The layout is simple, but the clubhouse is pretty big.”
“Thanks.” I glance at the room once more before closing the door behind me.
“Some of the girls do yoga in the mornings if you’re into that.” She glances down at my skirt. “Well, maybe not today.”
“No, I would love that. Maybe later. Like, y’all have a class or something?”
“One of the girls is a teacher and she leads classes for Hope, Trinity, and whoever else wants to join them.”
“Dang, I’m impressed.”
“Yeah, Swan does a modified mommy-and-me version for Lilly and me and our little guys too sometimes. It’s fun.”
With Heidi’s longer legs, I have to hurry to keep up with her as we jog downstairs. The living room’s empty this morning. The large wooded double doors opposite from the staircase are firmly closed.
Heidi notices me staring at the doors. “That’s the war room. Members only.”
“Okay.” I mean, I wasn’t plannin’ on barging in to hunt Rooster down, but it’s kinda cute how she’s so protective over the guys’ space.
We make a wide right turn and I’m faced with another long hallway. It’s probably a good thing she came and fetched me after all.
“Bathroom.” She snickers as we walk past another closed door. “That used to be the guys’ champagne room but Hope, Trinity, and Charlotte sort of took it over and turned it into their yoga studio.”
“Champagne…oh, I get it.”
“There’s a gym and another laundry room down that way.” Heidi waves at a hallway to our right.
She stops at a wide set of swinging doors and pushes inside. “Our dining room.”
Two long, rectangular tables are set up in the middle of the room with a bunch of circular tables scattered to the side. Almost looks like the kind of cafeteria you’d expect in a fancy-pants private high school. Not that I’d know anything about such places.
“We eat family-style on Thursday nights and weekend mornings,” Heidi explains, gesturing to the tables.
To our right, there’s a larger bar than the one out in the living room. A huge Lost Kings MC mural covers the wall behind it. “Impressive.”
She shrugs as she navigates through the dining room. “Kitchen’s back here.”
Our whole house could fit inside the industrial kitchen. There’s lots of counter space, and double ovens, sinks, and a massive silver refrigerator. “Wow.”
“Bikers eat. A lot.” Heidi laughs.
“She’s not wrong,” Trinity says. “Morning, Shelby.”
Busy gawking at the dream-house kitchen, I didn’t even notice the other people in here. “Morning. Heidi just gave me the grand tour.”
“Good. Hope that means we’ll see you up here more often with Rooster.”
“I keep forgetting this isn’t his clubhouse, right? He seems so at home here.”
“Well.” Heidi and Trinity share a look before Trinity continues, “Every brother should feel at home at every charter. But upstate and downstate have gotten especially close recently.”
It’s a vague answer and I know better to ask follow-up questions.
The girl who’d served me the Coke last night waves from the refrigerator.
“Shelby, this is Swan,” Trinity introduces. “I don’t know if you met last night?”
“We did, sort of.” I guess I’d been a little rude not saying hi to her last night. “Mornin’.”
“Welcome,” Swan says.
“You’re the yoga guru too? Heidi told me you teach classes?”
Pink spreads over her cheeks and she drops her gaze. “Yup. I help out around here too.”
Trinity wraps her arm around Swan’s shoulders. “Helps out is a massive understatement.”
A taller, slender dark-haired girl pushes open the kitchen door, nervously glancing at our little group before joining us. “What do you need me to do?”
“Lala,” Trinity says, “This is Rooster’s girl, Shelby. Shelby, Lala’s a friend of the club.”
“Oh!” Lala blinks rapidly. “Hey. You’re the singer, right?”
“She’s the best country singer right now,” Heidi gushes.
“It’s true,” Trinity insists. She taps her finger against her jaw for a second. “I’d say you’re like a like a twenty-something mash-up of Dolly Parton, Etta James, and Taylor Swift.”
My heart’s ready to burst from the compliment. “I might love you forever for comparing me to three of my favorite artists.”
Lala blinks at us. “I don’t know those first two, but you sure do have a Taylor Swift thing going on.” She drops her gaze to my feet. “Minus the gazelle legs.”
Sacrilege! Who doesn’t know who Dolly Parton is? I smile to hide my surprise. Wait a second, did she just call me short?
“Anyway, what do you need me to do?” Lala asks Trinity.
Swan takes her aside, helping her with cartons of orange juice and other drinks for the tables.