"One dollar." Eagle-eye doesn't bother waiting for the auctioneer this time.
Kozlov storms out of his seat, thundering across the stage until he's looking right down at us. "What the fuck are you doing? This is a farce, and this sort of behavior is exactly why you shouldn’t be allowed to have the kind of reach you do."
"You want this to stop? It's up to you." Eagle-eye stands. He shrugs like this is just an unfortunate misunderstanding. "I tried to handle our dispute like an adult, but you refused to come to the table. You wanna talk business, you come to me and we'll talk fucking business. But if you don't want us to squash you like the roach that you are, you're gonna pull your slimy little tendrils out of our neighborhood or this is just the start. I suggest you pick up the phone tomorrow when I call."
Even as Eagle-eye turns and signals for us to follow, the word is spreading fast through the rest of the audience. By the time we've cleared the seating, Kozlov looks like he’s trying to getaway from the crowd, but everyone wants to talk to him about what just happened. Is he even gonna make money off this shit show? I hope the fuck not.
On the way out, we meet back up with Sandra and Piston. Travis is there.
Piston has him by the front of his jacket, backing him away from her. “I don’t want you to even breathe the same fucking air as her, you got it?”
“Sandra, being seen with them is a bad idea. It’s one thing at work, but people are watching. They’re going to assume we’re on the side of the bikers.”
She throws up her hands. “Iamon their side.”
"Do you seriously think we're leaving her with you?” I ask. “We’ve already been far too fucking nice to you for her sake, but it ends today.”
"If you leave now, you're fired," Travis is finally brave enough to say. "I can’t afford the risk if Kozlov thinks I’m working with the Eagles.”
Sandra looks at him for a long moment, then turns to us. “Fine.”
"You're seriously going to throw away everything we do for those guys?" He sounds amazed that anyone would ever make that kind of a decision.
“I can’t believe you’re actually asking me that after what you did,” she spits. “You want to fire me? Fine. Go right ahead.”
She comes with us, and when I glance back, Kozlov is standing at the side of the stage, glaring daggers as the auctioneer tries to talk to him. Guests are already starting to file out.
The last thing I do on the way out is give him the finger.
28
SANDRA
I chasemy chocolate chip cookie down with some coffee. Normally I love people watching through the big front window at Natalie’s bakery, but today I'm just mad.
"He actually fired me."
Jerry, who's dunking his cookie—hazelnut and white chocolate—in his own coffee, gives it a little extra time to soak before nodding. "I don’t even know why you went to help him out at all. It’s not like you could keep working there knowing what he was doing."
"Because I believe in the rescue, and I’m not convinced he can handle the dogs on his own. Poor Carl is stuck in the middle of all of this and has no idea what’s happening. Pretty soon classes will be starting up again and he’ll be back to a few hours a week. Someone's got to do it, don’t they?"
"Sandy, honey, I understand, but this is a ‘put your own mask on first’ situation. I’m going to be brutally honest here. If you kept working there, all it would do is allow Travis to keep being Travis.” He extracts his cookie just as the white chocolate'sgetting melty and shoves half of it into his mouth. His eyes close for a moment of bliss. It's fair. Natalie's baking is just that good. “Without you, the whole place might fall apart, and maybe that’s what has to happen in order to fix things in the long run.”
I sigh. “I know you’re right, but it’s so frustrating because the dogs we currently have are going to suffer for it. And I’m stuck here being babysat.”
My guys are back at the club, trusting that I'll be safe here since both the bookstore and the bakery are known to be well protected. There’s some baby biker named Spike, barely out of his prospect time, upstairs reading manga who’s supposed to be my watchdog for the morning.
“I’m not going to pretend to understand that part of it. Why are you in danger? Is it because of the stuff Travis was doing?”
“Kinda? I think there’s something going on and the dog breeders were involved with it. Between that and being seen with them at the Gala, they just want to be extra careful.” I pick at my cookie. “I’m going stir crazy without my job.”
“Okay, so let’s figure that part out.” Jerry spins his stool so he's facing me directly, staring so intently that I'm forced to look back. "You worked things out with Nat, right? That’s progress! Now you can take a good, honest look at what you want to do instead of pretending you’re going to move back to school.”
“Why do you have to be so freaking reasonable when I’m trying to feel sorry for myself here?”
He grins. "If it makes you feel better, I'm really sorry that you lost the job. I just think it’s for the best. Your burly boyfriends are trying to keep you safe, even if you don't like it."
I lean forwards and bonk my forehead on the counter, leaving myself leaning on it dramatically. "So what do I do now?"
