*
The exhilaration from earlier in the day had worn off and been replaced by a twisting dread. Clover had found the address of the Snakepit, and they opened at 5 p.m., so she figured that was when Sapphire would be showing up, whether she was working there or hanging out there these days.
Clover had arranged a ride home for her brother and sisters, and very reluctantly cancelled her evening “honey tasting” with Sam. And she’d refused to tell him where she was going.
If this relationship with Sam was going to progress, she needed to know why he had refused to let Jeffrey marry Sapphire. She was starting to have her suspicions. Something smelled fishy about this whole set-up.
She arrived at the Snakepit at 4:45, and it definitely lived up to its name. It was a squat, ugly concrete block building painted a brownish-crimson. The side of the building had been peppered with bullet holes, the yellowing windows were cracked, and one of them had been covered over with wooden boards that were adorned with graffiti.
She parked next to a row of motorcycles and climbed out. Did she actually want to go in there?
Glancing around the parking lot, she realized that she wouldn’t need to. Sapphire was standing with her back to Clover…passionately kissing a biker with long, greasy brown hair and a ratty beard. A jackal shifter, by the scent of him. She was holding a beer in her left hand, and had her right arm around the biker’s waist.
The biker wore a jacket that announced his allegiance to the Skullriders – the kind of gang that gave bikers a bad name. Drug running, prostitution, weapons smuggling – that was what they were known for.
“Sapphire?” Clover was boiling with fury.
Sapphire spun around with a screech of outrage and dropped her beer on the ground.
“What the hell? You’re spying on me?” she screamed.
“You’re pregnant and you’re making out with some random dude and drinking alcohol?” Clover cried out, outraged. Good God. This baby was going to be born with two heads.
“You’re pregnant? Get the fuck off me!” The biker leaped back in horror. He couldn’t have been more horrified if Clover had announced that Sapphire had highly contagious leprosy.
“No, no, no!” Sapphire wailed, rushing towards him. He backed up quickly. “Baby, I’m not pregnant! I swear!”
“Bullshit. You showed me the goddamn pregnancy test.” Clover glowered at her sister.
“Fuck this. You didn’t say nothing about no fuckin’ baby. I’m outta here.” The man turned and headed for his bike.
Sapphire ran after him, wailing. “No, baby, you don’t understand! It was a scam! I’m not pregnant, I swear! I was dating this rich dude and my friend was preggo, so I snagged her pregnancy test and made a copy and just put my name on it! He was totally on the hook, and then his asshole brother found out, and—”
The man leaped onto his motorcycle and roared off, his bike kicking up a cloud of dirt as he screeched out of the parking lot. Sapphire whirled around and screamed at Clover, eyes blazing with fury.
“You! You ruin everything!” Tears were streaming down her face, leaving black rivers of mascara.
Clover barely restrained herself from hauling off and socking her in the face. She’d dropped everything to run to Sapphire’s rescue, and dragged her brother and sisters with her…for nothing.
“You are disgusting. And you are not coming anywhere near me or any of the kids, ever again,” Clover yelled.
“They’re my family too – you can’t keep me away!” Sapphire’s face contorted into an outraged snarl. She didn’t look pretty at all right then.
“Oh, please.” Clover looked at her with disgust. “You ran off and didn’t talk to any of us for years. I don’t know why you’re even bothering to come around and try to buddy up to us now, but it’s too late. If you come bother us, I’ll get a restraining order and I will tell the judge why, I swear to God. Trust me, no one in Blue Moon Junction wants to see your face.”
She jumped into her car and drove off, leaving Sapphire screaming swear-words and stamping her feet in the dirt.
Chapter Ten
When Clover got back to the McCoy property, she went straight to Sam’s office.
“I just saw my sister. Hanging out at this disgusting bar called the Snakepit, with a biker from the Skullriders gang. She was never pregnant – she just admitted it to me. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Would you have believed me?”