Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“It’s habit, what I know, but you’re right. He’s not Rome. He is Tex. The man he became. It’s time I call him that and let Rome go.”
Like I should have done a very long time ago. The way Eamon had deserved.
Pepper nodded at the clothes on the bed. “Get dressed. I have to go meet Micah in the library. He texted, and it’s insurance stuff about the bar. The walls with blood-splatter stains and bullet holes aren’t going to be cheap to replace. If I’m not back when you’re ready, just go on out back. Nina and Goldie will be out there, along with Dolly. Sit with them. They’ll have the ole ladies’ VIP spots under the gazebo beside the pool. The rest of the bitches don’t come around them and aren’t allowed in the pool until Dolly is done with it. Micah doesn’t want her having to swim in the same water as the club sluts and strippers.”
My eyebrows shot up. That was thoughtful of him. But then the man worshipped her. He rarely took his hands off her when she was with him. The way she would gaze up at him as if he were her sun made me envious. They loved each other in a way not many people found in life. At least not that I’d seen. It had always seemed like one loved more than the other.
She nodded at my surprised look. “Yep. And it’s been cleaned. He has a company come in and professionally clean it before she steps foot in it.” She shrugged. “We normally leave when the nudity starts. Their men go with them because it becomes a fuckfest out there. STD central.”
I shivered and scrunched my nose at the thought, and she laughed.
“I’m kidding. The girls all have to get tested monthly at the clubs they work at, and the men use protection. The only STD outbreak here I can ever remember was when Drifter—he lives in Ocala now and manages Devil’s, the strip club they own there. Anyway, he brought in this skank he’d met—I don’t know where from. I was a teen. I didn’t have all the details. But syphilis was running rampant around here. Sores on lips, genitals.” She shivered and grimaced. “Yeah, so after that, they set up rules and precautions. Still, Micah doesn’t want Dolly near them or anything that touched them. Them being the other females.”
Yeah, I really would rather stay in this room.
“We for sure get to leave before the pool orgy takes place?” I asked.
She laughed and nodded. “Yes. Promise. Micah, Brick, and Jars will come get us, and we will leave them all to it.”
I glanced back over at the bikini and outfit, then sighed. I could do this. I’d have fun. Enjoy female friendships. I’d not had many of those back in Boston. Mostly just wives of Eamon’s business partners, and we were never really that close. Especially since I was almost positive two of those wives had wanted in Eamon’s pants.
I can’t believe I’m going to a biker party.
Live a little, beautiful.
This is more living than I anticipated.
You’ll be fine. I always told you that I loved walking into a room, knowing my wife was the most stunning female there.
You were blinded by love.
No, Salem. You were.
I closed my eyes tightly, blocking out that internal dialogue. This was my imagination, dammit. Why did it have to turn on me like that?
My bikini no longer felt so revealing when I saw what Goldie and Nina were wearing. The evening was warmer than it had been, but there was still a little nip in the air. When the sun began to set, it started to cool down some. The pool was heated, but I still doubted I’d get in it.
Nina was climbing out of the hot tub, connected to the pool, with a cocktail in one hand and a cigarette in the other when she noticed me and waved me over. Her animal-print swimsuit consisted of some string up her butt and two triangles covering her nipples. Well, her vagina had a tiny part of fabric covering it, but that was about it. A diamond near her belly button caught some light, and I noticed it, realizing she had it pierced. There were a few small tattoos, but nothing like the men. She seemed to have no issue walking around without covering up in front of this crowd.
I barely glanced over at the fire, where the rest of the people seemed to be. Pepper had been right.
There was only Goldie in a metallic-gold bikini with a tad more fabric, but not much. She was sitting on the edge of the pool, letting her feet dangle in the water, holding a drink that looked exactly like Nina’s.
Dolly looked like a petite pinup model.