Page 62 of Devastate Me
“You’re not supposed to. This is generally reserved for officers and special guests of the club.”
“Aren’t you an officer?”
“I am, and you’re my special guest tonight.”
“So, this is the room you take women who you really want to impress?”
“No, not at all. I’ve never brought a woman up here before or even spent much time up here. When I said it’s usually meant for special guests, I meant like another club president who happens to be visiting, especially if he brings his family along. It helps to keep separation from families and the club girls downstairs. They’re not allowed up here at all.”
“Or in the gazebo apparently.”
“No, they’re not allowed there either. Who told you that?” I explained how I came to know that and the conversation that ensued with Scout and Tripp the day before. Breakneck seemed pleased that Scout had stepped in when Connie was running her mouth.
“Scout’s a good person.”
“I gathered that.”
Breakneck led me over to the table and pulled my chair out for me. Once we were both seated, he uncovered the dishes and laughter bubbled immediately.
“You said we couldn’t have mac-n-cheese for every date.”
He chuckled along with me. “Technically, we didn’t have any on date number two, so we were in the clear for a repeat performance. The change of location makes it all okay.”
“Oh, well, as long as you’re keeping track,” I teased.
“You better believe I’m keeping track. Every smile, every laugh you give me, every fucking time you look at me and your eyes drop to half-mast and fill with lust… I’m watching and keeping score. Those are little promises of better things to come soon, and I plan to collect.”
The room suddenly felt far too hot and the light t-shirt I had on felt like far too much as well. Breakneck didn’t stop staring as I no doubt looked at him with those same lust-filled eyes he’d just been talking about. He hadn’t been wrong either. There were far too many times, starting on the first day I met the man, where I wondered what it would be like to see him naked and to be with him intimately.
It wasn’t like he didn’t know that, considering he had a picture that proved what I’d been doing when I was alone and thinking of him. Breakneck smoothed his fingers down my face in a gentle stroke that shouldn’t have been possible from the man. There was something about the way he treated me when we were alone that made me nervous. With the club he was the enforcer, rough and wild. The opposite was true when we went on our dates, and it was just the two of us. He became this sweet, gentle version of himself that I don’t think even his club brothers had ever seen before.
“Let’s eat before it gets cold,” he suggested.
After we finished our meal, Breakneck stood and held his hand out for me. We moved away from the table into an area that had been cleared of furniture and he pulled me into his body and held me close as he started swaying us back and forth.
“What are we doing?” I asked, though I couldn’t hide the smile on my face.
“You know.”
My smile grew wider as he upped his game and moved his feet to shuffle back and forth along with the sway. His arms tightened around me in warning as I started to giggle.
“Why is dancing with me so funny?”
“Only because you refused to admit that was what we were doing.” Breakneck huffed. Despite him telling me his name was Troy, I couldn’t make myself use it when I thought of him. Troy was someone else, a man that possibly didn’t exist anymore. Breakneck was the one present with me, dancing on our third date that he set up for us because I couldn’t leave the clubhouse. The funny thing was that any date he planned on the outside couldn’t have possibly matched the last two. They showed me how much he truly cared with the effort he put in to making everything so special for me.
We must have only been allowed the upstairs lounge all to ourselves for a short time because by about the fourth song, someone cleared their throat. I turned to see Tripp and Mack standing there grinning at us like fools.
“Hate to break up the party, but we just got word that Zealot and Minch are headed this way. They both have their old ladies with them and should be here in about twenty minutes. Don’t worry about the mess. I’ll have someone come in and clean it up. No need to ruin the rest of your night, you just need to take it somewhere else.
Breakneck nodded and pulled back from me before grasping my hand in his and leading the way back downstairs. “Sorry about that,” he tried to say, but the music downstairs was obnoxiously loud considering it was Friday night. We were halfway to the hallway that led toward Breakneck’s room and the one I’d been staying in, when someone stepped in his way.
“Aren’t you going to party with the rest of us tonight?” The woman asked. I recognized her as one of the two women who had been waiting on Breakneck that first time I showed up to care for Knoxville at the clubhouse.
“You know better, Liz.”
“I’ve missed you,” she pouted at him. While I hated that she had the audacity to approach him when he was clearly with another woman, the fact that she had to say she missed him meant that she hadn’t been with him in a while at least.
“Do you see me with my woman?” Breakneck asked her, and he did not sound happy to have to do it. The woman flinched but then shored herself up for a fight.