Cali nods in agreement. “That I have to agree with. While I’m not looking forward to the normal headaches, I’m really thankful to Gamble for giving us this job. I mean . . . Maia and I picked out almost everything here. Gamble gave us a budget for the renovations and everything, and we came out fifty-grand under the budget which is awesome.”
“Holy shit. I bet she loved that,” I add, and both of them nod. “Do we need to do anything else before we bounce?”
“Yeah, grab some of those menus and put them over in the hostess station if you don’t mind. Cali and I will grab the small drink menus and put them on each table in the meantime,” Maia replies.
I head over to the bar, grab the maybe fifty menus in my arms, and head over to the hostess station. Getting down on my knees, I place them on the shelf underneath the tablet, making sure there’s an even amount on both sides. By the time I get up, Maia and Cali are almost finished setting the drink menus on the tables and I wait for them by the front door. I wait for a couple minutes before both of them meet me.
We all leave together after Cali locks the front doors and we get into Maia’s car. She drives us back to the club which takes around ten minutes and I can’t wait to get back to the house so I can get ready for the party we’re having tonight. I haven’t given much thought to my outfit yet per se, but my hair is already styled in a beach wave, so the hard part is done. The only other thing I need to do is add my signature cherry red lipstick.
As we’re pulling into the driveway, I remember I just got a new box of clothes in from a small online boutique. One thing I ordered was a t-shirt dress with Harley Quinn on it, saying something about being in the bad girls’ club. If I tie up my hair into a loose ponytail, add some hoops, and pair the dress with a set of knee-high leather boots it should pull it together rather nicely. Here’s to hoping the leather doesn’t make me sweat my ass off.
Maia pulls up to the porn stars’ house and we all go inside. Even though Maia and Cali aren’t in the porn industry, they came from Petros’ and most of the girls who came from the situation Petros saved them from stay here. So, naturally, Maia and Cali live here as well. They’re technically considered clubwhores, but I think they feel more comfortable with the women they were with for so long.
I head into my room and strip out of the pair of jeggings and my ribbed tank top. As I’m sliding into my t-shirt dress, I hear Nicoletta, one of the other porn stars, yelling about how she thinks the party started early because there’s three blacked out SUVs that’re flying up the driveway.
I go to the window of my bedroom and peer through the curtains, seeing she’s not wrong at all. Sure enough, there are SUVs pulling in front of the clubhouse, and groups of men come rushing out. But one of them . . . you can tell he’s insanely important by the way the men circle around him, almost shielding him from any imminent danger. Our house is too far away for me to get a good look at him, but the only thing I can make out from here is his dark hair. Soon enough I’m going to walk in that clubhouse and try to see if I can figure out what’s going on.
“I’m texting Gamble to see what’s going on,” Sasha tells the girls from the other side of my door.
I want to tell her it’s no use, how club business isn’t discussed with us, but I’ll only be wasting my breath. The only way to find anything out is to be privy to the conversation, so I’m going to make my way over there and see if I can hear something.
Chapter Nine
When you are not fed love on a silver spoon, you learn to lick it off knives
~ Lauren Eden
Needles
“Sorry, say that again.” Gamble’s shaken right now and it’s obvious as hell. We just got back from the State Park not too long ago and told her we needed to call an emergency meeting of church, that we saw someone we know with the Beasts of Brutality MC. She didn’t hesitate to get all of the full patch members in the chapel, even if it’s not complete. We have another two weeks of stuff to do in here at least, but, fingers crossed we’ll have our round table and will be up sooner rather than later.
“Needles and I, we saw Marcus meeting with two men from the Beasts of Brutality,” Mugshot repeats his words, but says them a lot slower, giving her adequate time to process the blow.
She blinks a few times and I can only imagine what’s going through her mind. Before we left, shit was a bit rough with Marcus and the rest of the gangs in Baltimore, but I think we all assumed leaving would mean our problems would go away as well. After all, we’re not Royal Bastards anymore. We’re the Knights of Retribution.
“He’s not letting things go,” Gamble mutters lowly, so low I can barely make out what she said.
Butcher clears his throat from ten or so feet away. “Not tryin’ to be rude or anythin’, Gamble, but I need you to speak louder so this old timer can hear what you’re sayin’.”
“Marcus, he’s not letting things go. It seems to me like he’s trying to cause trouble for us here,” Gamble tells Butcher, speaking louder. She looks from Butcher to me, and then back to Mugshot. “Did you happen to hear what they were discussing?”
“No, I didn’t. Needles and I didn’t park close to where they were. We were trying not to be seen, you know? Especially when we don’t know much about the Beasts of Brutality,” Mugshot informs her.
Gamble nods in understanding. “It makes sense. I’m glad you guys had your wits about you.”
“I think I can speak for all of us when I say this reeks of shit. Marcus must’ve figured out where we went, and the fucker did some digging to see who our closest enemy was,” Sly speaks up.
A grunt of confirmation comes out from numerous men in the club.
“Why’s he coming all the way out here though? What’s the fucking point?” Butcher speaks up, rubbing his hand along his beard.
“I’m not sure . . . but one thing I do know is that he wanted me to stop selling drugs in Baltimore. Now, we didn’t do that. We sold them under the Incognito name . . . and then we left, and Incognito paused for what, three months before we got the supply back out there to our runners?” Gamble speaks up.
I nod. “Yeah, it was about three months. We were all dealing with Ace being hurt. She was more important than keeping up the Incognito name. I’m sure he figured it out . . . that we were behind Incognito, and in turn, he probably wants revenge for us trying to pull a fast one.”
Gamble crosses her arms across her chest and rolls her eyes. “Well, if that’s the case he’ll be shit out of luck. I don’t have time for his bullshit and I’m not handing out mercy cards anymore. He blindsided me once, and I won’t let him walk away like he did last time.”
“Last time?” Judge questions, narrowing his eyes in on her.
“Yeah, back in Baltimore he cornered me in my bedroom while I was sleeping. It was when I called a meeting with him. Only, I didn’t expect the meeting to be like that. Long story short, I pulled a gun out on him and let him walk, heeding the warning he gave me. The Baltimore Kings had wanted me dead for selling on their turf, and apparently, he was trying to protect me at the time. But now . . . now our past is irrelevant. He’s gone out of his way to try and hurt us now, so I mean it, none of us will show him or his gang mercy whenever push comes to shove.” Her tone is callous, telling us all she isn’t joking around.