I shook my head, stepping closer to the hallway, “Just needed some air, something to look at other than Otis’s pretty face and the four walls.” I attempted to brush past them, but Otis’s hand stopped me.
“Doing something illegal?” Otis snipped. I rolled my eyes, the man was always worried in some fashion that I was the one breaking all the laws. I had only been arrested a couple times the previous year, it was the lowest yet.
“You gonna be able to get to the matches in the next few weeks?” Otis asked, knowing that I needed to oversee them to report back to him. Also, with the information from Stray about the supposed new blood on the streets, people would be fucking stupid enough to stalk our businesses and try to take them down. That was on my mind as well. Amongst other things.
“If evil nurse lets me,” I muttered.
“I gotta pay that saint of a woman double for putting up with your ass.” A deep voice crept up behind me. Hound Dog came into view, crowding around me.
“For your information, I have been nice to her all this time,” I said, tilting my chin up.
“You need to follow her rules, Shooter, I mean it. I need you back in shape and everything back in order.”
“And I’m not allowed some fresh air?” I snapped back, quickly reining it back in.
B.B. stepped in. “Is that what we’re calling it? Fresh air?”
“Yeah, blondie, fresh air. Would do you some good if you stepped away from theFeathers." TheFeathersbeing the burlesque club that Ms. Dolly runs. I knew why he went, but he kept a secret.
B.B’s charm faded into a deep scowl, almost warning me.
“And no offense, Prez, you talk about having to pay double for me, when we all don’t know how Melody puts up with you,” I deflected big time on that. And for a moment it worked.
“She loves me,” Hound Dog fought back.
Otis chimed in, “And yet no ring on it.”
Hound got very possessive in his darkened expression. “My name on her back, I’m just a happy fucker that she has that.”
A brief image played in my mind of Amelia with a cut with my name on it. But I could imagine a few other places that I’d like my name on. She would look like a goddamn sin in it. I snapped back to the moment. “Get her a ring and she’ll be even happier.”
Hound shook his head. “I’m working on it. No more late night trips. We’re not stupid, your truck has been missing some nights. Stop now. I can’t be worrying more about this club than I already have. We can’t afford any dumbass moves. You hear me?”
As much as I wanted to say “fuck off”, Hound Dog was my president and it wouldn’t bode well.
I simply nodded, and headed back to my room. I drifted off into a deep sleep and into a dream world where I saw my woman.
I was ready to make that dream come true.
Chapter 11
Amelia
“Mia, don’t forget you wanted to take the leftovers,” my nursing supervisor, Mimi, yelled from down the hall. She had brought in leftovers from a family gathering and somehow everyone decided to start their diets that day, not that some didn’t need them, which meant leftovers for the day shift.
I dashed to the kitchen to find Dr. Andres pouring herself a cup of coffee. “Off another shift?”
“Yep, and now I’m off for a couple of days,” I said with a sigh of relief. I dug through the fridge, grabbing the containers.
“Can I ask you something, Mia?” she mused, stirring her coffee.
“Um, sure, doc? Should I be concerned?”
She shook her head. “No, but do I?”
I popped my head from the fridge. “I’m not following. Did I do something? Did I forget to chart again? I’m sorry, you know I don’t mean to be a scattered brain, we had multiple traumas come in...” I started to rattle off. She shook her head again.
“I had Mimi pull your timecard, why are you pulling more hours than my own residents?” And there was the motherly concern I had a feeling that would catch up to me.
