“She’s ready for you,” the woman dressed in pale blue scrubs said quietly, her expression soft in that way people wore here, careful, like they already knew what this might cost.
I pushed myself to my feet, smoothing my hands down my trousers out of habit more than anything else. My chest tensed as I stepped forward. I hated this part. The few seconds before you saw her. Where she could still be anyone. Mam. Or not.
Chapter Fourteen
Trouble on the Tynewas quiet tonight. Women wandered the floor, all tits and arse cheeks hanging out of thongs. They loitered at our booth, waiting for attention. A look. Or a smile, but Tez waved each one on.
“I dunno, Indie,” he continued. “I don’t know what the lads would say.”
“Well, ask them.”
Tez inhaled, opened his mouth, and then closed it again.
“Spit it out, Tez. Say what you want to say.”
“Look. I got out once before, thanks to your Da. I’m not sure I want to get back in, Indie. That life for me, in an MC, it’s over.”
Indie leaned across the table.
“We need you. I need you. Just one more, Tez. Then I’ll let you go again.”
Tez’s gaze dropped to where his hands huddled round the whisky glass.
“I’ve a wife, and a kid on the way.” Beside me Magnet tensed, his knee pressing into my leg, and I shot him a look. “I don’t need to get killed.”
“We need the numbers. That alone will put the Hand off.”
“Didn’t the last time though, did it? Ade, Eddie. The numbers didn’t make a difference to them, did it?”
“You think the Hand will leave the rest of you alone if they defeat us?” Fury’s voice rumbled low and dangerous from Indie’s right-hand side and I watched, ready to grab hold of him if he even hinted he might launch across the table.
Tez dipped his head, pushing his hands through his hair.
“I’ll speak to them tomorrow. It has to be a vote. They have to want it.”
“You ask them. But make sure they know it’s a one-time opportunity. The only offer I’ll give your club to become an MC. They’ll never get another offer. Not from us, not from Angels and Demons and not from the Vandals. We clear?”
Tez nodded, saying nothing more.
The music changed around us, the lights lowering, darkening to a red hue, and a girl stepped out onto the stage.Troublewas dead tonight, just a scattering of punters sat at tables. Eyes that had tracked the almost naked girls that walked past now fixed on the one on the stage. Now and then a gaze would shift to us, squashed into the circular booth, arses crammed onto the red leather seats, and then away again.
The punters were used to seeing us here. Demon still came nearly every night to babysit Ciara who had refused to stop working here despite how much he whined. Tez had paid for more security, and now they wandered the floors too, watching everyone, even us, suspiciously.
“These ok?” Indie pointed towards a man in a black jacket and fluorescent armband who’d just cruised past.
“Expensive,” Tez complained. “But yeah. They seem to be a decent lot.”
Indie nodded, his eyes scanning the club.
“Be vigilant. I want to know anything that doesn’t look right. Anything that doesn’t fit. These don’t leave until the last girl is gone and you’re locking up. Understand?”
“Aye. But if we have many more nights like this one, there’ll be nothing to pay them with. The girls complained last night. Hardly much in it for them either.”
“Another reason to patch up,” Fury’s voice now. “Your guys want in. They can help with security in this place. Everyone benefits. We’ll push more people through the doors too.”
The Chairman of Tyne Thunder nodded again, defeat evident on his face.
“Doubles up as a good clubhouse too,” Indie continued. “You won’t need to invest in a new one. Plenty of space. Loads of opportunity for money here, Tez. And if you’re a King we can take another look at that loan rate for this place.”
