Bash (Diablo Disciples MC #6)

TWELVE

Charlotte

“No more!” she protested.

As sweet and fruity as the cocktails tasted, she wasn’t an alcohol lover.

After a long, exhausting shift dealing with one disaster after another, caused by the staff incompetence, Charlotte’s defenses were low when she said yes to going out for drinks with Toni. She had second thoughts about her choice, but didn’t want to seem cowardly. She’d prefer to be at home watching her little murder shows and wearing moisturizing socks.

Her wide-legged vintage jeans were the perfect excuse for her to go out. She looked at the washed denim with a smile. The lower portion was decorated in floral colors. They were her style, and she felt attractive with the heeled boots and low-cut blouse tucked into the front of the jeans. It wasn’t often she got fancy. No one was giving her beauty prizes for the scrubs she wore every day.

She had even taken the effort to apply makeup. Who was she? Miss USA?

Snorting to herself, she looked around the bar and caught a pair of brown eyes looking their way. The man smirked and raised his glass.

“Aren’t you going to smile back at him?” Asked Toni, who’d noticed the exchange. Lottie shook her head. The stranger wasn’t the man she wanted to give smiles to. It had been days since she’d seen Bash. He’d explained work at his club had kept him busy.

The better she knew Bash, the stronger her curiosity became. Against her own volition and rationality. Because most nights, when she wasn’t texting stupid things to him, she was scouring the internet. It was unbelievable what she found.

Not necessarily about the Diablos.

Yet, significant information was available on various biker clubs, their functioning, and the position of women in those clubs. She delved into countless blog posts from former old ladies or the ex-partners of bikers. They revealed so much of the biker culture and hierarchy.

It was organized like politics, and women didn’t have many rights back in the day, especially not in that ultra-masculine environment. Lottie wondered if it was the same today with the Diablos. She thought about Casey, Denver’s wife. She appeared as someone who wouldn’t give up her rights in a male-dominated society. That woman possessed a superior, outspoken, get-shit-done attitude.

If Lottie was in Bash’s world, how would he and the others treat her?

Some of those blog posts were far from complimentary to MCs, which scared her. But everything she’d read didn’t match up to the man she knew.

As was typical, she’d been in her thoughts for too long, and when she blinked back into focus, Toni was talking to two men at the nearest table.

Please don’t invite them over . That was the last thing Lottie needed by pretending she was interested in someone else’s boring conversation.

“Not tonight, babe. But give me your number, and I’ll call you sometime.” Toni said, grabbing her phone; she put in the guy’s number and then turned back to Lottie. If only Lottie had her confidence. With her job, she was all over it, and she could handle catastrophes in her sleep. But anything remotely personal, and she felt like the new kid in school, unable to find the homeroom.

“You don’t have to stick with me if you want to sit with those guys,” she offered, hoping Toni would jump at the chance so she could go home to the cat.

“Hell no, this is girl’s night. We need shots!”

Lottie groaned. “Please, no. Anything but that. What about a soda?”

“C’mon, Lottie. When you said you wanted to go out, I thought you’d loosen up. Don’t be a bore all your life. I promise to have you home before your glass slipper dissolves.” Toni laughed at her joke.

But it wasn’t funny.

And as always, the mocking was at Lottie’s expense.

Alcohol had reduced her inclination to maintain peace. But a realization hit her square in the chest. Was Toni a genuine friend? Lottie certainly wouldn’t pick at someone constantly for what they didn’t do.

“Don’t you be a bitch all your life.” She snapped. Hurt and anger tangled up inside of her. That Lottie couldn’t be herself with one of the few people she trusted hurt a lot. Why did she always have to meet someone else’s expectations or be seen as inferior?

It was extremely exhausting, and Lottie had reached her tolerant limits.

She stared at Toni, whose shaped eyebrows had shot up into her hairline. It was shocking, since Lottie hardly ever snapped. She wasn’t a pushover. But she realized she’d been dumb for not telling people off when they tried to boss her around for how to live.

“Hey, I didn’t mean…”

“You always mean it, but you think adding har-har you can get away with being cruel. It’s not like it’s the first time you’ve called me boring. Just because I don’t want to bounce on a thousand dicks and get drunk every night. Since when did dicks become the benchmark of a perfect life? I must have missed that breaking news story.”

Now she was fired up and couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Lottie stared at Toni and then looked at the eight shooter glasses of blue Aftershock on the table. Suddenly, Lottie snatched two tiny shot glasses and gulped them down. And then she almost died when the citrus and mint liquid hit her stomach.

“Does this make me a better friend, huh? How about this?” Two more shots went down.

“Oh, my god, Lottie. What are you doing?” Gaped Toni, bubbling with stunned amusement. And for once, Lottie enjoyed shocking her friend. She chugged two more drinks, hating the taste, but still swallowed the last two without making a face. She knew her stomach would pay the price for chugging eight shots in defiance.

“Isn’t this how we have fun? Am I less boring now? Do I live up to your fucking standards, Toni? Maybe I need a few one-night stands before I’m less dull and more on your level.”

Lottie could sense the rapid effects of the liquor as her blood heated and her skin warmed. Her thoughts turned fearless and uncensored.

Uncaring if she hurt someone else’s feelings. Why should she care when no one ever gave that consideration to hers?

“You’re being crazy, Lottie. You know I always joke with you. I mean nothing by it. But…” Of course, there was a but. There was always a but. You’re a nice girl, Lottie, but. But if you only changed this. But if you only did that, you’d be a better person .

“But yeah, I want you to be happy and out of your comfort zone sometimes.”

“It’s called a comfort zone for a reason. Partying and anonymous dicks are happiness to you, right? That’s fine for you, Toni.” She pointed a finger, “but it’s not for me. I don’t judge you, but it’s a free-for-all judgment for what I do, right?”

She detested the excuse people made, claiming they said hurtful things for the sake of others. Lottie saw it as passive aggression disguised with honey.

“Babe, you’re taking something simple too seriously. It’s not that big of a deal. Let’s relax. I’d suggest a drink, but you had them all.” She tittered, and Lottie answered with a scowl.

“So, what I’m hearing is, try harder, Lottie? Hmm. What Would Toni Do?” Lottie reached over the table and seized Toni’s small clutch purse, finding what she was looking for. Paying no attention to Toni’s astonishment, she unsealed the small silicone container and began consuming the red gummies.

“What are you doing?”

She swallowed before answering. “You offered me an edible earlier and called me a chicken when I said no. Now we’re twins, Toni.” She snapped, sitting with her back against the booth seating.

“Lottie, for fuck’s sake. You ate them all? There were four in there! I would have only given you half a gummy.”

“Screw it. I’m wild now. I’m you, but with smaller boobs.” She scowled. But internally, she was thinking, oh shit . She scarfed down four edibles when she’d never had one before. And the eight shots. Her brain panicked. An analytical overthinker did not make an excellent recreational drug taker, because now her mind was conjuring up every terrible scenario of what could happen. Every week, she treated drug use and overdoses in the ER. She saw what people did for fun and how it affected them.

She was a woman of science, not emotions, but she’d reacted emotionally with her stupid outburst. She just had to be calm and keep it together. Then something wonderful… or crazy happened, and Lottie let all that worry drift away on an exhale.

What would be would be. Wasn’t that the famous saying?

It was time to act like the wild woman she professed to be. So she grabbed her purse and jumped to her feet.

“This bar is boring. I want to go somewhere they have dancing.”

Toni cursed, but then followed suit. Her friend appeared to still be in a state of disbelief. “I created a monster.”

“Nope.” pointed out Lottie, a little lightheaded, but super calm and floaty. “I created myself. Let’s hit the road.”

“Wait outside for me. I need the bathroom. I know just the place we can go to dance.” Toni said.

Once outside, the breeze cooled Lottie’s face as she leaned against the wall. She grinned at one of the sturdy door people when they glanced her way, but something grabbed Lottie’s attention. She narrowed her eyes at a cluster of men entering a strip club across the street. They wore leather jackets and jeans, and even at night, she could see who those leather jackets belonged to, with the brilliant white insignias adorned on the back.

They were the Diablo Disciples bikers.

But one caught Lottie’s attention and stole her breath.

With a cigarette to his lips, Bash was walking into that strip club behind his friends.

And then her stomach dropped as they disappeared inside, the bouncers closing the doors behind the bikers. Why would he be going into a place like that? Obviously for the entertainment. He wanted to see tits and asses gyrating in his face.

Oh, god .

The drinks she’d gulped now felt like sea water in her stomach as she pictured Bash with random beautiful women. Women who were confident in their sexuality and didn’t hold back from kissing him or grinding on his lap.

She’d worried he might be dating or casually hooking up with women. Since she didn’t plan on making a move, she avoided discussing his love life. Preferring to keep her head buried in the sand.

Whose fault was it if he was looking for someone else? Those ladies were most likely brimming with confidence and sexiness. Complete opposite of a novice virgin.

She wanted that for Bash; she thought with a sinking heart. Not at all sick with jealousy at the idea of his rough hands all over someone else’s hips.

With the dense rocks in her stomach and a drowning feeling in her chest, she turned when she heard Toni’s approach. “I know just the place!” she announced, flipping her hair with a smile. “All the guys who hang out at this bar are sexy as fuck.”

Ugh . It was agony for her. She couldn’t stop thinking about Bash being wooed across the street. She didn’t want to chill with hot guys. The only guy she found attractive was at a strip club, most likely with two blondes on his lap playing with his hair and showing off their breasts.

Lottie was never so glad that Toni bailed on once they got to the next bar. Toni was immediately set upon like vultures, and she’d gone along willingly to dance with a couple of guys. Lottie found a quiet spot to look at her phone and was disappointed by the lack of texts from Bash.

It wasn’t unusual. They weren’t regular texters, but she still felt a sharp stab of disappointment, and now her inebriated mind was verging on a jealous rage.

He must be getting his brains banged out.

Did strippers give happy finishes these days?

She could only hope the glitzy lighting would temporarily blind Bash, so he couldn’t see the gyrating nakedness. Yeah, that was the best outcome, she thought with a sigh rushing around her chest. He had forty-year-old eyeballs. It wasn’t unrealistic.

He had gorgeous eyes.

Bedroom eyes.

Intense eyes that promised uncharted things.

God, she loved his eyes. She didn’t want him to be blind, but she didn’t want him being horny for other women.

When Toni asked if it was okay if she took off with a guy, Lottie was glad because she jumped in a cab outside.

Blame it on the shots. Blame it on the edibles, blame it on her insane jealousy.

“Are you sure that’s where you want to go, lady?” he asked, looking at her through the rearview mirror. Lottie nodded and laid her temple against the cooling window. It had been over an hour since she’d watched Bash walking into The Den. He might still be getting railed by a woman who knew how to send a man insane with lust.

That woman wasn’t Lottie. She couldn’t even touch Bash’s arm without being queasy and overwhelmed.

But how dare he go into a club where women took their clothes off when he knew, he knew , he was her friend! He’d crossed a line, a sacred friendship oath, and she would remind him of his egregious error and offer him the chance to make it up to her with groveling and coffee gifts.

Especially the coffee.