“I dare you to finish that sentence.”

He chuckled but kept his mouth closed. When the food came, I pushed past the smell, knowing that I would feel better as soon as I got it into my stomach. “So, chat away,” I told him before filling my mouth with hash brown.

He placed his knife and fork on the table. “Op is worried about you.”

I scoffed. A very unladylike thing to do especially with a mouth full of food.

“Listen Chelsea. This life we have, it can be very dangerous, you know that,” he explained, leaning back in the seat. “I know a lot of brothers who choose to be alone and remove themselves from anyone that they could possibly care about because they’re scared of them getting hurt. It’s one of the reasons we have club girls. The men get what they need without the attachment. Well, that’s how it usually works.”

“You don’t have to explain that to me, Kit. I live it, remember?” I told him, pushing some food around on my plate with my fork.

“No, you’re different. Optimus cares about you, and he’d kill me if he heard me say it, but that scares the shit out of him.”

I screwed up my face. “It’s hard to believe when sometimes he’s pulling me in and others he’s pushing me out. It’s like I’m on some crazy roller coaster ride, but I’m too scared to get off because I may never be able to feel that same thrill anywhere else.”

He looks at me sympathetically. “Optimus is a hard man to get through too. But he wasn’t always that way. His parents were great. We used to take family trips to visit every few months. Op and I were both the only children, so having him around was like having a brother.” He sighed and looked down at the table. “His mom died when he was in his teens. Some little fuckheads in a street gang thought they were hard and drove past the club one day when there was family gathered to welcome a brother who was getting a full patch. They had a couple of submachine guns.”

I couldn’t help the gasp that came out of my mouth. Optimus had only ever shared with me that his mom was killed, never the details of how. Neither of us had been intrusive into each other’s lives. While you might think it was important, it just never seemed to matter. It was in the past and we were living in the present.

“The boys were in church so by the time the shots started, they were already too far away and couldn’t get there fast enough. Little bastards were there for less than twenty seconds before they drove off. A lot of injuries, six dead.”

“There’s a fence, so you can’t see the barbecue area and where the kids play from the road.”

Kit nodded. “Was put in afterward.”

I was sad, I could feel the emotion sitting in my throat. That must have been a horrible day for the club.

“And Op’s mom?” I asked, wondering if I really wanted to hear it.

“She was sitting at a table eating,” he shook his head. “Optimus should’ve been there too, but he was at that age where we all thought we were too cool to sit with our parents. He wanted to be inside with the men—he was already dreaming of prospecting.”

I’d managed to eat some food, but I pushed my still half full plate away. I wasn’t sure how to react. “He...he doesn’t talk about her like he does his dad.”

“Yeah, it’s a shame really. She was an amazing woman.” He picked at his food, also feeling a little put-off, I think. “I think he’s a bit ashamed. He feels like he should’ve been there to protect her. Maybe if he had been, he would’ve been the one to take the bullets instead of her.”

I swallowed harshly. Optimus harbored a lot of guilt, it was sad because he was an amazing man. Every brother looked up to him.

Kit cleared his throat. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make this all depressing and shit. I just wanted to let you know, Op has been through some bad shit. I think deep down he feels like he was responsible for both his mom and his dad passing. So he feels like he needs to keep the ones he cares about at a distance, so the same thing doesn’t happen to them.”

I nodded.

It made sense.

Everything in me screamed that I needed to go to him.

“Go home, Chelsea.”

I looked up, feeling like Kit had read my mind.

“Are you kicking me out?”

He smirked. “Sure, if that’s the excuse you want to use, but we both know you want to go back. I know you Miss Harm, but she’ll always be here, you can visit anytime.”

I smiled. “Okay, but I better wait till Harmony gets back or she’ll go fucking loco on the both of us.”

Harmony wasn’t happy that I was leaving so soon, but I put all the heat onto Kit, laughed and left him to deal with his crazy ass woman.

With the hangover gone and my stomach no longer sick, I made the long trek home. Kit had warned me that he had a couple of men on me, but what he hadn’t realized was that I’d spotted the one who’d followed me there also.

Not just a pretty face.

The clubhouse was pretty empty as I made my way to my room. Optimus’ bike wasn’t outside, so I thought I’d get a little sleep in before I gathered the guts to talk to him later.

No such luck there.

There was a light tap on my door. I was tempted not to answer it, but the reality was, I was still a club girl and I was still on call whenever I was asked to be. My heart just wasn't in it any longer. I wanted sex, but there was only one man I wanted it from now. I took a deep breath as I dragged myself off the bed and walked over to my bedroom door, reluctantly pulling it open. The person standing on the other side was definitely unexpected.

“Andie, hi.”

She gave me a soft smile. “Hey, Chelsea. Can I talk to you for a minute?”

I nodded and stepped to the side so she could come through closing the door behind her, I watched as she took in my room curiously, her head bobbing around. I lifted myself onto the edge of my school desk and gave her a minute.

Andie was different. She’d only joined up with the club recently when the boys had saved her from this crazy guy who had kidnaped Harmony. Apparently he’d been using Andie as his personal punching bag, among other things. To talk to her you’d never know, though. She was quiet but seemingly confident and super sweet. I think more than one of the guys had taken a fancy to her, some becoming very protective.

“Um, Andie? Are you okay?” My voice seemed to snap her out of her daze and she shook her head, her long black hair flowing around her before it settled on her shoulders.

She blushed. “Yeah, sorry. I uh…just wanted to ask you a few questions.”

I held my hands out. “Shoot hun, I’m an open book.”

“What’s it like being a club girl?”

My eyebrows shot straight up and I was unable to hide the surprise on my face. “Um...well...it’s okay.”

She started to giggle. “Chelsea, I’m not a prude. I know what you girls do here,” she said, gesturing to the room.

I couldn’t help but grin. “Are you sure, you know?”

“Do they treat you good?” she asked as she sat on the edge of my bed and smoothed the comforter.

“The club or the men themselves?”

She shrugged. “Both?”

“The club has very strict rules for us—we follow them, we do just fine.” I pushed off the desk and walked over to join her on the bed. “The simple answer is that if we treat them with respect, they’ll treat us with respect in return.”

Andie nodded, pulling at invisible threads at the edge of her T-shirt. “And you like it?”

“What you really want to know is if I enjoy screwing more than just one guy?”

“Maybe.”

I smiled. “It’s not for everyone, I know that. But it's never really been an issue for me,” until now. “These guys mean more to me than just guys I climb into bed with. They look after me, and I can’t speak for all of them, but as far as I know they actually care about me too.”