“Seems to be an ongoing problem with your chosen presidents,” I offered up. Spike once again tried to hide the snicker that escaped while Quickshot pulled his lips in tight against his teeth. If I didn’t know him so well the look would make him seem almost angry, but I did know him. He was fighting laughter too.
“Anyway, since I’ve decided to stick around and make up for time lost with my bestie, I’ve taken over the position of VP.” I glanced between Quickshot and Spike then. Last I’d heard, Spike was sitting in the VP slot.
“I never wanted that position, if I’m being honest. I’m a freakin’ bruiser. I’ve been put in the enforcer position,” Spike stated, reading my expression of surprise after hearing Quickshot’s news. I offered up a genuine smile then. An enforcer for the Aces High MC was much like our two security specialist positions. They handled situations, usually before they became something major, in a way that wouldn’t fall back on the club legally.
“I think the position suits you perfectly. It takes a level head to make a good enforcer. Too much attitude, you cause more problems than you solve. Too little, you also get nothing done because of lack of respect. Good deal.”
Spike was beaming over at me then. He quietly stated, “seriously, let’s get married,” before Quickshot elbowed him in the ribs.
“Just make sure Elvis isn’t the one presiding over the ordeal. I know he’s the King and all, but so not my thing.” I joked.
“Are we done here?” Sweet questioned with annoyance.
I glanced over between all three guys, each of the other two shrugged as if to say they didn’t have anything else. “Seriously?” I asked. “That was all you came to tell us?”
“Well, that, and to invite you to the party that will make it all official. Not this Friday, but the one after. Ghost and some of the boys from Cedar Falls will be here, as well as representatives from other chapters.”
“Okay then, we’ll see you in a week and a half.” I pulled Quickshot into a friendly side hug with my right arm, using my left arm to wave at Sweet and Spike. Sweet simply rolled his eyes and turned to leave when the other two boys said their goodbyes.
Jojo was ushering the boys out and Legs got ready to hang up on the girls, but Tash stopped her. “We have some news you’re going to want to hear,” she said. That got my attention.
I heard Keys in the background say something about, “fucking Renegades.”
“Tell me I just heard that wrong,” I said while moving back around the table to get closer to Legs. JoJo had stalled at the door when she heard it too, which meant the guys overheard as well. They all three spun around quick.
I shook my head at the phone letting Tash and Keys know it wasn’t time to talk yet. “We’re done here,” I said as I glanced up the guys who were barreling back through the door. “Have a nice day, and all that.”
“I think we need to hear this news,” Sweet retorted.
“I’m going to have to agree with my Prez this time, Jamie,” Quickshot added.
I took turns looking each of them in the eye before I spoke. “This is club business. Sierra High Evermore Club business. Last I checked none of you were members.”
“We are allies,” Quickshot offered up.
“And soon to be family, once our Vegas wedding happens,” Spike added eliciting a growl from Sweet. Hmm, interesting to see he’s not immune when the jealousy tables are turned in my favor. That didn’t stop me from being pissed though.
“GET OUT!” All three of their eyes widened at the sharp sound of the words exploding from my mouth. “I’ve had about all the fucking disrespectful bullshit I can handle from people today. GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY CLUBHOUSE!”
“Whoa!” I heard Tash say through the phone.
“Jamie,” Quickshot started.
“Don’t ruin our friendship over this, Wallace!” I said, using his real name just as he kept doing with me. He ducked his head and moved to leave the room. Spike followed. Sweet stayed a moment longer, locking his beautiful green eyes with mine momentarily before he too followed the other members of Aces High out of the conference room.
Once they were gone I looked back down at the phone. Tash’s face was grim, and Keys just looked worried. “Go ahead, I can fill JoJo in when she gets back. Probably MiMi too.”
“Winter’s Renegades are reforming. Their fearless leader somehow got out from under all the charges he was facing by pawning off all culpability onto his underlings. He had solid alibis for two months straight before the raid since he was out of the country most of the time.”
“Fuck! That is not going to make MiMi and the girls happy.”
“Nope, I didn’t think so either. Curtis, the guy with the snake tattoo on his hand, the one MiMi described to us, he’s currently at large too. Thanks to some mix up in the courthouse he was allowed out on bail, which he skipped out on. There are warrants out, but we all know how that goes. An outlaw can evade warrants forever, so long as a bounty hunter doesn’t catch up to them.”
“Well, I’m going to put Redemption, Inc. on it. I don’t want that fucker running around unchecked. I’m also going to put a detail on MiMi and the girls just in case.”
“Angel Girl, that’s not the worst news we heard today.”
“What?”
“Someone has been leaking information to them. They’re well aware we have a few of the rescued girls sitting in our clubhouse.” Tash didn’t bother to try to sugarcoat the issues.
“You think they’re coming here? For the girls, or for revenge?”
“That’s what it’s sounding like,” Keys added. “I’ve put some of my little cyber bugs to work, trying to dig more information up, but they’ve learned their lesson about playing fast and loose with electronics after what we did before. So, I haven’t been able to do much with that yet.”
I nodded. We’d been expecting that if they ever regrouped it wouldn’t be as easy to take them down a second time. “We killed them financially, so who do they have backing this resurgence?”
“Best guess?” Tash asked. “I’d say the fuckers they were running girls for. We never did find the link to that outfit before, and apparently neither did the feds.”
“Okay, you two get back home, and stay safe. Maybe our leak was taken care of today with the house cleaning we did.”
“Hope so.” Once the call was ended I turned to Legs. “Looks like we have a wolf in sheep’s clothing to find.”
“Might not be our wolf though,” Legs muttered. I had to agree. It could have been anyone who knew about what went down before. It could have inadvertently been one of the girls themselves. We still weren’t sure how they were choosing all of the women they were taking. Some were sold off by family or frenemies. Others, like our MiMi, appeared random at first glance until we realized her step-brother who she’d barely had anything to do with had sold her out to clear a gambling debt.
“Can you fill in JoJo and MiMi?” I was already on my way out of the conference room as I spoke. “I’m going to give Paul a call and a head’s up as to what’s going on so we can get the ball rolling on security details and skip tracing that asshole with the snake tattoo.”
“Sure thing, Angel Girl.”
Chapter 6
We need to throw a party.” I glanced up at Tash as she came strolling into the office with Legs and Keys. JoJo was once again missing in action. I understood her not being around as much since her father died a month or so ago, but we were going to have to figure out a balance soon. The meetings of the minds for Sierra High Evermore were supposed to involve all the key ladies. Then again, MiMi was also missing, but she was at least on a mission to get information about the WRs with her brother, Paul.
“Why in the hell do we need to throw a party?” I grumped as the girls each found a spot to sit and got comfortable.
“Morale is a little low since we kicked so many bitches to the curb recently. Plus, everyone’s on edge with the security details following them around,” Keys explained.
&
nbsp; “Ah, so you have all come to the party consensus then, and I’m the last to know?” Three bright smiles met my stare. “Whatever. What kind of party are we talking about?”
“A St. Patty’s Day celebration,” Legs added.
“Green beer and potato soup style party? Or green beer and throwing down with some men folk style party?” I asked the question even as I already knew the answer.
“We want to invite the guys from Aces High over, and officially welcome them to the area. Maybe, let up on the no fraternization ban,” Keys stated quietly, almost like she was afraid of how I’d react.
“Well, I don’t see why not. They’ve been playing nice since I kicked them out of the place a few days ago. Besides, I have a feeling they’re going to end up getting pulled into our issues with the WRs sooner or later if they’re sticking around. Might as well make nice in case we need backup.”
“Yeah, for sure, because I still haven’t been able to find anything about who the hell is backing them financially,” Keys lamented. She was the person behind stripping their resources the last time we went toe to toe with the bastards. They were working hard to cover their tracks and leave as small a digital footprint as possible this time around though.
“Okay, well, it seems like you guys have a majority vote locked down on the party without my opinion,” I offered with a sigh. “I agree though, we need something for the rest of our members so we can all blow off steam safely. Let everyone know, and make sure we have the bar stocked and coverage for both the night of the party and over at Paramour.”
“One thing,” Legs stated, holding a finger in the air to halt everyone in their tracks. “What do we do about their club whores? I’ve heard a few of the women we kicked out have indeed gone to work as sweet butts over at the Aces High clubhouse.”
I groaned. “Of course they did.” I rubbed at the tension headache building behind my temples. “Just because they employ fuck-friends at their clubhouse doesn’t mean we have to welcome them here. If one of their guys is legitimately dating one of the girls we kicked out, I guess we’ll deal with that on a case-by-case basis. Otherwise, they leave the whores where they belong.”
“Sounds fair to me,” Keys stated quickly. I glanced at her and nodded for her to stay while the others left the office.
“What’s going on with you?” I asked.
“Nothing really. I’m just frustrated with not being able to find anything on the WRs.” Too bad she looked a little twitchier than that.
“I don’t suppose your recent agitation has anything to do with a certain male best friend of mine?” I smirked up at her knowingly. I’d seen the longing glances that had passed between both Keys and Quickshot when the guys had been around.
“Not at all,” she was quick to dismiss. “I’ve been dealing with a hacker that has been getting under my skin though. I’m hoping he’s not working for the WRs, but I’m honestly not certain yet, and it has me a little more on edge than usual.”
“Okay, well keep me posted on that situation.” I definitely didn’t need the WRs finding someone smart enough to turn our own tricks on us, but then again, we had our shit pretty well locked down. “Hey, one more thing,” I started and Keys stopped in her tracks to turn back to me. “Do you know what’s going on with JoJo?”
Keys sighed. “She’s running herself ragged. The shop is still doing okay, but people are already talking about going elsewhere if either of the guys in her shop quit, because the locals aren’t happy about a woman running things. Plus, there’s the whole marriage clause in her dad’s will.”
“Can nothing be done about that part?”
“Nope. He had it locked up tight by his lawyer. She marries within six months or loses the place to her good-for-nothing brother who is still trying to fleece her for money as it is.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?
“Besides find her a suitable husband?” She asked while rolling her eyes. “Not at the moment, but if push comes to shove, in the end, we may end up needing to look into buying the garage back from the brother.”
“You think he’ll sell it back to us, or be an asshole about it?”
“Honestly, there’s no telling. He’s a greedy bastard though, so it’ll cost us either way.”
“Remind me why we can’t just buy it now?” I asked.
“She’s not able to sell it while the terms of her dad’s Will haven’t been met.”
“Okay, well, I know we have a lot going on here, but let’s try to keep an eye on that situation too. I don’t want her to think we don’t have her back.” I sighed again thinking about the situation. “I still can’t believe her dad did that to her.” JoJo had been working at her dad’s auto shop since she was 12 years old. She knew everything there was about how to tear down an engine and put it back together. She was one of the best mechanics I knew. Her brother was a drama queen – literally. He was a gay man, starring in off-Broadway plays, and living beyond his means up in New York. There wasn’t anything wrong with any of that except that he was also a piece of shit human who used his sister and the situation with the garage to help prop him up financially while he did nothing to help earn the money. He had about as much interest in the family business as the woman who owned the cupcakery in town. Which is to say, none at all. Yet, her dad made the stipulation that if he died, JoJo had to marry someone to help her run the business within six months of his death or lose the business to her brother. In the meantime, she still had to share the profits with the brother who did absolutely nothing to help the business.
“It sucks, but at the same time, I get what he was trying to do. The damn men in this town would literally rather take their cars an hour or two away to get them worked on, rather than trust a shop owned by a woman. It doesn’t matter if one of the other guys is working on their car or not. Hell, they’re idiots for not demanding she be the one to do their work anyway. But that’s where we live. It sucks.” All I could manage was to groan out my response. There wasn’t much else that could be said for the situation. It did suck. Completely.
“I know, Angel,” Keys replied, giving me an empathetic half smile. “I’m out of here.” She moved to the door once again.
“See you at the party, I guess.” I grimaced as I said it and Keys just laughed. Normally, I’d be all about a party, but knowing who would probably show up had my stomach in knots for all sorts of reasons I didn’t really want to think about.
Standing there in my skintight, black leather pants, green halter top, and my black motorcycle boots with their little kitten heels, I knew I looked great. My black hair hung in a straight curtain down my back, damn near to my waist. My eyes that appeared more turquoise than aqua when presented near my green halter-top were dazzling with the smoky eye makeup job Legs had fixed me up with earlier. I had to admit it all came together to turn me into a stunning display of womanhood; especially the way the halter-top hugged my breasts and boosted my cleavage for all to see. Yet, as I stood there double checking our bar inventory, I wondered how I ever let the girls talk me into hosting a party that we purposely invited guys from Aces High to attend. Not only would I be stuck here all night to play the gracious host since I was the President of our club, but I had to experience the sensation of having all the air sucked out of the room as soon as Sweet stepped into it.
It didn’t take him long to search me out either. Luckily, Quickshot was hot on his heels as they made their way over to the booth I had just sat down in with Tash. I glanced around to see if Keys was out and about yet, because I knew she was interested in Quick, but I didn’t see her right away. Instead, I ended up having to scoot over in the rounded booth when Sweet plopped his ass on the end, and Quickshot capped off the other end, basically holding Tash and myself captive.
Thankfully, Tash was wearing her nails painted with the Pittsburgh Penguins logo on it, which caught Quick’s eye. He was a hockey fan, and the two of them quickly struck up conversation about who they thought would win the Stanley Cup thi
s year. I listened briefly before I just couldn’t follow along any more. I liked to tune into hockey games once in a while with Tash, because hockey players were yummy, but I didn’t really have a solid appreciation for the sport the way those two apparently did.
“I see some of your girls brought dates,” Sweet mused as he glanced out over the crowd forming in our bar area.
“We don’t run a nunnery here,” I snapped without meaning to. Then I just kept right on rolling out the sass. “A lot of the girls have boyfriends. Hell, a couple of them are married.”
“Really?” That seemed to genuinely intrigue him.
“Why is that surprising, exactly?”
Sweet chuckled then, his face settling into that cocky grin of his. “I don’t know too many guys who would sign up to play the “old lady” part for a biker bitch is all. Figured they were all repressed virgins like you.”
It was a damn shame I had been taking a sip of my beer at that moment, because I ended up spraying it all in his face when I tried not to laugh out loud at the preposterousness of his statement. Quickshot grabbed hold of Tash and pulled on her to remove the both of them from the booth, lest they be my next victims. “Lord help you, dumbass,” was muttered by my life long best friend as he moved out of range. Tash halted his forward momentum though as her eyes blazed with delight.
“Nuh-uh,” she told him. “I don’t want to miss this blowout.” Quickshot huffed, but stood off just to the side with Tash as they waited to see how things were going to jump off.
“That’s what you think?” I finally asked as Sweet sat there, my beer remnants dripping from his face.
Despite wearing my spewed beverage he grinned while nodding his head. Tash was holding her cackles of glee back, but I could see the effort it was taking her. She had been there for my wild days in college when I went through frat boys like chewing gum.
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