“Fuck,” I say with feeling. What hope do criminals have when there’s so much technology?
Bullseye leans his elbows on the table, lowers his head into his hands, and thinks for a moment. “We’re in a good position to get the product over the border. Seems like the fake charity shit will work for now, as long as we’re careful. Don’t like the idea of stopping shipping product. There’s too much fuckin’ money in it.”
“I hear you, Prez,” I breathe out. Then I grin, while raising and lowering my shoulders. “And what’s life without a little risk in it?”
“Fuckin’ boring,” Tempest agrees.
To which we all raise our glasses.
“We’ll update the brothers later at church,” Bullseye states.
Yeah, the cockblocking meeting. I can’t really complain. He’d rearranged it in the first place because of me. And the anticipation makes mine and Toni’s coming together tomorrow even more explosive. Now she’s acknowledged our relationship in front of Ace, there’s no fucking way I’m going to stay out of her bed.
“How’s your ride going, Freak?” Tempest asks, and I know he’s referring to my Softail, a newer replacement for the one that got totalled when the MDMC attacked the club. He’d also lost his Heritage. He’d gone for a different bike and has replaced it with a Breakout.
“Much the same as the last one, but a bit more shiny,” I answer. “Brakes are a little firmer, but then it hasn’t done the same mileage.”
“You’ll soon make that difference up, Brother.”
Raising my chin, I show my agreement. “And how are you finding the Breakout?”
He lists the pros and cons of riding the new model. I grin at the positives and commiserate where needed. Prez joins in, and we shoot the shit for a while.
Pippa appears with baby Jade, and we all find it amusing that Saint gets stuck with dirty diaper duty. And from where I’m sitting, I can tell it’s a particularly nasty one. Yeah, I don’t envy him. I’ve changed a fair few of those in my time.
After Bullseye stops chuckling, he leans into me. “I’m going to get another drink. Come with me.”
I rise from my seat at the same time as him. As we stand at the bar, he raps on the wood. When the prospect approaches, he demands, “Dum, get me two beers.”
Does he actually know that it’s Dum, or is he just guessing? I suspect the prospect wouldn’t point out his mistake even if he had gotten it wrong. I glance at the t-shirt Dum – I’ll take my cue from Prez – is wearing, as he pops the tops off the bottles. Today’s slogan reads,Life’s a grave, I’m just digging it.
Bullseye takes a long swallow. “How’s Ace getting on up in Flagstaff without you?”
“I’d know if he replied to my messages.” I roll my eyes. “But he’ll be fine. Toni will be looking out for him.”
He raises and dips his chin as if that’s satisfied him. “That’s our Ace. He does tend to get engrossed in whatever it is he’s doing. Hey, do me a favour, pop down and take a look at the strip club, will you? Stalker updated me earlier. I want to find this bastard who’s robbing us. But whoever’s dipping their hands in the till is evading the cameras we planted. Can you see if you can place some more, so we’ve got good eyes from every fuckin’ angle?”
“Sure will,” I respond. At least it will give me something to do and take my mind off where I’d much rather be. “I’ll get someof the miniature ones from Genie. I was thinking of going there anyway. We’ve got the new girls on today. I’d like to see how they’re doing.”
“New girls?” He raises a quizzical brow, then grins. “They good?”
I huff a laugh. “Yeah, Silky,” I take a guess at her name. It sounds better than Satin anyway. “She’s a good fuckin’ dancer. Tall.” I raise my hand to my eye level to show him what I mean. His eyes widen slightly, and I nod my head. “Just need to check she can strut her stuff when faced with an audience. And then there’s her sister Amethyst.” I suck in air and blow it out. “Nice face, good body. But she’s full of nerves. She wouldn’t be able to hack it on the stage, so I offered her a server position.”
He studies me. “Not like you to have empathy, Freak.”
I chuckle. “Maybe being around a woman is getting to me. But I felt sorry for her, you know?” The quick shake of his head tells me no, he doesn’t know. He always puts the club first before everything. And if a girl isn’t the right fit, he’d show her the door. “Don’t worry,” I reassure him. “If she gets twitchy, she’s out of there.”
“Who’s on with you tonight?”
“Rat,” I sneer, then grin. “Hey, did you get a look at him?”
He laughs. “Got rid of his rat’s tail, hasn’t he?”
I join in with his amusement.
The doorsof the strip club open mid-afternoon. I’m not surprised to find it fairly empty when I arrive. As a newcomer, Silky’s doing her stuff on the stage – she won’t get the headline spot until she’s proved herself. With only a few customers, I expected she’d only be performing half-heartedly. But I’mpleased to see she seems lost in the music and is putting her all into it. Even with the sparse crowd, there are still quite a few dollar bills landing on the stage.
I pause on my way to the office, watching her for a moment. She’s just as good as she’d been when I’d interviewed her. Unlike some dancers who discover their inhibitions when performing in front of a crowd of men, Silky actually seems to be enjoying herself. I can already tell she’s going to be a good addition to our stable of strippers.
