“She was there for a blind date with some loser that rides a plastic bike, but she met a real man instead.”
I blink at Skull, laughing. “Well, say it like it is, honey.”
They both laugh, and some of my nerves pass, but before we can talk more, someone calls Chubby over to the bar.
“Whew. That wasn’t so bad.”
Skull tucks me under his arm, kissing my head. “Not everyone around here is as nice, be warned. Most of the women are going to want to scratch your eyes out.”
Bummer. I mutter, “Great. Just what I need, flashbacks from high school.”
“Club life can be a lot like that. Only there are knives and guns here.”
Now that’s a scary thought.
He leads me down a hallway and stops in front of a large room. “This is Church.”
“Are you religious?” I ask, peeking inside, more than a little surprised. I did judge a book by it’s cover. But this… doesn’t look like any church I’ve ever seen.
He laughs, loud and long. “Fuck no. This ain’t that kind of church.
He doesn’t explain more. I just get dragged into the next room. An armory. And another, which is an industrial kitchen.
“There’s always food here. The club stocks it. You’re welcome to anything.”
He proves a point by opening a gigantic fully stocked fridge.
“Wait, you get free food?”
“We eat on a club budget. We’re all kind of like employees.”
I puzzle over this. I can’t see Skull in an office, that’s for sure.
“What do you do?”
For a flash, he considers something, maybe telling me a lie. “I collect money,” he finally says, closing the fridge door with a little too much force than necessary. “Amongst other things.”
Chapter Seventeen
I watched Katie doing math in her head the whole tour. She’s smart. And I guess she probably knows I’m a thug that does the club’s shakedowns when money is owed. Amongst other things.
Which reminds me I didn’t get the cash I went for today. I pull out my phone and send a quick, but very violent text to Chester.
“Wow, it’s a lot busier,” Katie says when we walk back toward the clubhouse after touring the motorcycle repair shop, the greenhouse for Prez’s pet plants, and the shooting range.
It’s really starting to ramp up by the time we finish touring the grounds. Bikes are rolling in, thundering up the driveway.
Music is blaring from the outdoor speakers. Kegs aresitting in kid’s pools full of ice. And Katie’s starting to get stares.
Fuck.
Now I know why Chubs has his arm around Essaallthe time. How the fuck am I going to leave to do my job?
“I’d like to help with the food,” Katie says, snapping me out of the fucking tornadoes of questions in my head.
“The ol’ ladies got it, you can just relax tonight.”
She looks appalled as her feet stop moving. “Don’t tell me you’re making grandmothers serve you wild animals.”
