Read Destroying Beauty (Hell Hounds Motorcycle Club): Vegas Titans Series for Free Online Page A

years with Steve, you
know?"
    "Yeah, but, like, fuck it." I shake my head at her
with a grin.
    "'Fuck it?' That's your big advice?"
    "Sorry, I'm not like, Mr. Fucking Rogers. But
basically, yeah. So you lost like, what, five years? BFD. Some people are like,
seventy, and have wasted their whole fucking lives."
    I giggle at her. I love that she couches her advice with
that much profanity.
    "So this guy, though, Holt, he has been texting
me," I say, changing the subject. I can only shine a light on my life
choices for so long without beginning to feel uncomfortable.
    "Yeah?"
    "He's been wanting to get together."
    "So you've got him hooked. Nice. Oh, so we're meeting
Dana and Marissa, cool?"
    "Yeah." They're friends of ours from high school
that I haven't seen in a long time.
    "And a couple girlfriends of mine from work might be
joining us." Elise works at a furniture store because she's interested in
interior design. She's the type of person who draws in everyone near her;
everyone wants to be her best friend. It's one of my few points of pride that I
hold the coveted position.
    We drive the last ten minutes together discussing Dana's new
haircut, and I'm happy to lose myself in such an innocuous topic. We park and
breeze by the line out front because Elise knows one of the club's promoters.
What Elise described as a "cocktail place" is definitely a full-out
club. The throbbing bass moves through me as we walk into a crowded space with
a circular bar in the middle. Elise quickly spots our friends at one of the
tables with bottle service and heads over while I follow behind.
    "How'd we score bottle service?" I practically
yell into her ear over the music.
    "Oh, they like to have pretty girls visible!" she
shouts back nonchalantly as we walk up the steps to the table. I notice that
all the bottle service tables are raised above the rest of the club, as though
we are literally what the rest of the people should reach for.
    I say hi to Dana and Marissa, who are both surprised to see
me since I've been such a hermit, and Elise's friend Jewel. Dana and her new
bob haircut pour out vodka cranberries from the bucket in the middle of the
table. I make my way through the first one leaning against the suede couch and
answering noncommittally when asked a direct question, but otherwise just
observing. Jewel returns from the bathroom trailing three clean-cut dudes—dudes
is really the only word for them. They remind me of my ex-husband.
    "Hey," one of them greets me, sliding onto the
couch next to me.
    "Hey," I reply, pouring myself another vodka
cranberry. Light on the cranberry.
    "Whaddaya do?" he yells into my ear, and I wince.
    "Bartender!" I yell back as I down half my drink.
I hate these kind of conversations.
    "You're too sexy to be a bartender!" he says,
sliding one hand onto my thigh.
    What does that even mean? I shrug and move my leg over.
    My phone starts shining like a beacon in my purse as he
tells me about his job as an accountant. Holt…lips…muscles…my eyes are making
more contact with my purse than this guy's face. Maybe Holt doesn't care that I
started crying.
    "Excuse me," I murmur, reaching into my purse and
pulling out my phone. There's no text from Holt waiting for me, as there has
been for the last several days. He's been quite persistent, which surprised me.
Both because of how I acted, and because I'm sure a guy like him has women
throwing themselves at him all the time.
    Hey, you busy tonight? I type and press send. I'm
about to tuck it back into my purse when I feel it vibrate in my hands.
    I could get away.
    I google the nightclub's address and text it back to him
without explanation, then turn back to the guy. I feel much happier to make
conversation now that I know Holt is on his way. The guy's really perfectly
nice, and I wave Dana over because I think they'd make a much better pairing. I
loop her into the conversation and then extricate myself once I feel her taking
over.
    "You hiding over here?" Elise