playing blackjack instead of drinking to celebrate another year the world got to know her.
"Maybe you'll get a girl!" Summer declared, head tipped to the side, looking over Sugar. "I mean, I'm sure you don't have a problem finding girls to warm your bed. But I mean more than that."
"Summer, baby," Sugar started, brows creased, laying it on thick because all parties in the room knew he was just fucking with her, "How would these girls warm my bed exactly?"
"You know," she insisted, rolling her eyes.
"Maybe I don't," he countered, sliding her new drink toward her. "How about you tell me?"
"I know what you're trying to do, you devil," Summer accused, taking a healthy pull of her drink.
"Trying to do? Baby, I'm a fucking saint."
"Right. Because I totally catch saints fucking girls on top of the drying machine in the basement. Damnit!" she hissed when she realized what she had said - exactly what Sugar had wanted her to. "You suck," she declared, small-eyeing him.
"If I recall correctly," Sugar said, smile wicked, "she was the one doing the sucking."
I didn't think it was possible, but she went even redder at that. "Lo!" she called over the thumping bass of the music. "Come save me from all these boys."
A moment later, Lo walked up, giving Sugar a knowing look, having dealt with more than her fair share of men up at Hailstorm, and always being able to spot the troublemakers.
"Hey Edison, did Lenny get in touch?" she asked, making Sugar shoot me a triumphant look.
"Fucking knew it," he declared, sending Summer a wink.
"Yeah, she got me."
"And I bet she's going to be getting a lot more of you," Lo mused, lips curved up in a somewhat dreamy smile. You didn't know Lo unless you knew her badly guarded secret - her deeply romantic nature. She devoured romance novels that Cash claimed were constantly used to shake up their sex life. And she also loved each and every love story within her establishment and The Henchmen MC.
"Don't be putting your romance juju on him," Sugar demanded. "I have few enough buddies to chase skirts with as it is."
Lo sent him a smile. "I bet your time is coming sooner than you think too, Sugar," she told him with a devilish smirk.
"You take that shit back," Sugar insisted, looking positively disgusted at the very idea. "There are far too many women out there for me to want to lock myself down with just one of them."
"You say that," Lo agreed, nodding. "Until you meet that one girl. I mean if manwhores like Pagan and Cyrus can be happily monogamous..."
Sugar shook his head, reaching for a shot. "I'm gonna drink until I forget we had this conversation. I like Kennedy and Reese, and the girls club in general, but I have no fucking plans to add to it anytime soon. Or ever. Yeah, never sounds about right."
Lo looked back at me as Sugar walked away, lips curved up. "I give it six months," she offered. "His ass is going to fall and hard for some woman who comes blowing into his life like a tornado, sweeping him up before he gets a chance to try to anchor himself. But enough about Sugar. So you and Lenny," she went on, eyes twinkling.
"I got nothing to report to you, Lo."
"Fine," she relented, shrugging, likely figuring the details would surface soon enough. They always did. "But can we at least both agree that she's pretty fucking awesome? I thought about offering her a chance to work at Hailstorm, get her out of that shithole of a neighborhood and pervert-infested bar. She has the skills fighting-wise. And the determination to be the best she can be."