Free FOUND: A Motorcycle Club Romance Novel by Scarlet Korin Page B

reared its head...
    Almost on cue, Ez turned to Jerome and asked, “So player, you ever had the privilege to run girls?”
    Jerome shook his head. It has been a while since he headed to the bathroom for a hit and I knew he was in need of one. His hand, resting on the red velvet couch above my shoulder, trembled. “I always been about the drugs. I always considered it too much hassle to be pimping. That's a full time job. You can't switch off with girls always around.”
    Ez's eyes drifted to my bare legs for a split second, before his eyes returned to Jerome's. His hands brought the group's attention to what he was about to say. “Don't tell me this player has trouble keeping his women in check? I remember when we were younguns. You had no trouble keeping them shorties on lock. Got too much for you?”
    Jerome rubbed his chin. “It's not like that. It's---”
    “I understand. I understand. When you get older the fire, the need, the urgency can go out in a man. You get tired as you get older.” Like a snake his leer roamed over me, feasting on my flesh and ready to pounce. Jerome might have been too strung out to notice where this silver tonged creep was leading the conversation, but my intuition revealed everything.
    “Hold up. Hold up... What you saying, Ez?” Jerome's replied aggressively, and the group sensed the pressure between these men. Silence fell over the VIP area and only the sound of the soft soul playing was heard through the speakers.
    Ez reached forward, took a sip of his whiskey and considered his reply. He spoke carefully. “ I mean ... Priorities change when a man gets older. That's nothing to be ashamed of.”
    You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Everyone except Ez, Jerome and myself gazed into the bottom of their glasses.
    Jerome clenched his fists behind my neck and his eyes focused lazer-like on Ez. He was pissed, and experience told me exactly what this would lead to. Jerome wasn't one to back down and Ez, try as he might at pretending to be civil, was goading him. To what end I did not know.
    “Anyway,” Ez charmingly laughed before flipping his hand and stretching out the bottle of liquor towards Jerome. “Have a drink, my nigga. It is what it is... Ain't worth talking 'bout no more. This is a night for celebrating.”
    “No,” Jerome replied deeply between clenched teeth. “I want to talk... Let me get this straight... you saying I can't run women?”
    Ez smirked.
    “Can't you tell I got this one here on lock?” He gripped the back of my neck tight as a sign of ownership. It hurt, though I didn't show it.
    The other guests looked at each other tentatively. None of the men weren't nearly as aggressive as the pair of roosters squaring up and their indecisive movements made it clear they didn't know how, if, or dare to step in.
    “Frankly...” Ez spoke slowly and sliced through a hard silence. “I am.”
    Jerome's hand locked on the other end of the bottle Ez held as they both stared daggers at the other. Veins throbbed in both men's hands with the force of their grip seizing the glass.
    The image of the bottle shattering flashed through my mind and I recognized enough to step in to stop a scene before it was started. If I didn't, the others here certainly wouldn't.
    “Yeah,” I said with my hand stroking the back of Jerome's neck affectionately. “It goes without saying... I'm his...”
    “That right?” Ez asked, a smile forming at the corner of one lip.
    “That's right...,” I affirmed, “In mind, body and soul. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him.”
    At that moment all I wanted to do was diffuse a dangerous situation. Jerome had a short fuse and at this level of provocation was a ticking time bomb ready to blow. Things could get ugly. Fast.
    Ez released the bottle and grinned from ear to ear. “I guess that covers it then. I didn't doubt it for a second. My man's always reigned his women in good...”
    I breathed out relieved, for the first time in