Free In Bed With The Outlaw by Adriana Jones Page B

Ramos’s eye. I expected there to be more.
    “Aren’t there more of you?” I asked, hoping I wouldn’t have to already bite my tongue.
    “Yeah, plenty more,” Joy said. “We don’t go to this dump too much.”
    “It’s not a dump,” Ema said.
    Joy disagreed. “It is.”
    “It’s not.”
    “We don’t come here very often,” Joy finished. “A lot of the old ladies don’t like to associate with the hanger-ons. Things can get a little wild here. We like to have our wild times at other places, don’t we, girls?”
    “That’s right,” Ema said.
    One of the random girls brought my drink over to me. It was something pink in a fishbowl with a sugary watermelon slice on the top. Sugary sweetness with a kick of alcohol helped me relax.
    “There’s bonuses of having them around, though,” Emma said, pointing to the waitress as she left.
    “Yes, there is,” I said, taking another sip and groaning. It seemed like I was fitting in already, which was a strange thing, since I didn’t really get along with a lot of girls. I didn’t have many girl friends. I tended to stick to myself.
    “What brings you here? Not to scare you with questions, but you seem like a sweet girl.” Joy took a sip from her equally sized fish bowl of liquor.
    If they only knew. I didn’t know how to answer the question, but I tried my best.
    “I suppose we all just sort of...fall into this sort of thing, huh? We see some guy who interests us, looks exciting, they hook us in, and we’ve got to see for ourselves.”
    “Now you see,” Ema said in her sultry, rough voice that made her seem like the alpha female in any group. I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side. She could knock me out with those huge, mature breasts, never mind those huge fists of hers. Ema nodded to the girls in the corner rubbing up with one another, making a show for attention.
    “You’re not like one of those girls, so what’s Red’s plan for you? He doesn’t bring your type around a lot.”
    The other girls shot Ema a glare. Joy especially.
    “Does he bring a lot of girls around?” I asked.
    Of course I cared. I kissed him, almost let him deeper, had fantasies about this man, of him taking me, claiming me, using me like I’d never allowed another before. I needed to know how many girls he had lined up. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, a part of me wanted him. A part of me that was already taken.
    The other girls couldn’t keep their drinks down when I asked.
    Joy landed a hand on mine. The wise sage looked into my eyes and told me, “You’re fine. He likes you. Don’t you see that? Don’t be confused about what’s going on around you. Red’s always been a stand-up guy. I’ve been waiting for him to bring along someone like you.”
    They knew nothing about me. Not really.
    “All we really know about her is that she wears pants and t-shirt,” Roxy astutely added.
    “That’s good enough here,” Ema replied, throwing her head back at the crowd behind her.
    I laughed and took another long sip. The fruit masked the alcohol well. I could feel the lift, the alcohol coursing through me. I leaned back and scanned the room. This wasn’t that bad. At least I had these old ladies to comfort me. Red abandoned me, but these girls were more than accommodating.
    “I don’t see how you girls can put up with all this. If my man was around this all day, I’d be pissed,” I said.
    Roxy turned away and drank her beer. Even Joy, who seemed understanding, scowled at the implication.
    “They don’t get involved with these girls. Our men know we’d have their balls hanging from the rafters if they actually did anything. We’d take that little bike down and string up their balls.”
    “We’d do it with pleasure,” Roxy said, kicking her feet out and looking up at the ceiling, like she wanted to pull the bike down now. I imagined one night she might try.
    “You become an old lady, you get certain privileges, certain rights over your man, whether they