She didn’t take time to process that either.
Her eyes warmed and she again nodded.
“Now, Elijah,” he prompted.
“I’m hearin’ good things about this soda fountain,” Dutch cut in. “Can you do vanilla Cokes?” he asked Joany.
“There is so much I can do, baby, it’s not funny,” Joany drawled. “But we’ll start with a vanilla Coke.” She held out a hand to Dutch. “Come to momma. We’ll get you sorted out.”
No hesitation, Dutch took her hand, tucked it into the crook of his arm and started to escort her to the hall that led to the door to the store.
As they went, Dutch asked, “So these contacts you can touch to set up a hit…?”
Joany looked back as they walked and rolled her eyes dramatically, also licking her lips.
So Archie was laughing softly as they walked out of sight.
Jagger was not.
“Babe,” he called, his voice firm.
She looked to him.
“Okay, so I thought about it, and before I chickened out, decided on it and you were right. As I mentioned, it wasn’t exactly a slum, but it wasn’t great before I sorted things out. Now it’s safe, it’s nice. I looked up average rents in this area and we’re over three hundred below that. I’m not saying we should jump up rents, but it’s something to think about. And we can have a tenant meeting and talk about how a cost of living increase would affect them, and—”
“I’m interested in what you’re saying, but this is not an explanation about Elijah being pissed as hell and nose to nose with you when I walked in ten minutes ago, babe,” he cut her off to note.
She dipped her head side to side, probably to buy time, but when he put his hands on his hips, she went on.
“I called him. And I thought, maybe it’d work better if we entered into negotiations, instead of me just telling him how it would be. And since I want to meet in the middle, and I know Elijah, he’ll want to feel like he won, I went for the gusto and told him not only was I deducting half the monthly expenses from his take, I would email him a list of the cost of improvements, and a cumulative of what I’ve spent so far on upkeep, adding to that fifty bucks a month for cleaning bills since I began doing that chore, and I’d be deducting an additional five hundred from his portion until he paid me back for his half of all of that.”
That wasn’t going for the gusto, that was seriously not fucking around.
“Jesus, baby,” Jag murmured.
“I also told him he either came once a month to clean the common areas, or he was paying me twenty-five dollars a month from here on out to keep them clean. It only takes an hour, but it isn’t the most fun thing to do. I’ll do my rotation, but he’s responsible one way or another for his.”
“So you called him with this, how did it get to him being here, in your space?”
“He hung up on me and was so angry, he left work in order not to delay telling me face to face that shit wasn’t happening.”
Jagger drew in a very long breath and held it.
He didn’t let it out until Archie laid her hand on his chest.
“I also know where I’m gonna rest on this,” she told him. “I’ll eat the maintenance I’ve paid so far, and we can come to a figure he’s okay with on the improvements, but I also have to be okay with it. That said, I’m not caring for this building without his help. So he either pays me to clean, he cleans, or we agree on paying someone to come in and clean. He also either pays extra for me to deal with accounting and admin, or he takes his share of handling that. If he wants nothing to do with any of this, he can buy me out. But if he reaps the rewards, he shares the burdens.”
“Good,” Jagger said softly.
“He’s threatening to sell his half, but not to me.”
Jag got quiet again.
“I’m no lawyer,” she said. “I don’t know if he can do that, but it’s his and I suppose he can. And honestly, it might be better not to have to deal with Elijah. I told him this and that was what you walked in on.”
“You called his bluff and he lost it.”
She nodded. “I called his bluff and he went from ticked to out of his mind. Commence him getting up in my shit.”
“And your take on that?” he asked.
“He doesn’t want to sell. With half my rent on the store and the units, which, by the way, I give him money for my apartment too, he’s making five grand a month.”
“And maybe, he wants to be in on this with you,” Jagger suggested.
She looked confused. “What?”
“This was your grandparents’. Your mom’s folks. It’s a building, but it’s also a legacy. Maybe even a memory. And you’re his sister. I just met him, and he didn’t make a good first impression, but if he was an out-and-out prick who wasn’t worth your time, you’re the type of woman who wouldn’t give him your time. So there’s a bond, and my guess…it’s not just business. I’m sure the same goes for you. You’re his sister and he loves you. He doesn’t want to lose this because he makes good bill on it, but also because he’s in it with his sister.”
He got another warm look after he said that, and she sidled closer.
“I’m currently in denial about the fact you met my brother like you just did. Not to mention, all I’ve done pretty much is bitch about him. Because he’s not a dick. He can be a dick, but he isn’t a dick.”
Jag moved too, to hook an arm around her and pull her even closer.
He did this saying, “I get the distinction.”
“You guys will get along. Though, warning, I’m not sure you’ll be tight. Haley will love you. Dad will really like you. Eventually, after we get past this, Elijah will dig you, but you won’t pal around. He’s into sports, watching and playing, and he’s putting himself through law school.”
That law school bit was news.
“So he’s not lazy, he’s just conditioned to lean on you, and in some cases, that means taking advantage of you,” Jag remarked.
She nodded.
Right then.
They needed to move this along.
“Okay, you’re on with Mal’s mom,” he said. “But I think we should warn him that’s going to happen. If he’s not sharing with her, then he won’t want to be blindsided by that, because she’s probably gonna be all over it.”
“She will be,” Archie confirmed.
“And as for the group, I got an idea.”
She was running her hands up his chest and when she got to his shoulders, she held on and asked, “What’s your idea?”
“I think they should come to Chaos, to Ride. Meet the brothers. Field trip. Showing them another version of a tribe, how we work together, and I’ll figure out how to do the lecture about looking out for your people without making it seem like a lecture between now and whenever that happens. Do we have to get their parents’ permission for them to leave the store?”
“Yeah, I always tell them when we’re off to do something. But we have an email group so it’s easy. I can just pop a line to them. They’ll all be cool with it. They dig when the kids have something fun to do.”