A few look at me through their mirrors, stopping when they see me approach.
“Girls.”
Rebecca turns, a cigarette hanging from her lips, legs crossed. I see Sparkle not far from her, looking down to the floor. I try not to give Sparkle too much attention, as the girls can be vipers when they want to be. “Who’s first up tonight? Doors are set to open in ten.”
They all stay silent. Not one of them makes a sound.
“Girls?”
“Miss,” a few answer while Rebecca sits there smirking at me.
“Who’s first up?” They all look elsewhere while I look to Rebecca. “I’m guessing it’s you.”
“Yep. But I won’t be on time.” The way she says it, it’s as if she has every right to do whatever the fuck she pleases. She turns her nose up at me and looks back to the mirror, continuing to work on her face. I should tell her no matter how hard she tries to make the outside beautiful, the inside will never match. Instead, I smile and walk behind her while everyone goes quiet.
“I don’t think I heard you right. Did you just say you aren’t going to start work on time?”
A smirk. A dirty, big smirk is what I get in the mirror as she looks at me in the reflection while applying her lip gloss as slowly as possible.
“Yep. I’ll go out when I’m ready.”
I smile back at her. “Is that what you think?”
Her lip gloss is placed on the table in front of her. Rebecca briefly looks away, then when she looks back, she smiles. “That’s what I know. You’ve been gone a long time, Miss. Shit changes. You will have to change along with it.”
“That’s not how it works, Rebecca. Now, one last time… are you sure you aren’t going out there on time?”
“I told you already. No. What part of that didn’t you understand? I’ll go when I’m good and ready.”
I step back and look around.
All the girls are now watching, none of them look away.
“Pack your shit and leave. You have five minutes to remove yourself from my premises before I get security to escort you out.”
Rebecca’s mouth falls open, then closes fast. “You can’t do that.”
Ignoring her, I reach for my phone. “Tell McPherson to be back here in five.” I put the phone back and look to Rebecca. “Four and a half minutes left, Rebecca. Collect what you can, because whatever’s not in your hands will be mine.”
“You can’t do that,” she repeats.
Tapping my foot, I look around. All the girls have wide eyes as they watch the showdown between Rebecca and me. I look at my watch, waiting for the five minutes to be up, because you can sure as shit believe I will be kicking her sorry ass out. I don’t have time for this shit, and if she thinks she can run this place, she knows fuck all.
“I have clients who pay big dollars to see me. They won’t be happy tonight.”
“They will survive.” I look at my watch. “Two minutes.”
McPherson walks through the door and stands next to me. “Miss.”
“Two minutes.”
He nods and crosses his arms over his chest. Rebecca finally starts moving, opening her bag and sliding her hand across her table, dropping everything inside, then quickly turns, reaching for clothes before I tap my watch.
She throws her hands up in the air. “You are a cunt, Miss.”
“Takes one to know one, Rebecca. Nice knowing you.”
McPherson escorts her out, and all the girls stay silent.
“Prime real estate just opened. Who wants to open tonight?”
Ten sets of hands throw themselves in the air.
I turn to Sparkle and smile. “Knock them dead, kid. You have ten minutes to get your ass up on that stage. Tell the DJ your music and move.” I clap my hands, and all the girls run around in a frenzy to finish getting ready.
Ah, back to normal.
I smirk as I walk out the door.
Chapter Five
Blaze
“You think it looks okay, right?” Snow asks as his hand runs through his newly grown hair. It’s been shaved for so long, I almost forgot what color hair it was. “I mean, the ladies love me either way, you know. But come on… tell me what you think?”
We joined this club together and took it over together as well. It’s been Snow and me ever since we met, and we have been inseparable. He’s like glue that doesn’t know how to do anything but stick.
Thank fuck for that.
He’s saved my ass on more than one occasion.
I love my brother and everything he did for me growing up. But Marcus wasn’t capable at the time of being anything more to me than just someone who fed me and kept my crazy-ass mother at bay. Now she’s dead, and Marcus works for me when I need him. Not that he has to, but he just does.
Marcus is my blood brother and my MC brother.
Snow is my brother by choice.
“Come on, man…” He runs his hand through his hair again. “Like it?”
“Looks fine, Snow.” He nods and smiles, happy to have gotten confirmation. “You growing your beard too? I like it.”
Running my hand over my jaw, I shake my head.
Why the fuck has he gotten me thinking about how my fucking beard looks? I don’t give two fucks! Walking over to my bike, the prospect straightens up with his rag in hand. The kid’s done a good job, cleaned and polished my baby real well.
Impressed? Yeah, I am totally impressed, but I don’t tell him that. He doesn’t need to know.
“Pres.” A voice comes from the side. Marley, our Enforcer. “The parents want to see you.”
Fuck!
Fuck!
“Get rid of them,” I throw over my shoulder.
Marley takes a step back, and just when I think he’s going, he stops. “They’ve been coming for months. They will keep coming. Just thought you should know.” He turns and walks off.
“Marley.”
He stops before he gets to the door. Glancing at the prospect who’s still looking down, I walk past him and to Marley. This is not something I want to deal with. I didn’t choose this shit. Tanika had demons of her own, and I wasn’t enough to help her. She killed herself, and I couldn’t save her. No matter what I did.
But fuck it! He’s right, they will keep coming if I don’t see them.
Walking past him and out the front door to the gates where their car has stopped—because they can’t get in any farther unless I allow it—I take a deep breath. I step out to see them. They’re leaning against their car, holding hands, their heads bowed together as they stand there and wait.
I didn’t know Tanika as well as many did, but I felt for her. And I liked her. I don’t like many people. Maybe it was because she was so broken that she dragged me in. I don’t know. But in the end, her demons got the best of her, and she jumped off the bridge, with her best friend, Rochelle, watching her helplessly.
They straighten up when they see me, hands still clasped together as I reach them.
The mother looks so much like Tanika—black hair, her face shaped like a heart with lashes fanning her sad eyes. They could almost be sisters.
“We didn’t think you would come.” She pulls at her dress, and I bite my lip. It’s the same thing Tanika did when I first met her. After that, she threw herself at me, and the memory makes me smile.