“That’s the thing,” Matty says. “I’d like to propose equal shares in the place until the debt is repaid.”
“Equal liability, you mean?”
Matthias glares at my intrusion into the conversation and then clears his throat. “Danica has run a massage parlor for the past six years. She knows everything you’d need to know about how to make it profitable and take down the opposition.”
“There’s fuck all opposition around here these days,” Crow muses.
“Why ain’t she running it now?” Chaos asks.
“I felt like a change,” she coos.
Chaos pins her with a don’t-give-a-fuck stare. “Nobody seeks change unless what they’re doing doesn’t work anymore.”
My thoughts wander to Kyra. Is that why she came home? Did something happen to kill the dream?
“You even have a business plan for this thing?” Chaos asks. “Or did you come up with the idea while stoned out of your head last night, half a bottle of bourbon deep?”
Matthias takes a step forward. Crow straightens up.
“I’ve got the plan,” the asshole states, counting off on his fingers, “the girls, the equipment, the connections. I even have the ideal place for it.”
“Out of state?” Chaos taunts.
“In your fucking woods there.” Matty gestures behind the barn to where the trees run deep, all the way to the boundary. “You know, this place wasn’t some huge secret before you guys bought it. A lot of us know what you got back there.”
“Such as?” I ask, hitching one eyebrow.
“Such as a two-bedroom cabin that’s seen better days, but it’s more than fit for purpose with a little TLC and some new furniture.”
“Because the random cars that come and go down a dead-end road wouldn’t be a complete giveaway,” I muse.
“You’re a fucking bike club,” Matty spits. “You have people coming and going all the time.”
“Who stay longer than the fifteen minutes it takes your Johns to spend what’s left of their paycheck for the week,” Chaos snarls.
The porch falls quiet for a moment, nobody moving save for Circus, who reaches out to run his finger up the back of Danica’s leg, under the hem of her shorts. She startles, jumping as though a spider were on her, and moves to Matthias’s other side.
“If this is such a great idea, then why haven’t you already launched it somewhere else?” Chaos folds his arms across his chest, leaning back to study the visitors. “You’ve got everything you need by the sounds of it. You don’t need us. Run it out of your basement, or your garage, if you believe in it so much.”
“Sure. Amy would love that.”
“She already doesn’t like me staying at the house,” Danica grumbles, displaying apparent dislike for Matthias’s wife.
“Can’t imagine why,” Crow quips.
“I need protection in case the cops come sniffing,” Matthias admits. “Putting it in the middle of your viper’s nest seems about as safe as it can get.”
“You mean, it makes any raids our problem, not yours.” Chaos snorts, shaking his head. “Get me my fucking money, Matthias, and leave me the fuck outta your hare-brain schemes. Got it?”
“You’re making a huge mistake,” Danica exclaims, latching onto Chaos’s arm as he moves away. “This could be a real money spinner for you now that services are at a premium around here.”
His mismatched eyes cut to where she touches him. “Remove it.”
“Pardon?”
“Get your fucking hand off me.”
She jerks back with a pout. “Matty ain’t lying. He has everything you need ready to go. They just need somewhere to set up.”
