Page 86 of Fox (Road Rebels MC 4)
We arrived at the bar; all dressed to the nines. For a change, I didn’t have to take fashion advice from my stylist tonight. I had dressed in slim dark jeans and a copper-glimmering crop top. I’d styled my long gold hair so that they fell in soft waves around my shoulders and I went for a more smokey makeup for the night. I didn’t have to adhere to the “nice girl,” “sophisticatedly dressed” actress look tonight.
Just as we were entering the bar, I heard some giggles behind me. My friends Cameron and Fiona turned to look, just as I heard a girl’s voice.
“You are Ensley Adams!”
I caught the look of jealousy in Fiona’s eyes when I turned to face a girl who was my age and bubbling with excitement. I tried not to think about what Fiona was thinking in that moment.
“I am. I’m surprised you recognized me!” I exclaimed, putting on my public-eye smile for a fan.
“Of course, I did! I just watched your show and then saw you on Mcfarland’s Late Night show,” she giggled, and I smiled some more.
“Would you mind if I took a selfie with you?” the girl asked, throwing excited looks at her friends who had gathered around her now.
I looked over my shoulder at Fiona, Cameron and the others. They were standing by the door of the bar with their shoulders slumped, already looking bored. I threw them a look of apology and turned back to the girl who had already gotten her camera ready.
“Of course. Where do you want me?” I asked, and the girl and her friends gathered around me. I smiled at her phone and the flash nearly burnt my eyes, but I didn’t drop my friendliness. They had a million questions to ask me, and I knew that my fans were my biggest asset.
I hugged some of them, shook their hands and was just about to break away and walk back to my group when an older woman intercepted me. She must have been in her mid-forties and behind her was a shy looking man who must have been her husband or her date for the night.
“Would you mind taking a photo with me too?” the woman asked, looking sorry for interfering with my night. I wanted to tell her that I had to go back to my friends. I could already see a few more people behind her, looking expectantly at me. There was a queue forming! If I agreed to a picture with her, I’d have to agree to a picture with all the others. But I knew, I couldn’t turn her away. The fact of the matter was that my career depended largely on how my fans perceived me. Just talent alone wasn’t going to ride me through the storm of a Hollywood career.
“I won’t mind at all. What’s your name?” I spoke to the woman as she put her arm around me. The man she was with was getting ready to take the photograph.
“Louisa and I love your show!” she exclaimed, and we laughed together as the cameras clicked.
As predicted, Louisa wasn’t the last one to want a photograph. I was intercepted by at least a dozen more people who wanted photos taken or autographs and I felt overwhelmed by all the attention. I must have been standing at the door of the bar for at least half an hour, interacting with people who wanted a few seconds of my time and I didn’t want to turn them away.
When the last person presented a business card for me to sign on the back of, I quickly backed away, waving at the others who continued to take pictures and smile.
I almost fell through the door of the bar, slightly relieved that I had managed to get away and at the same time, pleasantly on a high from all the attention. This was just the beginning, I knew there were lots more where that came from.
However, as much as I looked around the place, I couldn’t find Cameron or Fiona or any of the other girls. Had they just left the bar without telling me? Were they really that jealous of my newfound success?
I tried to not rile myself up. These were girls who were struggling to reach the position I had already reached. Who knew how I would behave if I were in their position? I let out a small sigh. None of them were really my best friends anyway, they were just like-minded people who I’d connected, a new city when I was trying to make a name for myself.
Instead of checking my phone or calling one of them, I decided that this was probably exactly what I needed. If they didn’t want to support my success, then that is fine with me. I started walking towards the bar so that I could sit there and have a few drinks by myself. I didn’t need the company of people who were envious of me when I could very well entertain myself.
“I’ll have a vodka martini, please,” I called out to the bartender, as I took a seat.
Chapter 5
Thorn
It had been two days since Church was last held, and none of the guys had come up with an idea we could use to make the club “go legit.” Neither had I, so I couldn’t just blame them alone. All our heads were wrecked.
I’d spent the past two days thinking over every possible way out, but my mind kept coming back to the same. We needed to get Enzo and the others out of prison as quickly as we could. We needed to sort this shit out.
But first, before we could do that; I needed a break, from Pomona; where we were based. I needed to get away from the club and my brothers because everybody was in a bad mood. I needed to clear my head, so I could start thinking straight again. Enzo was right, we had to focus on keeping the club on track, but I just couldn’t find a way to do that.
It was a Saturday, and all the members of the club were drinking at our bar. Feeling frustrated, I jumped on my bike and rode till I hit downtown LA with all its traffic. Within fifteen minutes of being stuck on the 110, I was already cursing myself and my decision to ride out here. When I saw a discreet bar in the corner, I swerved my bike, parked it at the door and stormed in with helmet in hand.
This was definitely not one of my usual haunts. It seemed to be a swanky uptown place that was full of LA hipsters and people who went out with friends so that they could have their pictures taken together. At the point, I didn’t care though. I needed a drink.
I walked past a group of women who were gathered together so they could take a selfie. I shook my head as I walked towards the bar. More curses followed. I shouldn’t have left Pomona in the first place. I should have stuck with what I knew and where I felt comfortable. This was not the sort of place for me.
I sat down at the bar and ordered a neat whiskey. I glared at the bartender so he would hurry up, and also because I knew I was already getting a lot of looks from people because I was dressed differently from them.
The guy handed me my glass, and I gulped it down in one swig. I slammed the glass down on the bar and looked up at the bartender with bleary eyes.
“Hit me again,” I hissed at him like it was a threat. The guy went scurrying away to pour me another one, when from the corner of my eye; I sensed someone looking at me.
I looked over to my side, to see a beautiful woman, perched on one of the bar stools. She was sitting several feet away from me, out of my earshot. I had caught her looking, and at that moment, the tops of her cheeks had gone red, and she quickly looked away from me.
There was no denying that she was blazing hot. My eyes traveled from her face, down her body, to her neatly crossed long legs as she sat. She was wearing fashionable black leather boots which she casually swung. I could see that she was trying hard to pretend like she didn’t know I was looking at her.
She had perfectly sized luscious breasts, stretching the thin fabric of her flimsy blouse. Her arms were long and slender and bare. At her wrists were copper colored bangles, and they tinkled together as she moved her hand to pick up her martini glass.
I followed her every movement. The way her dark lips smacked against the edge of the glass, how some strands of her spun-gold hair fell over her forehead as she took a sip. She was a fucking Goddess and I was the last man she would ever go for.
I looked away from her, and just in time because my second drink had arrived. The bartender hung around in front of me like he was hoping I would give him the nod of approval. I took a sip of my whiskey slowly this time, and I gave one nod to the guy. It was his queue to walk away, which he did and I was le
ft alone again.
I hadn’t looked back at the woman yet. She was hot stuff, and on any other night, I would have walked over to her and hoped that she’d follow me to the bathroom stalls in the back. Tonight, however, I had too much on my mind. I had the club to worry about, and Enzo and my brothers in prison.
The fact that four of my brothers were dead now was a thought that I had pushed way back in my head. I couldn’t mourn their deaths just yet, not properly anyway. This shit we were in right now, had to be sorted out first.
Running my hand furiously through my hair, I tried to concentrate on the drink in my hand and ideas for our club to get away from the ATF heat.
I must have gotten myself pretty lost in my own thoughts because I hadn’t noticed when a guy had walked up to the woman I’d been drooling over minutes ago. It was only when I heard his loud voice some distance away from me that I looked over and saw him.
He seemed like a native in these surroundings, and perhaps the perfect match for this glamorous woman. He was flirting with her, and the more I looked, the more I couldn’t decide if she was flirting back. Either way, I had spent a good few minutes staring at them talking, and it was then that I realized that I was actually jealous.
I hadn’t even spoken to her. I had barely even looked at her, and yet somehow, as she spoke to this other guy, I could feel rage and jealousy pumping through my veins.
Chapter 6
Ensley
