“What’s he talking about?” Smoke asks Blood.
“Martina took off this morning.”
“Martina’s gone?” Marisol comes around the bar and turns to me. “What did you do?”
“Why the fuck does everyone think I did something?”
Marisol rolls her eyes, and Bolt shrugs. “Admit it, you got a shit record when it comes to women, brother.”
“I didn’t scare her, or do anything to her.” I point to Smoke. “He’s the one you should be asking.”
Marisol glares at Smoke. “What do you have to do with this?”
“Nothing.”
Marisol continues to glare, and Smoke lights up a cigarette—definitely stalling—and I’m enjoying the shit out of his old lady calling him out.
“Well?”
“I had a little talk with her this morning.” Smoke points at me. “After he told me she didn’t mean shit to him. Now, he’s in here disrespecting his prez and telling me different.”
“And I’m assuming this little talk included you being your normal scary self,” Marisol accuses.
“C’mon, babe.” Smoke reaches for her hand, but she bats him away. “Don’t be like that.”
“What did you say?”
“I just told her not to interfere with club business and that the club would always come first.”
“Probably scared the poor girl.” The front door slams, and Maxie joins them. “If you wanted to explain something to her, you should’ve gone through Marisol or me. We told you the other night she was part of the Harlots now.”
Smoke blows out a breath, and for half a second, I feel sorry for him. Now he’s got Marisol and Maxie on his ass.
“So, what are we gonna do?” Maxie asks. “Instead of standing around flexing and blaming each other.”
“You sure she didn’t talk to anyone at the gym?” I ask Maxie.
“I asked the other girls—and nothing. It’s like she disappeared into thin air.”
“The only other people she knows in Tijuana are Benito and her brother. I highly doubt she’d go to Benito, so maybe she went to see Eduardo.”
I look at Smoke. “You have any contact info on him?”
“Last time he was here, he was bragging about some bitch he was shacking up with in the Zona Norte.”
“It’s a start.”
Maxie and I will ask some of the girls Eduardo was talking to the other night. Maybe something useful will pop up.
Smoke nods at me, Bolt, and Blood, and we form a tight circle around him. He zeroes in on me. “What happened before will never happen again. You get me?”
I nod. “I was just?—”
“I don’t give a shit what you were. I’m the president, and I don’t do anything that will harm this club or its members. You got something goin’ on with her, you should’ve said. Instead, you threw up bullshit. Then you come in here getting up my ass for some fuckin’ problem you caused.”
I had the good sense to lower my eyes—one, ‘cause I respect Smoke. If he hadn’t found me that day fighting in the fuckin’ dirt, I don’t know where I’d be. And second, ‘cause he was right.
“The only reason I didn’t lay you out was ‘cause I could see you were hurting.”
