“I can’t, Skylar,” I choke out and gently push her away.
“It’s fine,” she says, holding her head high. “You can’t be let down when you don’t have any expectations, and I learned a long time ago not to expect a damn thing from you.”
She turns away before the tears in her eyes fall. I hate that I’m the reason she’s upset, but she deserves far more than I can offer her. Sure, a lot of these guys have ol’ ladies, and they know how this club works. They were brought up around it, though. They know all about this life. Skylar doesn’t, and even if she can handle being here, it doesn’t mean she belongs here.
“Good night, Skylar,” I say, for once not walking out without saying anything.
I close her door behind me, this time not slamming it shut. As I walk down the hall, Dash comes out of the bathroom, and I nearly gag at the smell coming out of there. I spot a pink toiletry bag, some makeup on the counter, and even a couple of tampons. It annoys me that Skylar has to share this bathroom with a bunch of men, even if it’s only short-term.
“Get that fucking shithole cleaned up!” I order, and he frowns.
“What the hell, Ja‒”
“You have a damn guest using that bathroom now, for fuck’s sake! Clean it up, Prospect!” He grumbles a little but starts bagging up the garbage. “It better be fucking spotless!”
I hear him mumbling that the other prospect should help him. Instead of going back to the bar, I go to my room, no longer in the mood for company. I pull my phone out of my pocket, and it only takes a few minutes of searching to find what I’m looking for.
Skylar’s house is being auctioned on Friday. I screenshot the details, not quite sure what my plan is, but knowing I’ll do everything in my power to get the house. Maybe I can even find the answers as to exactly what her dad was doing with that damn money. The sooner I can ensure she’s safe, the sooner she can get back to her life away from the Bastards.
Away from me.
After digging through my belongings yet again, I’m tempted to unpack, but I fear that once I do that, I’m settling in — I don’t want to settle in here. I’m not quite ready to give up on the hope that I’ll be leaving this place very soon. Hunter assured me he would have me in a new place by the weekend, and that’s only a couple of days away.
I dig a bit more, and I’m able to find a pair of scrubs and tennis shoes. I’m officially going in to work with Dr. Henson today. I’ll fill out my paperwork at the clinic and get started. At least, I think that’s the plan. It doesn’t feel like I have any say-so in my life right now.
I leave the pizza box with half the pizza from last night on my bed, figuring I’ll clean up later, and head to the bathroom to finish getting ready. I expect the bathroom to be as disgusting as it’s been since I got here, but I’m shocked to find it clean.
There are no chin pubes in the sink, and the toilet seat is down, the water blue, indicating some sort of cleaner is being used. The trash can is empty, and a plug-in air freshener has the small room smelling like clean linens. Jake walks by and stops, sticking his head in as though he’s surveying the place.
“Did you do this?” I ask.
“Clean the bathroom? Fuck no,” he answers with a grin and starts to walk off. He stops and looks back. “I hope it’ll be good enough for you until you get your own place.”
I give him a slight nod, letting him know it will be. Jake Presley is an enigma. Our whole damn relationship is an enigma. He pushes me away, yet pulls me back in. I want to hate him, but I never stopped loving him.
Pushing thoughts of our weird dynamic out of my mind, I pull my hair into a ponytail and brush my teeth. Once I get finished up in the bathroom, I go out back to the clinic. Surprisingly, there is already a couple of cars parked beside it. I’m not sure what I expected, but I guess this place is going to surprise me.
I open the door and step inside, spotting the doctor with a patient in the first treatment room. The elderly man flashes me a kind smile and waves me over. Yep, definitely not what I expected.
“You must be Ms. Baker.”
“Please, call me Skylar.”
“Skylar it is. There is some paperwork over there on the desk for you to fill out, and then you can get started. Mason said you already took a look around, but I’ll still show you where everything is and answer any questions you may have.”
“I’d like that.”
I go take a seat at the desk and grab a pen from the cup in the corner so I can fill out the paperwork. It doesn’t take me very long, only about ten minutes. Once I’m finished, I turn it face down and go back over to Dr. Henson. He’s at one of the cabinets and he stops what he’s doing to take a few minutes to show me where everything is.
I knew from last night that we have a good stock of medical supplies, but I didn’t realize we kept prescription medicine like birth control, antibiotics, and pain pills here. He gives me a key to the locked cabinet where those meds are kept and pulls out a pack of birth control.
When we return to the treatment room, I recognize the woman as the blonde who was working behind the bar before. She gives me a shy smile and introduces herself as Allie.
“I’m Skylar.”
“You’re Hunter’s sister, right?” she asks, and I nod. “I’m sorry we haven’t already been officially introduced.”
“Are you Hunter’s girlfriend?” I ask, glancing at the pills Dr. Henson is bagging for her.
She blushes and shakes her head. “No, your brother hasn’t claimed an ol’ lady yet.”
Ol’ lady? It’s clear I’m going to have to do more research on motorcycle clubs. For example, do they all wear leather vests with matching symbols like these guys do? And what about these rules? Does each club have their own or are they pretty much standard for every club? Hell, are there even more clubs like this out there?
“Allie, you know the drill with these. I’ll see you in three months for a refill,” Dr. Henson says.
She hops up from the examination table, taking the medicine and grabbing her purse, and it occurs to me he didn’t perform an actual exam on her. Well, not like a gynecologist would.
“See you later, Doc,” Allie says with a smile. “It was nice to officially meet you, Skylar. Maybe we can hang out sometime. Us girls have to stick together around here. Too much testosterone.”
“Oh, that would be nice,” I reply, and we exchange numbers before she walks out of the clinic. Then I turn to face Dr. Henson. “That’s it?”
He frowns. “What more does she need?”
“Is she due for a Pap smear? Breast exam?” I question, and he chuckles.
“I perform those once a year on any female who requests them, just as an OB/GYN does. I also do blood tests for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy tests as well. We have a good, legitimate clinic here, Skylar. We sort of cover everything.”
I feel a little embarrassed about questioning him now. It was highly disrespectful of me. He’s been here doing this much longer than I have. It’s my first day, and I’ve barely been here ten minutes, and I’m already questioning his expertise.
“I apologize, Dr. Henson. I didn’t mean to sound‒”