Samson is right. Blackmailing us into doing what he wants, basically threatening Cheryl and Portia—at the very least he’d have some broken bones from a beatdown he’d never forget.
“But we’re not in Brooklyn.” I stop pacing and face him. “We gotta think logically.”
Having Cheryl and Portia in my life makes my decision much harder. Breaking some bones or shoving a gun in his mouth is the easy answer, but outsmarting this bastard would take time and patience. Two things we don’t have.
Samson points to the thick contract on the coffee table. “There’s gotta be a way around all this bullshit.”
“I’m gonna call our lawyer, but first I wanna get ahold of Cheryl. Make sure she steers clear of this asshole.” I grab my phone. “Funny thing, when we went out to dinner last night,she brought him up, but she didn’t say she had a meeting with him.”
“Better figure that shit out fast, ‘cause he is no fuckin’ good.” Samson heads for the door. “I got shit to do for next week’s events, assuming we still have a club.”
We exchange a look, and he leaves the office.
I swipe at Cheryl’s number, and she picks up after two rings. “Hey.”
“How come you didn’t tell me last night you had a meeting with Pierce?”
A disturbing pause, then, “I did.”
“No, you asked if I ever heard about him.” I knock a cigarette out of the pack on my desk.
“Right, well, that’s what I meant.”
“But that’s not what you said.”
My woman is sharp and on the ball. She doesn’t forget conversations or confuse her words.
“It must've just slipped my mind.”
Yeah, that was bullshit too, cause Cheryl has a steel trap for a brain.
“Babe, what’s goin’ on?” I plug the smoke between my lips and light up.
“Nothing.” She spit the word out way too fast.
“Is that what you forgot to tell me this morning in the kitchen?”
“I don’t know where you’re going with all these questions. I feel like you’re interrogating me.”
“I just had a meeting with Pierce here at Wicked, and it didn’t go well. He basically tried to shake us down.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I purposely omit the threat on her and her business. “Just stay away from him, ‘cause he has some twisted ideas when it comes to how you run Selective.”
“Twisted ideas?”
“I’m telling you, no matter how put-together he looks, the guy is dangerous.”
CHERYL
Of course Graham told Nick. What better way to play two people against each other?
“I’ve looked at his referrals, and I think he might be a good fit for Selective and for Club Wicked.” I have to somehow defuse this and make sure Nick uses Pierce Promotions.
“Forget that,” Nick barks through the phone.
“Excuse me?”
