Starting Over by Mia Malone

Chapter Two

Clubs

Tony

That curve... dropping inward at her waist and then rounding the hip.

He didn’t even have to move his hand faster.

That curve got to him every time, so he tilted his head back and moaned shakily as he let go, and the orgasm rushed through his core, draining him and taking the edge off until the next time that fucking woman popped into his mind, which could be any goddamned time at all.

“Shit,” he muttered and reached for the tee he’d dropped on the side of the bed.

He repeated that word with emphasis when he tossed the dirty tee in the hamper and saw the pile already there.

Seriously?

If he didn’t get a grip of the situation, he’d have to put a roll of kitchen towels next to his bed like a fucking perv.

He’d figure something out, he told himself as he dug out a clean tee and shrugged into his jacket. It was early in the season yet, but he took the bike anyway, hoping that the cool air would calm him down.

“Hey,” Finn grunted with a glance his way but kept focusing on his computer.

“Need food,” Tony replied and walked over to the bar to order one of Addie’s fantastic burgers.

Joe was working, and Tony had worried that Addie’s ideas about changing the menu would upset the man who had been a cook at the Roadhouse for more than fifteen years, but the man had surprised them all.

“Fucking love having her here. Fucking love her fucking food. About fucking time we move on from fucking burgers from the fucking eighties,” he said.

Since the f-bomb was a staple in Joe’s vocabulary, that had not been the surprise.

The way he absolutely worshipped Adeline was.

She could do nothing wrong in Joe’s world, and he fought at her side against Coop every time she wanted to change the menu. The latest addition was a burger with blue cheese and pineapple, which had been labeled the Weirdo, and it was coming straight from burger heaven according to just about anyone.

“Get me a weirdo, will you,” Tony said to Hilt with a glance at the menu board.

The goddamned words Coq au vin were still written there even if they didn’t serve it, as a reminder of his supreme idiocy, which had been Addie’s way of describing that whole shitstorm.

And Finn’s. Coop’s. Eye’s. Or just about fucking anyone who had been in the Roadhouse that day.

“Sure,” Hilt said, narrowed his eyes, and leaned forward. “Let it go, man,” he said.

“What?”

“You fucked up. Stop glaring at the fucking menu and let it go. There are plenty of other women, and you have their numbers. Call one of them.”

Tony made a huffing sound, mainly since he didn’t know what to say, and walked back to Finn, wondering if he should break his lifelong habit of not having a beer with his lunch.

He knew he should let it go, but he’d been a complete ass, and she hadn’t exactly accepted his apology, so he couldn’t.

It had nothing to do with the way her thick hair had moved when she laughed with Addie or the way her blue eyes widened when she turned and faced him. Or that curve around –

“Jesus,” he muttered to himself and sat down.

“Bud,” Fin said quietly. “Want to talk about it?”

No, he didn’t want to fucking talk about it.

“I messed up, apologized, it’s done,” he said sourly.

“I don’t get it,” Finn pushed. “I’ve never seen you act like that. I’ve heard every word you spewed more than once because Addie is still a little pissed about it, and I don’t get it. It’s not like you.”

Tony sighed and closed his eyes briefly.

He still remembered that awful day when Finn’s parents had died. His mom had picked Finn up and brought the white-faced and hollow-eyed ten-year-old boy to their home. Seeing his best friend with that look on his face had cut right through him, but then his mom calmly said, “You’re ours now, Finnegan. You won’t be alone because you’re ours. You and Tony can fight about who gets the top bed later. Let’s figure out what to eat.”

It couldn’t have been easy for his mother, who had been close with Finn’s parents, but she had a spine of fucking steel and shoulders stronger than anyone Tony had ever met, so she held it together, and somehow, she’d provided a safe place for Finn. Later, when everything got ugly, she still held her ground as best she could, and eventually, she made sure they were safe again.

Finn had been his brother since that day, so an explanation was due, even if it was an embarrassing one.

“Gonna make me sound like a moron,” Tony said, already feeling like one.

“Not the first time that happens,” Finn said with a chuckle.

“We walked in here, and I glanced over at her. Almost walked straight into Hilt,” Tony said slowly, remembering how his gut had twisted around itself somehow. “You saw her. That hair and the smile and those fucking –” He cut himself off because it suddenly felt wrong to discuss her body. “You get it,” he said instead. “And then she was talking to Addie about big dicks and asking for Eye.”

There was a long and awkward pause, and then Finn started grinning.

“You got jealous,” he said and barked out a stupid laugh. “Of Eye,” he added and finished with an emphatic, “Jesus.”

“Yeah,” Tony said with a sigh. “I looked at her, things escalated, and I don’t know what the fuck happened. Next thing, she’s out the door. I’ve apologized and got a reply that nearly gave me a frostbite, spouting some shit about how she harbors no hard feelings.”

“She said that?” Finn snorted out.

“Texted,” Tony muttered, not willing to elaborate on how she neither opened her door nor answered the phone.

The skin slowly crinkled a little around Finn’s eyes.

“Can’t get her out of your head?”

“Fuck of it is that I can’t,” Tony said with a crooked grin.

“You need help.”

“Not from you.”

“We’re having a party at the house next weekend,” Finn said, ignoring the rejection of his offer. “You might want to shave.”

“Huh?”

“Rosie doesn’t like...” Finn grinned and added in a high-pitched voice, “Facial hair of any kind and especially not the unkempt kind.”

“How the hell would you know that?” Tony snarled, not liking the casual way Finn had mentioned her name.

“Calm down,” Finn said. “She’s in the same book club as Adeline.”

“The porn club?”

What the hell was someone like Rosalind Watts, Ph.D., doing in that group of women? Most of them were a lot less educated than her, and they read what seemed like pretty steamy books. Chao had also overheard their discussions once and swore that he’d blushed for forty-eight hours straight.

“That’s the one.”

“Christ.”

“So... shave?” Finn asked with a stupid smirk.

“No fucking way,” Tony said and moved a hand over his jaw.

He liked his beard, so that wasn’t going to happen. It needed a trim, though, and had probably needed it already a month ago.

“Okay.”

“She’s gonna be at the party?”

“She will be once she gets invited.”

“Not sure she’ll listen to you.”

“I’m not stupid,” Finn said. “I’ll send Eye and Dagger. Somewhere between Dagger’s cutesy smile and Eye’s puppy eyes, she’ll agree.”

“Eye has puppy eyes?”

“How the fuck would I know? Not like he’s gonna try that crap on me.” Finn shrugged but added, “Samantha says he does. Says they make her do stupid shit all the time.”

“They’re good together.”

“Yeah,” Finn murmured. “I wasn’t sure I liked it at first, but I do. She pushes him to try harder, and he steadies her.”

“I think he’s gonna be the one. Seen it in him the past year. The past couple of years, really.”

“Yeah?”

Tony had no intentions to step back from being president for a very long time, but eventually, he would, so someone would have to take over and that someone needed to be ready for it.

“Yeah. Pope isn’t slick enough. Bones or Jonah could do it, but they’re more about the bikes and the businesses, and less about the brothers, so I don’t think it would be good.”

“Dagger?”

“Oh-ho, old man,” Tony said with a grin. “You’ll have to watch your back. He wants your patch.”

“Not now,” Finn said calmly. “But you’re right. Eventually, he’ll want my patch. Told me so already, and I like that he’s honest about it. Not gonna stab me in the back.”

“They’re both good men. Black did well.”

“He did,” Finn agreed. “And now Black’s offspring is going to sort out your love life in a remarkably teenagery way.”

The fucking smirk was back on Finn’s lips, but he had an uncomfortable goddamned point, so Tony mostly pretended to be annoyed as he got up to get his burger.

He wasn’t sure he liked the thought of the Hagen brothers spending time with Rosie, but if it got her to the House for the party, then whatever-the-fuck.

Once she was there, he’d either realize that she wasn’t as hot as he remembered, or she’d end up in his bed.

He’d seduced women before, so how hard could it be?

***

Rosie

I was staring at the long line of button-down shirts and suits in every shade of blue known to mankind. Why did it suddenly feel like such a big step when I knew from the bottom of my soul that this was what I wanted to do?

Then I grit my teeth together, dug out a big, black trash bag, and started folding.

When I was done, two-thirds of my closet was empty, and it felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I’d donate the clothes somewhere and buy new ones, although I wasn’t entirely sure what to get.

Flouncy, colorful tunics weren’t really my thing, and I did not want to look like a huge flower-covered tent. Tight, sexy dresses could be fun, but it wasn’t as if I went places where they would be suitable.

My phone pinged, sharing that I had a message, and I smiled.

I had a message.

Again.

When I got out of bed the morning after my lonely New Year’s Eve, I started looking for ways to make new friends.

It turned out to be a lot harder than I had thought.

I joined a gym but quit after less than three weeks, partially since most people there were more than fifteen years younger than me, but mostly because I hated it.

Then I found a group that gathered on the weekends to watch birds.

I was curious about stuff and could admittedly not care less about birds, but figured I’d learn something while we walked, ate our picnics, and looked at small black dots through huge binoculars. At first, it was fun. Some in the group knew each other from before, but most were newbies like me, and they were perhaps a little too interested in ornithology for my taste, but it wasn’t surprising, and they were nice people. One of the guys asked if I wanted to meet him for coffee sometime, and I said I would.

The next time the group met, he was there.

And so was his wife.

I told her that it was so lovely of them to invite me for coffee, but it probably wasn’t a great idea since I was allergic. Her face hardened, and the glance she gave her husband did not bode well for him, and the nod she gave me was barely there.

After that, the others kept their distance, and I could tell that they were gossiping about me. It pissed me off because it wasn’t as if I’d done something wrong, and the way some of the women pulled their men closer when I passed them was quite frankly ridiculous.

I told the group leader that I wouldn’t join them anymore, and he winced but told me that it was probably for the best.

So, I found a book club instead and regretted that almost immediately.

The women were middle-aged professionals just like me or like I had been until I quit my job. They were friendly, and if they also were intellectual snobs, I chose to ignore that, thinking that it’d fade once we got to know each other.

It didn’t.

They read books of a very high brow nature, to say the least, and it wasn’t as if I couldn’t wade my way through anything, but still. When it was my turn to pick our next read, I chose something of a lighter nature, and they suddenly all looked like they’d sucked on slices of lemon. I pretended that I’d just been joking and suggested Khaled Hosseini instead. They nodded and mumbled approvingly about multicultural foreign literature, and I thought it was quite a feat that I didn’t roll my eyes.

I’d decided to leave the group but hadn’t figured how to be polite about it when I got an unexpected phone call.

“Hey, this is Adeline Dawry. I’m not sure if you remember me, but I’m the chef from the Roadhouse,” she said. “I hope I’m not calling at a bad time?”

“Hey,” I said, trying to remember if I’d forgotten something as I made a rather hasty exit. “Of course, I remember you, and it’s not a bad time at all. What can I help you with?”

“Excellent,” she said happily. “And it’s you who could help us, actually.”

“Okay?”

“I remember that you said something about liking book clubs, and I’m part of one. The thing is, we need one more member, and I was wondering if you would be interested?”

I blinked a few times in surprise and wasn’t sure what to say. My recent ventures into the world of clubs of any kind had not been promising, and I’d planned to take a break from that whole thing.

Addie’s voice had been kind, though, and I remembered how we’d laughed about her silly menu joke.

“I might be,” I said slowly. “It depends a bit on what kind of books you read.”

“Um,” she said, and then there was a long, slightly awkward silence.

“I’m trying to figure out how to get out of my current book club,” I blurted out and figured that what the hell. I’d just tell her, and if she hung up on me, then I’d never have to meet her ever again. “They read boring books.”

“What do you like to read?”

“Well...” I smiled a little and tried to explain. “It’s like movies, you know? Some people like Pretty Woman, and others like meaningful dramas directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski or possibly Ingmar Bergman.” My smile widened when I heard her laughter, so I added, “It’s not about right or wrong. I just like Pretty Woman a lot more, so I read entertaining books.”

“Give me an example of an entertaining author,” she said.

“Simona Chantelle,” I said immediately.

I’d read every book that woman had ever written and most of them more than once.

They were clever and heartwarming.

And contained sex scenes.

A lot of them, and some were surprisingly... creative.

“Yes!” Addie squealed. “That is exactly the kind of books we read. Please say you’ll come.” I was about to confirm that I would when she went on, “Just once? If you don’t like it, no hard feelings.”

“Okay,” said with a chuckle. “When and where?”

They apparently had a meeting that very evening, and the book they would discuss was one I’d already read, so I jotted down the address to some unknown woman called Momo and promised to be there.

“Addie?” I asked before we hung up. “I wasn’t very nice to your president. What made you call me?”

“Not my president,” she said immediately. “I’m not a member. None of the women are, and we don’t want to be either. And Rosie, he usually isn’t, but this time he was a complete ass. He won’t discuss books with us, so you don’t have to worry about meeting him.”

“Okay,” I said, not sure if I should tell her that he had called at least ten times and sent flowers with a handwritten apology.

I’d told him his apology was accepted, and I might still call him Tony-the-jerk in my head, but I wasn’t afraid of him.

“And, honey,” she said, voice full of laughter. “A woman who walks into a biker bar and calmly asks for a big cock is absolutely someone we want in our book club.”

We hung up, and I immediately called the woman organizing the other book club. We both said the right words about how sad they were that I didn’t have enough time to read and how I would absolutely call them if my situation changed.

That night I met a completely different group of women, and I couldn’t remember when I last had laughed that much or that loudly.

It felt a bit strange to walk up to a house where some unknown lady would host a book club, but Momo opened the door with a wide grin and kind eyes. She immediately pulled me into her home and introduced me to the others as, “The woman who told Tony Ryan that he’s old and has a small dick.” The group cheered, Addie started sharing their names, and somehow it never got awkward or formal.

They all clearly liked Tony-the-jerk, but that apparently didn’t stop them from enjoying how I’d snapped at the man. The rumor was, according to several of the ladies, that I’d somewhat misrepresented the size of his genitals. I’d already guessed that since the man was the size of a mountain, but this apparently made the whole thing even funnier.

The whole setup was a lot less formal than my previous club, and somewhere between mingling and munching on pieces of pie that tasted just a little bit funky, we slowly drifted into sitting down to talk about the contents of the book and whoo-boy were they not even a little embarrassed about anything at all.

When they’d spent fifteen minutes debating the merits of nipple rings, I cleared my throat and shared my view, which was that absolutely no one would ever punch a hole in my nipple but that I could perhaps consider clamps.

This opened up a whole new discussion about paraphernalia not even mentioned in the book, most of which I had no experience with and some I hadn’t even known existed.

I drove home, feeling happy and had just parked my car when I got a message from Momo, who apparently wanted to go shopping, and she wanted to do this with me. I happily accepted and had a blast that ended with a nice dinner with her and Chao. Addie and I met for coffee and then my oldest daughter showed up one afternoon on her way home from an assignment in Vancouver, and she spent the afternoon with Addie, Momo, and me. In the weeks that followed, I met a few of the other women too, and slowly, I started to relax into our little circle.

I still grinned every time my phone buzzed with a message, though. I wasn’t used to the sound, or the sweet feeling I got from hearing it.