Page 30 of Phoenix

Being fired after a month on the job wasn’t his best record, but it also wasn’t his worst. He told Saint that he was trying to find the right fit, but honestly, most of the jobs he landed just plain bored him. That was usually when he started goofing off and showing up late to work trying to get fired, and maybe he should have tried harder to keep a job, but he couldn’t justify it. But now that he had his own apartment, he could find some justification in keeping a job—at least to pay the rent.

He didn’t mind living on his own. He was more than old enough, and when Saint told him it was time for him to find his own way in life, he agreed to move out. He wanted to show his big brother that he could do it too, but around every corner wasanother failure, and he hated letting his brother be right. More than that, he hated that Saint saw him as a failure at all.

So, that night, after he lost his job, he decided to go into Savage Hell and get drunk since he couldn’t come up with a better plan. He knew that Saint wouldn’t be going into the bar that night, and that would give him time to figure out how to tell him about his latest job loss. But he ended up getting too drunk and he asked the wrong girl to dance. He meant to ask Vixen to dance with him, but instead, he walked up to Phoenix and asked her. She was nice enough to say yes, but he could tell that Riggs wanted to kill him for asking her. When Riggs asked to cut in, Dare quickly made his exit and was foolish enough to chance a look over at Vixen who was mean mugging him. Some asshole had his arm around her shoulder, and he knew that he had royally fucked up.

He had to work extra hard to get the guys to see that he wasn’t a total schmuck for moving in on Riggs’ woman—not that Phoenix was his that night. Dare had no idea what he was doing and the next time he saw Riggs, he apologized, explaining the whole drunken mix-up. He was good enough to say that he had no hard feelings toward Dare, but he still worried that he wouldn’t be allowed to patch into the Royal Bastards. When Savage told him that he had been accepted into the club, he was stunned, and two days later, when Riggs asked Dare to come to work for him, down at the club, he thought for sure that his luck had changed. He had his CDL, so driving a tow truck wasn’t a problem. And since the force, he didn’t sleep very well, so he didn’t mind having to go out at all hours to help people.

“You want a beer?” Savage asked as Dare sat up at the bar. He noticed that they were doing their co-ed thing tonight where the Harlots and Bastards hung out together at the clubhouse.

“Sure,” Dare said, “better make it too because the first one won’t last very long.” Savage chuckled and slid him one beerdown the bar, and he caught it. He walked the other down and sat it in front of Dare and he nodded his thanks.

“You want anything to eat with that?” he asked.

“I guess that’s a good idea,” he agreed. “I’ll take a burger and fries—no onions. The last time I got drunk here I kind of blew things with—” he stopped before he said her name. His Club’s Prez didn’t need to know his personal business. The guy probably didn’t care much about it either.

“Vixen,” Savage said, finishing his sentence for him.

“You know?” Dare asked.

“Dude, it’s my job to know everything about everyone in my club—including the Harlots. I see how you look at her and I also see the way she looks at you too. Have you ever thought about just talking to her?” he asked.

Dare barked out his laugh and a few of the guys shot him a look. “I’ve tried, but every time I open my mouth, a bunch of gibberish comes out. I’m kind of a lost cause.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’m sure that you just need to get to know Vixen and you’ll be as smooth as silk in no time,” Savage assured. He was wrong, but Dare appreciated the encouragement. He was never like this around women. Usually, he had no problem talking to women, but since losing his team, he seemed to lack the courage to do a lot of things that he used to do.

He downed his first beer and felt someone grab his left arm. “There you are, babe,” a woman said. He turned around to tell her that she had mistaken him for someone else, only to find Vixen smiling at him. Some guy had followed her into the bar and from the fear he saw in her beautiful brown eyes, the guy was an unwanted parasite.

She leaned into him, and he thought for sure that she was going to kiss him. Dare felt as though he was bracing himself for the contact from Vixen. “Please play along,” she whispered intohis ear. Was she asking him to pretend that they were together? He could definitely play along with her if she wanted—as long as he didn’t blow it by speaking gibberish again. Savage was right—maybe this was his in to get to know her, and he’d do just about anything to know Vixen.

Vixen

Vixen had spent the better part of the day trying to figure out if she should even bother going into Savage Hell. There was a big party for one of the Royal Harlots that was getting married and moving away. She hated having to miss Harley’s going away party, but there was no way that she wanted to run into Wyatt. She had spent one damn night with the guy and now, he thought that they were going to be married, but that ship sailed when she found out that he was running drugs. She wasn’t sure who he was working for, but she knew that she’d never date a drug dealer. The problem was, the more she tried to push him away, the more he stuck to her like glue. She couldn’t shake the guy, and staying at home was the easy way out of having to see him. At least being locked away in her townhome, Wyatt couldn’t get to her.

Her cell phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket. “Hey Phoenix,” she said. Her friend had just gotten back from her honeymoon, and while every part of Vixen was jealous, she was still happy for her friend.

“Hey, Vixen. I was just checking in to see if you need a ride to Savage Hell tonight?” she asked. She hated telling her friendthat she was going to miss yet another event, but she knew that it was for the best. The last thing she wanted to do was tell any of her girlfriends that she was basically being stalked by the creep who took her home the night of Phoenix’s birthday. That was eight months ago, and she was sure that Juno, Rebel, and Phoenix were getting sick of her bowing out of everything at the last minute.

“I’m not really feeling well,” she lied. “I think that I’ll stay home tonight. I wouldn’t want to get anyone else sick.”

“Mkay,” Juno drawled, “what the hell is going on with you?” she asked. “You have been acting off since Phoenix’s birthday. Is everything okay?”

“Yes,” Vixen lied again, “I’m fine. I’ve just been feeling a bit off lately, and I need some downtime.”

“Are you sure that’s all this is?” Juno asked.

“Yes, I need to crawl into bed, pull the covers up to my chin, and watch an old movie,” Vixen said. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow,” she said trying to end the call with her friend.

“No, I’m calling a time-out,” Juno said. They used to do that when they were just kids. They had been friends forever and the four of them were more like sisters than friends. If one of them called a time-out, it meant that they didn’t believe that the other one was telling the truth. Vixen knew that if she didn’t give in and go to Savage Hell, Juno would end up getting the truth about Wyatt out of her, and she really didn’t want to go into it all tonight.

“Fine,” Vixen breathed, “you don’t have to challenge me for the truth. I’ll come into the clubhouse for one drink, and then, I’m heading back home. I’m exhausted and I—”

“Don’t feel good,” Juno finished for her. “Don’t make me come over to your townhouse and drag you out of there,” she warned. Vixen knew that Juno wasn’t making idle threats. She’d drop everything and find her—then there would be hell to pay.Juno was the fiercest out of the group and if she knew about Wyatt stalking her, she wouldn’t stop until Wyatt got what he had coming.

“You won’t have to come drag me out of my house and into the club. I’ll see you there in about an hour,” Vixen promised.

“Don’t make me wait,” Juno said. Vixen could almost see Juno’s bony little finger pointing at her, and couldn’t help her smile.

“Yes, ma’am,” Vixen said, giving her friend a mock salute that she knew Juno wouldn’t be able to see. She ended the call before she could change her mind and tossed her phone onto the bed. Now, she was going to have to pick out an outfit, put on make-up, and do something with her hair, because, like it or not, she was going into the club to see the rest of the Royal Harlots.