Page 26 of Craving Her
“What do you mean?” I ask, not understanding.
“You’re Joker’s old lady?” she cries.
“I—”
“That she is, but I just convinced her tonight. We haven’t told our family yet,” Torin interjects, making me jump. I had no idea that he was listening to our conversation. He’s standing right behind me, damn it. I thought the others would distract him longer. I sigh as not even a second later, I feel his arm snake around me again. I turn, giving him an annoyed look. He just winks at me. I hate how makes my heart run away with me. I get the feeling from Torin’s smug look that he knows exactly how he makes me feel.
The bastard.
“Girl, how could you not let me in on the tea? You should have told me, especially after that last reading I gave you!”
“What reading?” Joker asks.
“Didn’t Kyla tell you? I gave her a reading a few weeks ago with tea leaves. It’s something new that I’m dabbling with.”
“It didn’t work,” I answer before Trudy can blab.
Trudy gives her signature twinkly bell laugh that I normally loved to hear. Today, however, it just makes me want to growl at her to shut up. Telling her that probably wouldn’t be too smart, though. Archie is pretty damn protective of his woman.
“Bullshit. This is proof that it did,” she argues. I hold my head down in defeat as I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“What’s proof?”
“You claiming Kyla as yours. The leaves revealed that she’d suffer loss and love and I swear the initial J was in the leaves. Obviously, the love part is you!” she exclaims excitedly.
“Or it could prove that we’re not going to work out and he’s thegreatloss,” I mutter.
“Kyla!” Trudy admonishes.
“What? I’m just playing devil’s advocate here. We all know what a man—whore Joker is.”
I can hear Torin’s rumble of discontent next to my ear. He puts a hand under my chin, forcing me to look at him. “There’s something for you to get straight, Peaches. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Peaches? Oh, that’s so cute! I love you two together,” Trudy squeals.
“You hear that, baby girl? Shelovesus together,” Torin croons.
“We’re not?—”
“We’re not advertising it just yet, Trudy. We need time to tell Bull and Breaker.”
Trudy nods understandingly. “I get it. She is the baby of the family after all. Doesn’t matter that she’s old enough to have a relationship or not. I dealt with the same thing with my big brother.”
“I think with my family it’s just they’re worried about seeing me with a past that has him being … shall we say, a man-whore?”
“Peaches—” Torin growls and just as I’m preparing myself for his wrath, this screeching cry can be heard across the room over the music.
“Oh look, sweetheart, speaking of your man-whore past, here’s one of your prize stars. I hear she likes to be filmed. What did you two call your movie? Debbie does Cincinnati?” I ask, blinking up at him as if I’m completely innocent.
Trudy laughs, but you can barely hear it over the loud guffaws of Freeze, Archie, and Wheeler—though most of the club call him Big Willy. He’s the chapter president and an amazing guy. He also makes the rest of his crew look small—and considering Freeze is freaking huge, that’s saying something. I mean, sure Freeze is taller than him, but Big Willy is so broad it’s scary. Trudy told me the man once lifted one of those extra-large, fireproof, gun safes—completely filled with guns, knives, and ammo—and carried it by himself from his room in the club to his office which is a good thirty feet apart. I figure she was over embellishing, but sometimes I wonder.
“You’re going to pay for that one, Peaches,” Torin warns.
I look at him and yawn. I don’t bother responding because right about that time, Debbie barrels into him and jumps up, wrapping her arms around his neck. He reaches out and his hands land on her hips. I don’t know if he does it out of familiarity, because this is probably how she always greets him, or if it’s to brace her so that she doesn’t make him stumble backward. A moment later, I wonder if he did it to enable her to lift and wrap her legs around his body so she could climb him like a spider monkey, or hell—with that fingernails-on-a-chalkboard squeal—a howler monkey. I sit down on a tabletop behind me and cross my legs, watching as she holds onto him.
“Joker! I missed you so much,” she gushes. “When Freeze told me you were coming, I made sure I planned the perfect night for you!”
“Debbie, get down,” Torin grumbles, looking very uncomfortable. I roll my eyes.