“Hey.” Emily reached up, kissing him. “Do you have a hundred on you?” He didn’t ask questions as he reached for his wallet, handing Emily a crisp bill. “Thanks. When this started, Count said something like this would happen. I didn’t think they would actually come for the club’s businesses.”
“You shouldn’t have bet against me,” Count yelled, sitting at the bar facing the room.
“Ha.” Emily turned at her hips, sticking her tongue out in his direction. “Don’t forget you needed my help.”
“He has that problem a lot,” a brother said from somewhere near the pool table.
“I close deals just fine. You get paid, don’t you?” Count called back.
“Is Kelly out with her male lab partner?”
“Do you have a death wish? He can easily beat your ass.”
“What did you do, Em?” Zook got her attention again.
“Count added more insurance to the club’s businesses, but when the company audited how much, they balked at the coverage.” Emily rubbed a spot above her heart with her knuckle. “I stepped in and reminded them we were paying customers and breaking their terms of service would cost them more money.” She reached for his hand, pulling him farther into the room.
A hand crept around my waist, and I didn’t even look. There was only one man who touched me so intimately, and I leaned back into him.
“Are you tired?” he asked.
“Yes. Can’t sleep.” Even if I went to bed, I’d lie there with my eyes wide open.
“Me neither. You want to stay out here?” I shrugged, sliding my fingers between his as I made my way to a couch. Thunder took the corner, and I curled up against him, letting the sounds sweep around me.
Op held out a beer to Thunder before he sat on the couch directly in front of us. He still carried another beer in one hand and a mug in the other. Setting his beer on the table next to him, he grabbed a coaster, placing the mug closer to me. I scrunched my nose.
“Too late.” Op laughed at me. “I made you tea from Flo’s secret stash she thinks we don’t know about.”
Reaching for the mug, I took a sip. “Thank you.”
“I figured now was as good a time as any,” Op said, crossing his leg over his knee.
How dropped onto the couch next to Op. He drank from his beer as his eyes bounced over the rest of us. “You didn’t tell them?” he asked Op, wiping his lips with the back of his hand.
“Was this planned?” Thunder sat up, staring the two of them down.
“We keep talking and talking when we really need to act. No one wants to bring it up to Prez.” Op’s eyes met mine. “You’re part of his family, but he’s looking for a happy solution.”
“There…isn’t one,” I said.
Op raised his eyebrow before nodding in my direction. “She’s yours,” he said to Thunder. “No one wanted to disrespect you.”
“So you brought me beer?” Thunder shook his head, and I placed my hand on his thigh.
“It was my idea. You’re welcome.” How smiled widely, but all I saw was Emily with masculine features. Zook pulled up a chair on the other side of Thunder, and Dead sat on the other side of the couch from me.
“Is this…an inter...vention?” I asked them.
“No.” Dead was the first to respond. “Call it a strategy session.”
“He burned…Grace’s. Burn him.”
“It was time, brother,” Op said to Thunder. “We can’t let this go on any longer.”
“I get it, but I don’t have to like it,” Thunder boomed. “What have you numbskulls come up with?”
“Not a lot. There’s limited communication.” Zook leaned forward, holding his beer bottle between his legs. Emily came up behind him, pushed his shoulder back and waited for him to adjust before sitting in his lap.
