We both stare at the prison-issued ankle monitor. The reason I got out six months early, the reason I can’t go one hundred feet away from the perimeter of The End, the reason I can’t sell to Deuce, the badass biker. Or Viper, the psycho.
Probably why I had wild monkey sex up against the bar with a man I hardly know.
“Didn’t Deuce see it during the monkey sex?” Evie asks.
“I purposely kept my jeans pooled around my ankles.”
“Is this Deuce going to help you clean the place up?”
“He wants to buy it. Something about bringing the Kings of Anarchy back to AC, but of course that can’t happen.”
“Did you tell him about the suspected money—or the flash drive?”
“Hell no. Bad enough Viper knows about it. Why do you think he keeps circling back? The only thing that keeps him at bay is my threat to turn the flash drive over to the police. A threat that holds a lot of weight with his record.”
“Did you find any of it yet?”
I shake my head. “But he doesn’t know that, so for now it’s working.” I wave my hand around the room. “It’s gotta be here someplace. Main reason I started cleaning up, hoping something would surface. I’ve looked all over the bar area. Under the ice bins and behind the shelves, but nothing.”
“Knowing your father, he probably hid it somewhere unusual,” Evie offers.
“Knowing my father, the money and the flash drive are another one of his lies.”
“I always liked your father. He was so funny, and very good-looking.”
“Ewww, please stop.”
“He is handsome and very charming. You look just like him—the female version, of course.”
Yup, wasn’t the first time I heard that comparison. Aside from being a different gender, my father and I were clones. Tawny skin, dark eyes, thick unruly hair.
“And he was way more fun than my boring accountant father.”
“With one big difference. While my father was out charming himself into his next disaster, your father was out supporting his family.”
“I love my dad, but your dad was exciting.” Evie eases her lean body onto the only stable barstool. “So you plan on seeing him again.”
“Who?”
“Deuce, who else?”
“Hell no. I threw his ass out after we did the deed.”
“Let me get this straight.” She twists a strand of her blond hair, a nervous habit she’s had since high school. “Viper threatened you and wants The End, then badass biker Deuce comes to your rescue. He also wants to buy The End, which could cause a biker war, but then to thank Deuce for stepping in, you screw him.”
“Yup, you’re all caught up. Except I didn’t screw him to thank him. It was more like . . . one of those energy release things. Like when you’re all pent-up after a fight or how, after a funeral, people have wild, sheet-gripping sex.”
“Maybe in your family. My boring family just goes home and eats.”
“I’ll take your boring family any day.” Another difference between us. Along with Evie’s pale, creamy skin and my flawless tawny coloring, her father had a steady job while my father had a steady stream of deadbeats parade through our lives.
Our entire friendship, I wanted her more generic looks and white bread upbringing, while she envied my ethnic features andwhat she called an exciting life, proving the point that we always want what we don’t have.
“So, you really don’t think Deuce will come back?”
“Don’t sound so disappointed. The last thing I need while wearing a court-appointed ankle monitor is getting with another bad boy.”
“A bad boy who gives multiple orgasms.” She throws me a pointed look.
