The doorbell rings, and Cheryl rushes to answer it. “Oh my god.” She flits around the room. “I can’t believe I forgot the other tree was coming in this morning.”
I cup my hand over the phone. “What other tree?”
“The real tree I ordered.” She waves her hand toward the foyer. “The big tree in the family room is fake, but I wanted Portia to have at least one real tree for our first Christmas in the new house.”
“It’s the holidays. Chill,” Samson says into my ear. “We’ll deal with him after the New Year.”
Typical Samson. Even back in the day, he was the laid-back one. If you could call a former mob enforcer laid-back, but he was always the one who kept me level.
“After the New Year will be too fuckin’ late. Graham Pierce makes a deal one time, and that’s it.”
“And what kind of a fuckin name is Graham Pierce.” Samson huffs out a sarcastic laugh. “Sounds like his parents already knew he was gonna be an arrogant asshole.”
“We’ve dealt with way worse.”
“Agreed, but seriously, a few days before Christmas, and the guy wants to have a sit-down.”
“Look, I don’t make the rules. I’m just telling you, this is the guy who’s gonna make the club big.”
“We’re already big. Every night we got a line around the block, and the bouncers are turning people away.”
“I’m talking mega-big. International. Up there with Tao and Hakkasan.”
“Bigger place, bigger problems.”
Two men lug an enormous tree into our foyer. Cherylinspects the stand they’re wrestling the tree into, then nods her approval.
I don’t envy them ‘cause my woman can be tough. She’s got just enough of her mob boss father in her to make her scary.
“How many trees are you putting up?” I stage-whisper as Samson continues to talk in my ear.
“There’s one in the family room, one on the back patio with all-natural decorations, one in the living room that matches the color scheme, a small one in Portia’s room.” She spreads her arms wide. “And this one in the foyer.”
My eyes widen at Cheryl’s descriptions. How had I missed all these trees sprouting up throughout the house? Probably ‘cause, after working twelve-hour shifts at the club, I stumble up to bed and fall dead asleep.
“I think the monster tree you have in the family room is more than enough.”
“No, no, no, this real tree right here in the foyer makes it all perfect.”
“No wonder you’re late getting in today.” Samson laughs in my ear. “Didn’t know you had to decorate the North Pole.”
“I’ll call Graham from the car. Maybe he can reschedule for this afternoon.”
“Or maybe we just forget about him and deal with all the shit we got goin’ on before New Year’s.”
I turn my back on Cheryl so I can concentrate on Samson. “I don’t know why you’re so against him.”
“‘Cause the week between Christmas and New Year’s, we’re gonna be slammed with holiday parties and the big New Year’s Eve bash with two thousand invited guests.”
“And we’ve got the staff and manpower to pull it off.”
Samson blows out a breath. “I can see you’re all gas, no brakes on this, but I’m tellingyou, I don’t like the guy.”
“Jax said he’s solid.”
“How does Jax even know him?” Samson asks.
Jax, our long-time friend from Brooklyn, handles our security. The guy is built like an ox and is in charge of the bouncers, the surveillance equipment and the overall safety of the club.
