average human’s Reviews > So This Is Love > Status Update

“Reid!” Mac yelled as she waved, catching his attention at the other end of the bar.
He nodded at her. Then his eyes shifted to me and stayed there for a moment before he had to focus on finishing what he was doing.
Mac looked back at Lemon, who was pressed close, staring over our shoulders at the bar. “We’re starting with a shot. After that, do you want a beer or something sweet?”
“I’ll take something sweet,” Lemon said.
Mac next looked to Wyatt and Roe, who were standing behind the three of us. Because the music was loud, Mac made a gesture of drinking something. They must have answered, because she nodded.
“Mac, I’ll pay,” I said loudly so she would hear me.
She glanced at the money in my hand, then behind us at the guys again. She smiled and leaned close. “You can try.”
Before I could ask what she meant by that, Reid came over.
“Three shots of Fireball to start. Then can you mix us up something sweet?” Mac asked.
“I want what you made us last time,” I said.
Reid glanced at me and nodded.
“Oh, and we’ll need whatever beers your brother-husbands want,” Mac added.
He flipped her off before grabbing three shot glasses and filling them with Fireball. Mac grabbed those and handed one each to Lemon and me. Mac clinked Lemon’s little glass, then mine, before throwing hers back. Lemon heavily exhaled first before downing hers. When Reid returned with bottled beers for Roe and Wyatt, I swallowed down my shot with a grimace.
Lemon set her glass back on the bar. “I feel like my insides have been purified.”
Mac laughed and I smiled.
“I like the burn,” Mac yelled over the music.
Reid returned shortly with our mixed drinks. Mac grabbed Lemon’s and passed it back to her. As I slid mine toward me, I tried to pay Reid. He stared down at the hundred in my hand. Then he glanced over my shoulder at Roe and Wyatt before walking away without taking the money.
Mac laughed, having watched the whole interaction.
Stunned, I turned around to look at the guys. They were staring anywhere but at me as they sipped their beers.
Mac leaned close. “Just put your money away and have a good time, like they want you to.”
I stuffed my money back in my wristlet and scooped up my drink.
We walked away from the bar and managed to snag a table. There were only four chairs. Lemon and Mac each took one. Wyatt and Roe took the other two and Wyatt sat me in his lap. To get more comfortable, I laid my arm over his shoulders.
“How much of a dance partner are you going to be tonight?” Mac shouted across the table.
“I can dance a little,” I said over the music.
Mac glanced at Lemon. “You’ll dance with me, right?”
Lemon smiled. “I’d love to dance with you!” She pointed at her drink. “But after I drink this.” She sipped away while taking everything in, from all the Haven’s Rebels to the ladies either here with the bikers or trying to get their attention. There also seemed to be a huge party of girls with three tables pushed together celebrating something, or maybe just here for a girls’ night. Bram and Vivian were in a corner booth with a few other bikers and their partners.
When the band had finished and a new band was setting up to play, it became a lot quieter. We were talking about grabbing one more round of drinks as Bash and Theo each pulled up a chair to our table and joined us without asking. Bash sat between Mac and Roe. Theo had pushed his chair between Lemon and me and Wyatt. As they sat, they set brand new beers in front of Roe and Wyatt and another round of our cocktails in front of us girls.
Mac, who had finished her drink, smiled. “Thanks, prospects.”
Lemon looked from Theo to Bash. “Thank you.”
Theo nodded at her.
“Yeah, thank you,” I said. “Bram didn’t send you over, did he?”
Bash shook his head. “Just thought you would be better company.” He grinned at Roe and Wyatt, who were frowning. “Relax, guys. Not after your girl, I promise. We’re just here to hang out.”
Roe and Wyatt glanced at each other before reluctantly thanking them for the beers.
“Speaking of you two going after a girl, I’m surprised you didn’t hit up the party of girls a few tables over,” Mac said. “You know why they’re here.”
“Everyone in this bar knows why they’re here,” Bash said.
“I don’t know why,” I said.
“I don’t, either,” Lemon said.
“Pretty much everyone knows this bar is where the club likes to hang, apart from the clubhouse,” Roe explained.
Lemon and I exchanged confused glances.
Mac sighed. “They’re just ignorant girls who think the club is nothing but a bunch of dangerous men and they want a taste.”
“Ah,” Lemon said, understanding. “They want the bad-boy experience.”
Mac nodded. “For a night, at least.”
“A lot of them are from the north side of the bridge,” Roe said.
“South-side girls who don’t have any connection to the club come around with the same intentions, too,” Mac said. “It’s nothing new. It’s probably been happening since the club was created.”
I went still.
Wyatt moved my hair away from my neck so he could kiss me just below my ear. “What’s wrong, joint thief?”
I shook my head. “Do the members of the club indulge them?”
“You mean, do we pretend that we don’t know what they’re after and fuck them anyway?” Bash asked bluntly.
I nodded.
Bash looked around the room. He even eyed Roe and Wyatt. “I’m pretty sure every guy in this bar has.”
I schooled my face as I glanced at Roe and Wyatt for confirmation.
Wyatt sighed at the ceiling.
Roe glared at Bash. “Thanks for that.”
“When they get drunk enough, they don’t just go after the bikers. They go after their sons, too,” Mac explained with an apologetic expression. Then she turned her attention to the guys. “I’m sure they bat their eyes at you boys and ask if you are going to be a Haven’s Rebel someday just like Daddy.”
All four of them, including Theo, looked at her in disgust.
“Am I wrong?” Mac asked.
When no one said anything, Lemon snorted. She seemed to be really enjoying herself.
“I was asking because I’m pretty sure my mother was one of those girls. A rich girl just looking for a taste of danger. It’s kind of gross. To know I was conceived this way.” I shot Roe and Wyatt a look. “It’s very, very gross.” The more I thought about them sleeping with some girl in that manner, the more it pissed me off. “Were they pretty?” My jealousy surprised me as much as them.
Bash snorted. “Don’t answer that.”
“You’re not helping,” Wyatt grumbled.
“It’s not much better when you’re conceived out of love, either, Lottie,” Lemon said. “Besides, your dad wouldn’t be a good guy if he loved a woman like your mother.”
That was true. “Why is it not better to be conceived out of love?”
“Because sometimes, when a man loves a woman so much and their child kills that woman during childbirth, he ends up hating that child and not wanting anything to do with her.”
There was a second of stunned silence around the table before the new band started playing. Mac and I exchanged a look and stood at the same time.
“Time to dance!” Mac said as she held her hand out to Lemon.
Lemon took one more big drink before getting up. They waited for me to catch up and the three of us headed to the dance floor.
I was able to dance for two songs before I had to tap out. Putting a hand on my side, I made my way off the dance floor. Just as I cleared the crowd and could see the table where the guys were, I froze. There were two girls sitting in Mac’s and Lemon’s seats at the table. They looked to be mostly talking with Bash. Theo was ignoring them completely. Wyatt and Roe were trying to just talk to each other. As if sensing me watching, they both looked my way.
Before I could start heading toward our table again, a guy not wearing a Haven’s Rebel cut stepped into my line of sight. “You look lost, beautiful.” He was tall, in his early twenties, with buzz-cut dirty blond hair and arms full of tattoos. He wasn’t bad-looking.
“I’m not,” I said.
“I haven’t seen you around here before.” He glanced at the table where the party of girls were. “Are you here with your friends?”
I snorted. He thought I was here to fuck a member, or by the looks of him, a son of one.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
I didn’t get a chance to tell him. A hand came down on my head. Just from that, I knew who it was before he asked, “Are you hurting?”
I turned toward Bram. “I’m fine. Just a little sore.”
Nodding, he dropped his hand from my head and stared at the guy who’d approached me. “I see you’ve met my daughter, Nash.”
Nash’s eyes went a little wide. “Your daughter?”
“Yes,” Bram said. “Not only is she my daughter, but she’s taken. Both of her boyfriends are right behind you.”
Nash turned, spotting Roe and Wyatt standing right behind him, not really looking friendly. Nash gave Bram a confused look. “Boyfriends?”
“Just move along, Nash,” Bram said.
Still looking baffled, Nash listened and walked off.
“When will you be home tonight?” Bram asked me.
“Would you be mad if I didn’t come home until morning?” I asked.
His eyes closed as if in pain. It looked like he took a calming breath before opening them again. He leaned close. “Do we need to have a talk about sex?”
My brows rose. “It’s a little late for that.”
“I mean are you being safe and responsible about it?” he asked.
Oh. “Yes, I am.”
He nodded. “Make sure you have your phone.”
“I will.”
He kissed the top of my head before heading back to the booth he was sitting at with Vivian.
I walked over to my guys and smiled. “Were you coming to chase that guy away?”
“We saw Bram heading toward you, but wanted to come get you anyway,” Wyatt said.
“He thought I came with them,” I told them as I nodded toward the table of girls. “What’s a sweet butt? Donnie called me that last time I was here.”
Wyatt glanced at Roe.
“Uh,” Roe said. “It’s like a groupie that hangs around the club.”
“They kind of have sex with any members who are interested. They get passed around a lot,” Wyatt said.
I looked from one to the other. “Have you⁠—?”
“No!” they said loudly, making sure I clearly heard them over the music.
I needed a drink. “I’m very happy you don’t want to join the club.”
They smiled at that and we walked back to our table.
The two girls were still there talking to Bash and Theo. Well, Bash mostly. Theo was silently staring at the dance floor.
As we sat, Roe pulled me into his lap. The girls eyed me and Roe. Both were blondes. One was more strawberry blonde while the other was more of a platinum.
“I thought you two were in a relationship?” Strawberry said to Roe and Wyatt.
“We are,” Wyatt said.
“We thought you meant you two were together,” Platinum said.
Bash snorted.
I scooped up my drink to hide my smile. It was almost empty.
“It looks like just he’s in a relationship,” Strawberry said to Wyatt while tilting her head at Roe.
Wyatt took my empty glass from my hand and kissed me on the lips. “I’ll get you another.” He leaned close to Roe. “You want another beer? I’m switching to water so I can drive.”
Roe nodded.

Platinum smiled at me. “Good for you, girl!” She leaned close to Strawberry and said something I couldn’t hear over the music before getting up and leaving.
Strawberry remained and continued to shoot her shot with Bash. “So is your dad a Haven’s Rebel, too?” she asked Bash.
I nearly laughed at her asking the daddy question that Mac had just told us about earlier. But as the laugh started to come out, I remembered who Bash and Theo’s dad had been and what had happened to him. To stop myself, I ended up making a choking noise and I tried to cover it up with coughing, which in turn made me wince and grab at my side.
“Are you all right?” Roe asked.
I cleared my throat and nodded.
Bash was giving me a look like he knew what I’d been trying to cover up, but didn’t look mad. “No,” he answered her simply.
“Oh.” For a moment, Strawberry appeared unsure how to proceed. “What made you want to become a Rebel?”
Bash stared down at his beer bottle as he picked at the label. He didn’t look like he wanted to answer that. “Because I love motorcycles.” His words felt like a lie.
He didn’t seem interested in Strawberry, but he clearly didn’t want to hurt her feelings, either.
“Theo, will you go keep an eye on Lemon? I’m worried she’ll get separated from Mac,” I said, butting into something I knew I shouldn’t.
Theo didn’t respond. He just got up and headed toward Mac and Lemon, almost as if he had been waiting for an excuse to go.
Brows raised, Bash watched him leave before he also stood. “Nice talking to you,” he said to Strawberry without sparing her another glance.
Her mouth was slightly ajar as she watched him walk off.
I wanted to tell her that she was better off. Then she tossed a dirty look toward me like it was my fault. Had I known Bash would follow Theo? I’d had a pretty good feeling he would, based on how much time we’d spent together the past week. For the most part, where one brother went, the other followed. I’d thought that giving them an escape would push Bash to be more direct in turning her down. She would’ve been embarrassed later if he continued to string her along like that. At least, I would be. I supposed walking away was as direct as one could get.
Wyatt returned. He noticed that the twins were gone and Strawberry was glaring at me. “What’d I miss?” He handed me my drink and Roe a new beer.
Strawberry finally got up and stormed off.
“That was very awkward,” Roe said before taking a drink.
“I was only trying to help. That’s what I get for meddling.” I glanced over to the group of ladies. I didn’t want to judge them. People should fuck whoever they wanted. But when I saw them, I saw Mother. She looked down on everyone, especially the club, and yet she’d had no problem sleeping with my father.
“They can be persistent sometimes,” Roe said.
Wyatt nodded. “You try to turn them down politely and they still don’t give up.”
I completely understood how that felt.
A few hours went by. More drinks were drunk. Mac and Lemon would go back and forth from the dance floor and our table. Theo seemed content in following them around. Bash followed Theo, appearing baffled each time.
We reached a point where Mac, Lemon, and I were really drunk. The giggly no-filter kind.
Mac talked about Miles, who was now her ex after only a few weeks of dating. He’d been seeing other girls and the one time they’d slept together, he’d been selfish about it. Which made her earlier comments make sense.
“What a cock-flopper!” Lemon yelled, making Mac and me laugh even though it hurt for me to do so.
Meanwhile, Roe, Wyatt, and the twins quietly watched and listened to us.
I began to tell the girls about my two-minute first-time experience, but Wyatt covered my mouth. “Nope! I can’t hear about you with another dude, pathetic as he was. Please save it for a girls-only night.”
Lemon and Mac awwed at him.
I pulled his hand away and said, “Fine. I have to use the restroom anyway.”
“I’ll go with you,” Mac said as she stood.
“Me, too,” Lemon said, standing next.
As she went to step away from her chair, she tripped and stumbled toward Theo. His arms went out to catch her. He ended up grabbing her by the hip and wrist.
Lemon’s free hand went to his shoulder. “Oops. My foot hit the leg of the chair.” She straightened. “Thank you, Theo.”
As I passed Bash, I noticed him staring at Lemon and Theo. I couldn’t read his expression, but he didn’t blink until Lemon walked away.
I took the lead as we made our way around people. Just as we approached the hall that led to the bathrooms, I spotted Reid out from behind the bar. Roe had mentioned he was getting off work soon, but I had no idea how long ago that was. I stopped walking when I noticed he was talking to someone.
Not just someone. One of Strawberry’s and Platinum’s friends.
At my sudden stop, one of the girls bumped into me.
“Why’d you stop?” Mac grumbled before they both came to stand on either side of me.
The girl talking with Reid was gorgeous. She had long blue-black hair, flawless porcelain skin, Jessica Rabbit curves. She held a martini in one hand and reached out to grab Reid’s left one with her other. She tried to bring his up to look at it. As she spoke and tugged on his hand, she rubbed his ring finger as if trying to feel for something.
He pulled his hand away and folded his arms across his chest. She didn’t take the hint and ran her pretty, almond-shaped nail over one of his tattoos by his elbow.
“Mac, I’m trying to act rational, but I’ve been drinking and I’m not okay with this,” I said.
“I wouldn’t be, either,” Mac said. “And I would do something about it.”
My feet started walking before I could stop them. Reid noticed me when I was a few feet away and stoically watched me make the girl step back by slipping between them, facing her.
“Hi, I’m sorry to break this up.” I reached up and behind me to put my hand over Reid’s face. I felt the corners of his mouth stretch against my palm. “But this is mine,” I told her as nicely as I could.
I heard Mac snort.
“You’re very pretty,” I continued. “I’m sure you’d be able to get anyone else.”
She arched a brow as she looked me up and down. “He didn’t say he had a girlfriend.”
That one comment wiped all niceties away. “I’m assuming you have a point.”
“Maybe he’s looking for someone better,” she said.
“The fuck?” Mac gaped angrily.
Reid grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand from his face. He released it and I let my arm relax back down to my side as I tried very hard not to give in to the anger bubbling inside me.
“I see me calling you pretty has gone to your head,” I said.
“I didn’t need you to call me pretty. I already fucking know that I am,” she fired back.
Her attitude grated. “Right,” I forced out calmly before stepping out of the way. I gestured to Reid as I smirked at her. “Please proceed. Let’s see if you are all that you say you are.”
It appeared she hadn’t expected that. The confidence she’d been exuding wavered. She stared at Reid, who was now expressionless, but I could feel how pissed off he was.
Then the girl threw what was left of her martini at me. All I could do was brace to get wet. Reid moved in front of me so fast, his bicep and shoulder were what got soaked.
Then there was a scream. Reid moved out of the way and suddenly the girl was on the floor with Mac on top of her, smacking her and ripping out her hair. Lemon watched wide-eyed. Reid rushed over to them and pulled Mac off her.
“You came into the wrong fucking bar to pull that shit, bitch!” Mac screamed at her as she fought Reid to get free.
The girl got up off the floor, lip bleeding and hair a mess. She wiped away the blood from her chin. She stared down at it on her hand, then glared at Mac. “As expected from a low-class skank from the wrong side of the bridge.”
I had been punched many times in my life. So I was pretty sure I knew how to throw one. When she said that, I made a fist and swung. It didn’t matter how much my ribs hurt. My adrenaline surged through me and I hit her. Hard enough to feel a crack.
She fell to the ground, blood gushing from her nose. I shook my hand, trying to ease the hurt, before kneeling in front of her. “When you go home to complain to Mommy and Daddy about what happened here, tell them it was Charlotte Kendry who hit you. Enjoy the fucking rhinoplasty.”
Her eyes went wide with recognition, and those wide eyes didn’t leave me even as I stood and walked away. Only when I was storming off did I realize that a crowd had formed. Thankfully, people moved out of my path. I’d been on my way to the bathroom, but I needed some air.
I went straight out the back entrance. Thankfully, no one was outside. I turned my face toward the night sky and just breathed as I rubbed my sore hand.
With my back to it, I heard the bar’s door open. Loud music poured out before it was muffled by the door closing. I turned to see who had come out.
Reid was standing a few feet away, watching me. His gaze dropped to my hands. “How bad is your hand?”
I let them relax at my sides. “Are you here to see how I am or lecture me for what I just did?”
“Why would I lecture you?”
“Maybe someone should. For drinking. For hitting someone.” Feeling cold, I hugged myself. “I’m waiting to feel guilty for what I just did, but I don’t. Maybe I will in the morning when I’m sober.”
“The only thing you’re going to wake up with is a swollen hand if we don’t get some ice on it soon.”
“If I don’t feel guilty, am I just like my mother?” I asked him.
“The fact that you’re even worried about that means you’re not,” he said, sounding angry. “I’ve gotten in fights before. One time, some dude got handsy with Mac while she was working. I kicked the shit out of him. Does that mean I’m like my father?”
I shook my head.
He took a step closer. “I’m pretty sure you got your right hook from your father. Not your mother.”
I hoped he was right. “Did you at least try to turn that girl down?”
“I told her I wasn’t interested. She was...” He trailed off as if trying to find the right word.
“Persistent?” I offered. “I saw her grab your hand.”
“She went looking for a wedding ring because no wasn’t a good enough answer,” he explained. “I could have handled it, but it was adorable watching you stake your claim on me.”
I turned away from him. “I’ve been drinking. People do strange things while they’re drunk.”
I heard him step closer until I could feel the heat of him right behind me. His hand smoothed over my hip to rest flat and low on my stomach. “You sound pretty with it to me.” With his other hand, he grabbed my sore one and brought it up over my shoulder to look at it.
“What I just did was sobering,” I said.
His lips pressed to my knuckles. I turned my head to look up and back at him. His eyes met mine before dropping to my mouth. As he leaned down to kiss me, the back entrance to the bar opened. Reid straightened and released me. We both turned to see Roe and Wyatt walking out.
They looked back and forth between Reid and me with curious eyes.
“Mac just told us what happened,” Roe said as they approached. “Are you hurt?”
“She’ll need to ice her hand,” Reid answered for me.
“I bet she does. We saw that girl’s nose,” Wyatt said.
The back entrance opened again. Mac and Lemon walked out with the twins.
Mac came over, handed me my wristlet, and hugged me. “Thank you for defending me.”
I hugged her back. “You defended me first.”
Mac pulled away. “Do you think Rich Girl will cause problems?”
I shook my head. “I made sure she wouldn’t.” And if she did, she’d come after me. I had more power to deal with that girl and her family than Mac did.

“Is that why you told her who you were?” Mac asked.
I nodded.
Lemon came up to us. “If her parents have any business dealings or want to in the future with Sullivan Kendry, Lottie’s grandfather, they’ll ignore this. If that girl is smart, she won’t even tell anyone what went down tonight.”
I was probably only going to be a Kendry for another month. I might as well enjoy the perks while I could.
“We were talking about hitting up C&Bs with the twins,” Mac said. “I always crave greasy food after drinking.”
I frowned. “C&Bs?”
“Checkerboards & Bricks—the diner we took you to,” Wyatt explained.
Oh. I glanced at the guys, feeling torn. I was kind of ready to end the night.
“We can take them if you’re not up for it,” Bash said. “I could eat.”
I glanced at the girls. “I’m a little tired. Would you be okay with that?”
They both nodded.
“We’re good with it,” Mac said and then smiled. “Lemon’s going to stay the night, but you probably won’t see her until the morning.”
I fought not to smile. “Probably not.”
The four of them took off after that. Mac rode on the back of Bash’s motorcycle and Lemon rode with Theo. We watched them drive off and when the rumbling of the motorcycles could barely be heard, I heard Reid ask, “You guys okay to drive?”
“Yeah, I stopped a while ago,” Wyatt said.
Reid nodded. “I’m going to head home, then.”
We parted ways after that.
I got really tired on the drive back to Roe and Wyatt’s house. As we walked inside, I asked, “Who am I sleeping with? Or can we all just sleep together? Because that’s all we’re doing. Sleeping.”
“Let me get ice for your hand and we can all stay in my room,” Roe said.
Wyatt and I headed down the hall while Roe went into the kitchen. Before going into Roe’s room, Wyatt said he’d meet me in there in a minute.
Right when I got inside, I sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh. I sent a quick text to Bram to let him know I was okay and going to bed. Then I set my phone and wristlet on the nightstand. I lay back.
Roe came into the room before Wyatt. He handed me a reusable ice pack. I put it across my knuckles. Without asking, Roe helped me remove my shoes and socks.
“You could strip me, too,” I half joked.
“If I do that, I’m going to have a hard time keeping my hands off you,” he said. “But if you need me to, I’ll try.”
“I don’t think my vagina can take another round,” I said. “We had so much sex, I can still feel you there.”
He ran a hand down the side of his face as he groaned.
“I’ll help her,” Wyatt said as he walked in wearing nothing but navy sweatpants low on his hips and holding a T-shirt in his hand.
Roe went over to his closet to get changed.
Wyatt came over and tossed the shirt next to me on the bed. As he did, I noticed a small butterfly tattoo on the inside of his upper arm. “That’s for you to wear tonight,” he said about the shirt he’d brought. His hands went to the top of my leggings. “Ready?”
I lifted my hips and he pulled my leggings down, leaving my black thong still on.
“Let’s sit up, beautiful,” Wyatt said.
I took his hand and sat up. After I set the ice pack aside, I lifted my arms so he could pull my crop top off. As he reached behind me and unclasped my bra, I felt below my neck for my necklace. Thankfully, it was still on.
With my bra undone, I took it off the rest of the way and held it up to Wyatt. He slowly, distractedly took it, which made me look up at him. His eyes were glued to my chest.
I smiled and grabbed the shirt he’d brought me. “Would you like me to arch back a little to give you a better view?”
Wyatt’s eyes jumped to mine and he grinned. “Since you asked⁠—”
“No teasing, Lottie, or I’ll make sure you feel me between your legs all day tomorrow, too,” Roe warned.
I was tempted to take him up on that offer, but then I yawned. Wyatt set my clothes neatly on Roe’s desk, then snatched the shirt from me and helped me put it on.
Wyatt took the spot closest to the wall in the bed. I lay next to him with my ice pack on my hand. Roe climbed into bed on my other side. I was able to stay up for another twenty minutes talking with them while I iced my hand, but then drifted off.