I take a long draw of my orange juice to wash the bagel down. “I liked Lacey. She was super independent, helpful, and I could see her fitting in nicely. What do you think, Skye?”
Skye looks thoughtful. “I think we should give her a shot. See what happens.”
“You think it’s Duchess’s way of getting a pair of eyes and ears into the club to see what’s going on?”
Pearl takes a drink of her coffee. “Could be, but we’ve got nothing to hide. She knows about the girls we take in and they go to her, and we’re not doing anything that would raise any red flags. I think it’s fine if the group votes her in. We’ll ask at church and I’ll let Duchess know afterward.”
Skye looks up and decides that she needs to go get ready for the day and Pearl gets up to leave too. It’s not hard to guess who’s walking down those stairs and joins me at the bar two minutes later.
“Did you bribe the ladies to leave?” I ask before taking the last bite of my bagel.
“No, but I would have. I wanted some time alone with you, but thought we’d have this conversation in bed.”
I inhale a deep breath before turning to look him in the eyes. “Probably better that we have it right here and now.”
20
HAWG
Iwalk around the bar, pour a glass of orange juice for myself and take a long drink before pouring a cup of coffee from the pot on the back. “You wanna cup?” I ask.
“Sure. I’ll grab some cream.” Onyx joins me behind the bar and pulls a coffee creamer of some sort out of the refrigerator, turning the black coffee into a toffee color by the time she’s through.
“There’s a bagel with your name on it if you’re hungry, but I ordered breakfast for everyone who stayed last night. It should be here in another forty minutes. Pearl has us all on lockdown today, wants to have church so I ordered enough food to get us all through the day. Grocery delivery should be here soon, too,” she says, settling back in on her stool on the other side of the bar.
“Are we going to sit around and talk about food all morning or are you going to tell me exactly what happened yesterday? I woke up and you were gone. Skye said you heard some bullshit story about me making it with a bunny back at the club. Didn’t happen.”
“We’re not exclusive, you can do whatever you want, Hawg. I have no rights to ask you not to bang whoever it is youwant to bang.” She shrugs. “Don’t exactly like the fact that it was the same day. Who knows what that skank carries, but it’s water under the bridge now. As long as I don’t come down with something I’ll survive.”
I set my coffee down and walk around the bar, spin her stool and lift her chin with my finger. “I said it didn’t happen. If it had happened, I would tell you. Like you said, we’re not exclusive right now.”
“From what I heard you bought her and her friend a drink, and it wasn’t the first time you’ve slept with either of them.”
I try not to grin, but it’s fucking hard with her glaring at me with those stark green eyes. This is what jealousy looks like and it means she fucking cares. “It’s no secret I’ve slept with the bunnies over the years. I’ve been single for a lot of years, Onyx.”
She exhales a breath…
“But I can tell you I’ve never once cheated on a person I was in a committed relationship with and I didn’t sleep with either one of them the other day. Whatever you heard? It was bunny talk, plain and simple. But they were at the bar, and I told the barkeep to give them both a drink. That’s the extent of our interactions. I made some calls and came back here ready to find you, which I did.”
Her pulse races so fast that it’s hard to settle my emotions down. I should have gone slower. Things are happening fast and I knew she had to work through some trust issues before. Damn those bunnies all to hell.
She swallows hard. “Okay, I appreciate you letting me know, but it doesn’t change much. Better that we say goodbye now while we’re still amiable. We’re both part of clubs that will mingle from time to time, and I don’t want us to get to the point that we hate each other.”
I scowl. This is not going in the direction I thought it would take. “Why would we end up hating each other? Explain.”
She shrugs. “I knew who you were and what you were like before we went to bed. It’s not like I thought you were different and you’re not. I just think it’s better that we don’t get more involved. We had a great time, and now we can go our separate ways.”
I imprison her with my arms on the top of her bar stool and lean down so close that I can smell the mint of her toothpaste. “It sounds like you still think that after I told you I didn’t touch a bunny that I did. I would never lie to you. What’s the point?”
She swallows. I nuzzle a strand of hair that’s fallen over her eyes back from her face with my nose, inhaling the sweetness of her scent. “Whoever hurt you, they were so fucking stupid, but I’m not him, Onyx. You’re giving this fuck too much power over your feelings. You have to find a way to let what he did to you go or you’re never going to have room for someone else.”
“Like you?”
I kiss the sensitive skin of her neck, starting at the base and working my way up to her ear. “Only fucking me, Onyx.”
She inhales deeply and shivers, causing my dick to get hard. “Put your legs around me because I’m either fucking you on the bar or carrying you back to bed.”
Onyx does exactly as I ask, wrapping those long gazelle-like legs around me while putting her arms around my neck as I lift her into my arms and make my way upstairs, kissing her as we go.