by Marla Monroe
“Anything else we need to discuss?” Dom asked.
No one said anything, so Dom nodded and banged his fist on the table. “Meeting is over.”
Walker followed Butch out the door, picking up their various weapons as they left the room. The minute they stepped into the main common area filled with couches, loveseats, and chairs Walker felt Delta’s eyes on them. When he looked around it was to find her staring at him from beside Juggs and Cindy. The look wasn’t pleasant.
“Fuck!” Butch muttered under his breath.
“Ditto. We’re screwed. How did she manage to win Juggs over so fast?” Walker asked.
“Hell if I know. That woman gives all the new girls a hard time for at least a couple of weeks,” Butch said as they walked in the women’s direction.
“Did you sleep well, sweet thing?” Walker asked.
“Like a baby, asshole,” Delta returned with a sickening, bright smile.
Holy hell, are we in trouble. I better not sleep without a cup tonight. I expected her to be pissed, but I didn’t expect her to gather reinforcements. Women in a group working together are dangerous.
He and Butch exchanged looks. His partner was just as worried as he was.
“What are you ladies up to?” Butch asked.
“Nothing that should concern you,” Delta said sweetly. “Oh, and the others left breakfast for you and the guys who missed it.”
“Um, thanks.” Walker hoped they weren’t going to all end up with food poisoning. Women were evil when pissed off.
“What are you planning to do now?” Butch asked her.
“Turk and Irish wanted to go over the books next. I’ll be in their office if you’re looking for me later.” Delta smiled and waved them on toward the kitchen. “Better hurry before the others clean out what’s left.”
“Wait on us before you meet up with them, darling,” Butch told her.
Walker winced. That wasn’t a good way to have said that.
“I’m safe inside the clubhouse, so don’t try and boss me around, fuzzy head.” Delta stepped up to Butch so that they were toe-to-toe. “I’m already pissed off at you enough to spit nails. I wouldn’t advise making your hole any deeper.”
Before Butch could say anything to that, Juggs burst out laughing and slapped Delta on the back.
“You’ll do just fine, girl. Don’t let them pull out their dicks and try to tell you who’s boss. That’s the fastest way to becoming just a pussy to them there is. Like I said, put your foot down when it’s necessary. Just don’t do it when you know they’re right.” Juggs pulled Cindy toward the garage’s office. “We need to talk about something.”
Walker sighed and looked at where Delta and Butch were having a stare down.
“What? Are we back in fourth grade here? Both of you stop it. Delta, we’ll talk about the sleeping arrangements when we’re alone later. Dom and Reece expect for you to continue the process for taking over the bar.” He punched his friend hard in the arm. “Come on. I’m starved and she’s right. If we don’t hurry we’ll be cooking our own food.”
Butch huffed out a breath and gave Walker a pissed look for hitting him. Then he stared down at Delta once again.
“We’re going to talk later, princess. Count on it.”
* * * *
Delta sighed as soon as the men had disappeared into the kitchen. Maybe she was going to regret it later, but purging herself of the anger when she realized they’d put her in bed with them felt good. It worried her that she’d failed to wake up when they’d moved her. That wasn’t a good thing in her book. Her life might be in danger, and she was among strangers. For her not to wake up when moved insinuated that subconsciously she trusted them.
I can’t trust them this soon, if ever. What is going on with me? I’m running from one man who I’d begun to trust after months of dating, and already I seem to trust two others I barely know. That’s ludicrous.
One thing was for certain. Delta needed to regain better control of her emotions and be more careful around the two bikers. They might be her protection detail, but it didn’t mean she had to sleep with them in any form that that translated into.
Delta checked the time and smiled. She was supposed to meet Turk and Irish in five minutes. The thrill she always got when she started a new project raced through her bloodstream. While a biker bar wasn’t on par with her last few assignments, it would provide an even bigger challenge to put it in the black. Right now, a big challenge was what she needed to keep her mind off of her problems.
Delta walked over to the bar lining part of one wall of the big open common room. If The Ghost Riders were like any other MC she’d been around, it would be manned 24-7. Sure enough, the moment she touched the bar, a pretty blonde that looked all of twenty walked over to take her place behind it.
“What can I get you, honey?” she asked with a smile.
“My name’s Delta. I haven’t been here long enough to know what you keep on hand. Do you by any chance have sodas?” she asked.
“I’m Terrie. I’ve been here about a year now. They’re a good bunch of men for the most part. We’ve got some. If you’ll tell me what you like, I’ll put it on the list to keep in stock.” She pulled a book from beneath the bar and opened it.
“Diet Coke. If it’s going to be trouble, I’ll buy them myself and then just stop by for a cold one,” she said.
“Oh, no problem. We keep them in stock for Raven and some of the other old ladies.” She closed the book and replaced it behind the counter. Then she walked over to one of the large fridges behind the counter and pulled out a Diet Coke.
“Thanks. It’s good to know you’ll have them. How much?” she asked, digging in her pocket for money.
“No charge. The sodas are provided by the club. Beer on tap is a dollar a pull, and domestic longnecks are a dollar a bottle. The rest are two dollars,” Terrie told her. “Do you have a beer preference?”
“Corona, any type.”
“We’ve got it, then. No problem. You don’t look like a hard liquor kind of lady. If you need it though, we’ve got whiskey.” Terrie smiled and held out her hand. “It’s good to meet you, Delta.”
“Thanks,” she said as she shook the other woman’s hand. “I’ll be bothering whoever’s manning the bar a lot, I’m sure.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s usually me, anyway. If it’s after midnight it will either be Dooly or one of the prospects.”
“Where can I find Irish and Turk’s office? I have a meeting with them,” Delta asked the bartender.
She pointed across to where she’d seen the men return from earlier. “Go on the other side of the first door and there’s a short hall. Their office is the first on the right.”
“Thanks, Terrie. See you later.” Delta took her Diet Coke and walked toward the hall Terrie had pointed to.
Their office wasn’t difficult to find. Not only were they the first door on the right, but it was open, and she could hear Irish cussing up a storm at someone. She stopped just outside the door and knocked.
“Hey, Delta, come on in. Don’t mind Irish, he’s pissed at his brother for not checking in on their mom when he was in town last weekend. He’ll be off the phone in a sec.” Turk walked around the desk he’d been sitting behind and pulled a chair around that would put her next to him so she could see the computer.
Delta sat where he indicated and admired the dual big-screen monitors. There had been many times she’d wanted two screens, but with her moving from project to project, it hadn’t seemed a good idea to spend the money on them if she would only be in her actual office about five or six days out of each month.
“Sorry about that,” Irish apologized when he’d hung up. “Sometimes my brother can be so selfish. He lives almost six hours from home, so when he makes it back there, he should check on her before he does anything else. Instead, he does what he wants to do, and if there’s time before he leaves he stops by.” Irish sighed and pushed his chair over to Turk’s desk so that
he was sitting on the other side of her.
“Let’s go over the basic setup and how we keep the books there. Irish will continue to do the overall books for the bar, but you’ll be responsible for the first set that you turn over to him on a monthly basis for him to pick up your numbers,” Turk explained.
“The bar is set up as a separate entity, so you’ll be ordering everything you need to run the place and keeping up with it as if it was an owner-operated type of business,” Irish explained. “I just transfer your numbers over to our main business books for tax purposes.”
“Okay. I get it. Is there any seed money for me to use to start it over from scratch?” she asked, looking from Irish to Turk.
“Yeah. Dominic wants you to be able to turn the place around, but he doesn’t want major cosmetic changes right now. If something needs fixing, then do that, but other than some paint and replacing some broken tables or chairs, the rest of it goes to buying supplies and making payroll for now.” Irish pointed to the bank balance for the bar.
“That should be enough to carry it until we are showing a profit,” she agreed. Actually, it was more than she’d expected to have.
They talked about how sells had been going and the suppliers they’d been using in the past. While she would rather have looked for better suppliers, Turk told her that the ones they had now were friends of the club. Unless she found out they were dealing them bad once she took over, she was stuck with them.
“If you see that they are shorting us or anything, talk to them first about it. If it doesn’t improve, talk to one of the bosses. They may want to have a discussion with them first, or they may tell you to look for a new supplier. Just follow their directions and you’ll be fine,” Turk said.
“What about the employees? Do I have carte blanche dealing with them?” If not, she was going to have to have a serious discussion with Dom about it. She wasn’t about to try to manage a business where she didn’t have say over who she hired or fired.
“You do. The only thing as far as hiring someone is that when you find someone you want to hire, we have to run them first to be sure they don’t have any issues we aren’t happy with. Got it?” Irish asked.
“Yeah. That’s fine with me. I’d rather not have to spend time doing the paperwork on them only to find out later they were tied to the wrong people.” She didn’t have to worry that she’d unknowingly allowed someone from another MC access to them. That took away some of the strain she’d started to feel.
“I take it you already have an idea of some people you want to cut loose,” Irish said.
“Yep. At least one waitress and one bartender, but that could increase,” she said.
“If you need a fill-in waitress or bartender until you can hire someone new, we keep several on the bar’s books for just that reason. Just let one of us know what you need and for what hours. We’ll round them up for you,” Turk told her.
“I’m going to like working on this place. I’ve never had access to staff if there was a problem. I just did without and pulled some shifts to get by until we could hire more.” Delta smiled at them. “What about cooks?”
“We’ve got two now that can fill in some, but not a lot. They work other jobs, so their time is limited. If you really got in a bind, I think Juggs would help you out if you’re really nice to her and stay on her good side,” Irish said.
“She doesn’t have a good side, man.” Turk shook his head.
“She and I got along fine this morning. Everyone keeps telling me she’s hard to handle, but she didn’t strike me that way,” Delta told them.
Irish chuckled. “That’s either really good news or really bad news, hon. She either took an instant liking to you, or she’s setting you up for something seriously scary.”
“Great. I thought I was special,” she muttered.
Both of the men burst out laughing. Delta sipped on her Diet Coke and wondered how she could figure out where she really stood with Juggs. While Raven was indisposed and not around much, Juggs had taken over as the club’s mother hen and heavy. The woman knew how to run things and was great at it. For a few seconds, Delta wondered why they hadn’t already gotten her to take over the bar and straighten it out.
“I can hear what you’re thinking, Delta. Juggs would have been a great choice, but she runs the garage side of the club and didn’t want to change what she was doing. We just think she doesn’t want to work away from the club. It’s been her home for most of her life,” Turk said.
“Didn’t realize I was that easy to read,” she said with a frown.
“You’re not, really. I was just sure that would be your next thought since it was ours before she made it clear she wasn’t doing it.” Irish smiled. “I really enjoyed that display of temper when Dom asked her. Notice I said asked her. Even Dom and Reece try to stay on her good side.”
Delta couldn’t help but laugh at that. The two men were so different from any club president and vice president she’d ever been around in the past. Though they were hard-core bikers, they seemed more human somehow. She had no doubt they would defend their brothers with their lives. It was obvious by the way they looked at them with a kind of familial pride and warmth.
“Okay, let’s go through the bookkeeping program we use. You’re going to need a laptop and a separate cell phone for business. We’ll set you up with all of it. No using your personal cell at all anymore. For one thing, if your ex is smart, he’ll try to track you with it,” Irish told her.
“Oh, I disabled the GPS on it before I ever left home.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Turk said. “When you use it, if they have something watching cell towers for your number, they can trace it directly to you. It takes time, but even if they get only one or two towers each call, they can eventually find their way to you. No more personal cell.”
“I didn’t know that. Okay. I’ve only used it a few times anyway since I left home. I’ll pull the battery off when I get back to my room.” Delta felt stupid. She’d thought she’d been super careful and hadn’t.
“Another thing. We installed an alarm system in it as soon as we took it over. I’ll provide you with the codes when we get your laptop set up. We’re going to add a panic button at the bar and in your office. When you press one of them, it will notify the sheriff’s office and us at the same time. The sheriff’s office will probably get here first, so remember that if you have anything questionable going on other than the reason you pressed it in the first place,” Turk said.
“Um, what sort of ‘questionable’ would I possibly have that the sheriff’s office didn’t need to be aware of?” Delta had forgotten for a few minutes that she was dealing with bikers and not a regular business. They probably ran drugs or weapons or something. She really didn’t want to know or be a part of anything like that.
“Normally I’d say there won’t be anything like that, but we’re in the process of negotiating territories and passes with a few MCs who aren’t as upstanding as we’re trying to be. If you notice they’re doing anything that could get the bar into trouble, watch them. Butch or Walker will be there all the time, so let them know if they haven’t noticed already. Hopefully you won’t have a reason to need anyone enough to push that button,” Turk told her.
“Got it.”
They went over the programs they used and what they classified some things as on the books. Overall, Delta was impressed with the two men’s knowledge and how well they followed bookkeeping rules. Either they kept a separate set of books and weren’t telling her everything, or they were really running a fairly clean club. Delta didn’t believe that for one second. They were a biker club. Legal could never be said in the same sentence with them.
“Got any questions?” Turk asked her.
“Not right now. I’m sure as I get into the place I’ll have plenty.”
“Well, you need anything, Delta, anything at all, we’re your guys. Just call us,” Irish said, leaning in close to her.
“No, Irish. Walker and
I are her guys. Back the fuck away from her, asshole.”
Delta jerked her head up to see Butch standing in the doorway with a righteously pissed-off expression on his face. Hell, he was furious. She had no doubt he would be lecturing her loudly for the next hour or more. With a sigh, Delta stood up to leave.
“Thanks guys for all the help. When will I get the phone and laptop?” she asked.
Turk and Irish stood with her, but Turk was the one to speak. “We’ll have them ready for you by tonight. One of us will deliver them and go over using them then.”
Irish stepped back so Delta could get by him. He didn’t move nearly as far back as he could have, making Delta need to slide against him to get by. His soft chuckle told her that he was getting the rise out of Butch he’d wanted. Asshole didn’t care that she’d bear the brunt of the other man’s anger over it.
“Bye, guys.” She waved at them before Butch grabbed her hand and pulled her against him.
“Bye, Delta. We’ll talk to you later,” Irish said with a wink.
“Not unless Walker or I are with her, you won’t.” Butch walked down the hall with Delta nearly jogging to keep up with his long stride.
“Hey! Slow down, Velcro. I can’t keep up with your long legs.”
Butch made a growly noise in the back of his throat, but his pace slowed, so she was able to keep up. When they stopped outside of their new room’s door, Butch knocked once and Walker opened the door for them.
“I take it she went to that meeting without you,” Walker said with a wide grin.
“Yeah, and she was sitting between them when I walked in.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Walker said as Butch pushed her inside the room.