“Is that the kick-ass Chevelle?”
“Yep,” the tattooed guy replies with one arm holding his girl and his hand resting against her stomach. “It’s sweet as fuck now too.”
“There’s something bittersweet about finishing a project and having to start on something else,” Nick says as the waitress returns with two beers.
“Hey, Nicky,” she purrs. “Haven’t seen you in a while. Missed you around here.” As she places the beers on the table, she leans forward, putting her tits right in his face.
He doesn’t seem fazed and does nothing to move out of their orbit. “Been busy, Corinne,” he says dismissively.
“You shouldn’t work so hard.” She doesn’t move back and sure as hell doesn’t move her giant tits out of his face. “If you need to relax—”
“Relaxin’ now,” he cuts her off. “Hanging with my family and my girl.” He ticks his head toward me. “So, while I appreciate the offer, it’s a no.”
My girl. My mouth opens and closes as my eyes widen. Unless I’m hearing things, he called me his girl, and to say I’m shocked is an understatement.
She raises her hand and twists a finger around a lock of his hair that’s fallen against his forehead. “When you get done playing with girls, you know where to find a real woman,” she says, grinning down at him, almost salivating.
“Noted,” he mutters.
The man next to Gigi, with a heavy beard and colorful ink covering his arms, clears his throat. “We could take another round, ’Rin.”
Her gaze flickers to him, but her tits are still in Nick’s face. “Coming right up, Pike.” She winks his way before sauntering off.
“I hate that triflin’ bitch,” Gigi mutters. “I really want to pop her in the tits and then her face.”
“Darlin’,” the man next to her says, lifting her hand to his lips, kissing her fingers. “No fighting. She’s not worth it.”
“My hormones make me ragey, and she’s a thirsty bitch for the way she talks to all the guys even while y’all are sitting next to us.”
The other woman at the table laughs. “Girl, you know the hormones are ridiculous when you’re preggers, and yes, she’s extremely thirsty.”
“Thirsty?” I ask, confused. “And wait, so if you’re all cousins, then…”
The woman laughs. “We girls are Nicky’s blood cousins, and the men are our husbands—which, by default and legally, makes them his cousins too.”
“Phew,” I mumble, laughing softly. “That would’ve been awkward otherwise.”
“We’re in the Deep South, Jo, but we’re not backward. My guy, Mammoth,” Tamara says, running her fingernails across his arm that’s around her middle, “was in an MC, and he and Pike go way back.”
“MC?” I ask.
“Motorcycle club.”
I swallow, letting my gaze rake over the men for far too long, but not out of lust.
“Anyway,” she sighs, continuing without making a comment about how I’m staring a little too much, “they’re not anymore. Want to know more?”
Nick pushes the beer in front of me. “You’re going to need this because nothing Tamara does is quick, especially talking.”
“Fucker,” she mutters, narrowing her eyes.
“I’ll tell her,” Gigi offers. “Lily and Tamara can talk for hours, giving you a headache like you never knew existed. Pike and Mammoth were in an MC but aren’t anymore, as she said. Mammoth, Tamara, and Nick work at an auto body shop together, but they also own it. Pike, Lily, and I work together at our family’s tattoo parlor, and Jett works for our uncles at their security company. I’m married to Pike, Tamara’s married to Mammoth, and Lily is married to Jett. We’re only four out of the eleven cousins in our family, but we’re the oldest and best.”
Tamara laughs. “I’m pretty sure Mello and Rocco would disagree.”
“Those two little bastards disagree with everything,” Lily rolls her eyes. “The older they get, the more trouble they become.”
“They’re boys, baby. That’s what we do,” her man, Jett, says as he slides his arm around the back of her chair, resting his hand on her shoulder.
“So, what do you do, Jo?” Tamara asks, moving back to me, making my head spin.
I lift the beer to my lips, taking a sip while I try to figure out a good way to answer the question. All eyes at the table are still on me except Nick’s.
“You don’t have to answer any questions,” he tells me as I guzzle the beer like I’m a professional drinker.
“I work in PR,” I tell them as soon as I stop drinking and come up for air.
“Really?” Tamara gasps.
“Yeah.” I smile, lying like it’s second nature.
And it almost is, especially with parents like mine. They wouldn’t know the truth if it smacked them in the face and left a mark.
Tamara perks up, resting her chin on her hand. “I have a degree in marketing. It’s what I do at the garage. Which firm? Maybe I’ve heard of it.”
I shake my head, turning the bottle in my hands, trying not to make it completely obvious that I’m fumbling for an answer. “It’s a small boutique house in LA, serving only a few select clients.”
“Do you work with celebrities?” Her eyes get wide. “You have to tell me who.”
“One or two, maybe.” I smile nervously. “But we have strict NDAs.”
“NDA?” she asks, blinking.
“Nondisclosure agreements.”
“Damn,” she hisses. “That sucks.”
“Yeah,” I mutter, nodding slowly. “Totally.”
“Are we done with the third degree?” Nick asks, staring down his cousins.
Gigi peers over the rim of her drink. “It’s called small talk, Nicky. You should try it sometime.”
I let out a giggle at his nickname and the fact that they’re quick to put him in his place. And when Nick’s eyes swing my way, I slap my hand across my mouth, trying to stifle the sound.
“Something funny?”
I shake my head, holding my hand against my mouth to stop myself from laughing louder.
He stares at me for a moment, our eyes locked. His face is serious while mine is contorted as I try to fight off the giggle, but the look on his face only makes it harder.
“Let me show you how small talk works,” Gigi tells him and turns her gaze toward her cousin Tamara. “How was work today?”
“Uneventful. Finished a car. Worked on some ads.”
Her husband kisses her temple. “Don’t let her fool you. She started a massive ad campaign that already has the phone ringing off the hook.”
“Thanks, Sparky.” She smiles, melting into his touch.
“Big deal,” Lily, the quieter of the three cousins, announces. “I pierced ten peens this week and so many nips, I lost count.”
“Peens and nips?” I ask.
“Cocks and tits,” Tamara answers. “Lily isn’t into ink like Gigi and Pike, but she is one of the best damn body piercers in the area.”