“You feelin’ Solana friend, right?” I asked.
The line went silent for a moment, and I heard a low chuckle.
“Man, you ain’t never gave a damn before. What’s the problem? You know we need to be heading out real soon.”
“I’m about to get Solana to ride with us. We show up with the ladies. It doesn’t alarm other folks around that some shit is going on here. We ride in just us. It alerts folks we may have a weakness around here.”
Juelz got silent. I knew everything I’d said made sense.
“You right. This is why you are the one in charge. I still don’t fully believe that’s the reason you asked me about Aubree. You think if Aubree agrees, it will get your girl to agree to close up her shop earlier.”
He responded a little too on the head for me.
“I didn’t ask you for that. She gone see shit my way, whether or not ole’ girl goes.”
Juelz chuckled, aggravating me more. “Yeah aight. I’ll see what I can do.”
I hung up, choosing not to go back and forth with him. I pocketed my phone, then turned to head back inside the shop just as Mrs. Maybeliene was leaving. I held the door open for her so she could walk past me. She gave me a knowing grin and waved while heading to her car. I’m sure she would be on the phone with my grandma before her feet touched the gas pedal good enough.
The moment I walked in, Solana lifted a brow and smiled in my direction, then looked around.
“Did you leave something?” she asked.
I placed my hands into my pockets, then lifted my shoulders.
“Yeah.”
She squinted, confusion written all over her face as she looked around for whatever I might’ve left behind. I walked around the counter and stopped right in front of her. I looked down at her as she lifted her gaze to me, expectant.
“You,” I said.
She smiled widely, then tried to cover it with her hand as her cheeks turned red. I reached out and pulled her hand away from her face.
Yeah, I wanted her to say yes for her safety—but I also wanted her to see what it looked like when I rode into another biker territory. The one that ran every club in the area.
“Flattery will get you everywhere, huh?”
I wrapped my arms around her waist, then pulled her into my chest. Then leaned in and placed kisses along the length of her neck, causing her to squirm and giggle. I pulled back to stare down at her.
“Truth, Sweets. I can’t tell you a lie. I need a favor from you, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Come ride with me. I want to show you how shit is done when we ride out to another biker territory. But the problem is, I need you to close up early and come now.”
She bit her lower lip and looked off for a moment before returning her attention back to me.
“You know I’m not actually rich anymore. I need to sell the rest of these treats before I can run off anywhere.”
“That’s it?” I asked.
Solana’s brow rose, and then she nodded skeptically.
I reached into my back pocket, pulled out my wallet, and took at least a thousand from it. Solana’s eyes widened, her mouth already opening to say something. I knew she was about to refuse, so I slipped the money into her pocket before she could.
“Duke, I can’t take that much money from you. Not to mention, do you even have enough money to do that? I know you run, Chrome, but I didn’t know it did that well.”
I laughed.
