“Aren’t you sweet?”
“It’s my job.”
“And you’re so good at it,” she purred. “It makes me wonder what else you’re good at. If you want to show me, you know where to find me.”
Cherry winked as she stepped away from me, adding a little extra swing to her hips as she walked away. I waited a moment to see if my body reacted, but there was nothing. She did nothing for me.
All I could think about was fucking Sabrina again. One night with the woman just wasn’t enough. Cherry was hot, but she just didn’t measure up.
* * *
It was Monday evening, and Outlaw Souls was having a meeting. All the members were there, tipping back beers and shooting the shit while we waited for Ryder to arrive and kick things off. I was seated at a table with Trainer, our road captain. There was an idea that I had been turning over in my mind for the last couple of days and I would need his help executing it. I was eager for the meeting to start.
Finally, Ryder walked in and things settled down. We all listened as he went over the last meeting’s minutes and Pin, our treasurer, gave a financial report. Finally, it was time for new business. I got everyone’s attention and stood up.
“You all know that I work at Black Satin, the strip club on the south side,” I started and a few of the guys whooped, drawing a brief smile from me. “Well, Abby’s got some trouble.”
Everyone got serious real quick. We didn’t play around when it came to our obligations, and Black Satin was one of them.
“What kind of trouble?” Blade asked.
“Not the kind we can easily help with.” I explained, “No busting heads this time. We’re up against the righteous members of the community that think they know what’s right and what’s wrong better than the rest of us.”
I explained about the petition. A little research during my free time yesterday had led me to the website of the church that was orchestrating the whole thing. A group of judgmental pricks that didn’t quite grasp the whole “judge not” thing. Unfortunately, they were gaining traction with their protest against the strip club, and there was talk online of bringing the issue before the city council. Aside from my concern for Black Satin, I just didn’t like the politics of it all.
“Shit,” Trainer mumbled from beside me. “Give me a legit bad guy, Las Balas or not, and I’m happy to take them on. But this? It’s fuckingbureaucracy.”
He visibly shuddered, drawing a few chuckles from the room. I smiled, but it was thin. He was right. This was going to be difficult to handle.
“I’m not sure that this is in our wheelhouse,” Ryder added. “It sucks, but I’m not sure what we can do.”
“Well, I had an idea about that,” I chimed in again. “Black Satin needs to somehow clean their image without actually changing their business, and we could do with some positive press too.”
“You thinking charity work?” Hawk asked shrewdly. That was typical of him. He was always on top of things, his brain working faster than everyone else’s. I nodded.
“I am.”
“It could work,” Ryder said, looking thoughtful. “It’s a start, at least.”
“But what’s the cause?” Chalupa asked. “What charity do we help?”
“The La Playa Soup Kitchen,” I replied without thought. I hadn’t even realized that I had a charity in mind until the words were slipping out of my mouth, and I wasn’t sure where it came from.
Then I remembered. Sabrina had told me that she volunteered there.
“That works for me,” Ryder agreed, clapping his hands together. “How do we want to raise the money?”
“I was thinking about a poker run,” I suggested. “I can organize it. I already represent both Black Satin and Outlaw Souls.”
“Makes sense. Work with Trainer to get it done,” Ryder commanded.
The rest of the meeting was a blur as I sat back down and tried to decide if I’d just done something very smart or very stupid by suggesting that we do this for the soup kitchen. It would mean working with them, and that meant I would be stuck spending time with the one-night stand that I couldn’t stop thinking about. That was a problem.
I was dying to see her again.
Either way, I had an event to plan, which was a first for me, but I was determined to make it a success. For the girl, the strip club, and Outlaw Souls.
Sabrina
