“Let’s get the wheels moving on the club, so then there aren’t any reasons to be complaining.” Quinn side-eyed Dyno. “And you can stop spending your life fortune on us.”
Dyno laughed and held up his hands. “You know I gotta give you guys shit. I’ll help for however long you need me to.”
“You can help us right now by telling us about the places you’ve scouted for the club. Things are finally calmed down around here.”
“No,” Zephyr moaned. “You’ve just completely fucked us over. Never, ever say things have calmed down.” He looked around. “I think I just heard a woman’s cry of distress. No one move. All you single fuckers, do not move.”
Quinn chuckled. “You are one of those fuckers, Zephyr.”
Zephyr’s eyes bugged out. “I know.” He shrunk back in his chair. “I’m vulnerable.”
“Keep acting like that, and you won’t have to worry about any chick asking for help,” Rhino snickered.
“All right, all right,” Quinn interrupted. “Let’s get down to actual club business.”
Dyno held up his hand. “I’ve got three places that would be a good spot for the club. Two spots are already built, and the other option is closer to home but will take some major work.”
“Start from the ground up?” I asked.
Dyno nodded. “That’s kind of the way of the Kings, isn’t it? Quinn started this club from the ground up. We could continue that tradition to build the best strip club around in a four-state radius.”
“Just like we’re the best MC within a four-state radius.” Sledge bumped his fist with Zephyr. “Best around, baby.”
“Can we stay focused on the strip club?” Quinn asked. “It takes just one word, and you assholes go off on a fucking tangent about nothing.”
Zephyr held up his hands. “I was just pointing out the obvious.”
“It’s obvious,” I laughed. “No need to point it out.”
“Focus,” Quinn thundered. “Where are the places?”
Dyno held up one finger. “One is an old restaurant on the other side of town. Half an hour from the highway and just overall good traffic passing by. The building is empty, so it shouldn’t be hard to get in there and make it the way we want it.”
Core laughed. “And seeing how you made this hellhole a clubhouse, you should be more than able to flip the restaurant into a strip club.”
“Yeah. It’s going to be a lot of work, but we are more than capable of doing it.” Dyno added another finger. “Second place is a little bit more off the beaten path, but I have a feeling we could make it work. We’d have to do more advertising and whatnot, but the building is almost twice the size for the same price.”
“Why’s that?” Sledge asked.
Dyno shrugged. “It could be because it’s off the beaten path, or maybe it’s because it’s an old funeral home.”
“What?” Core gasped. “How the fuck are we going to have a strip club in an old funeral home?”
“It’s not a funeral home anymore,” Dyno pointed out. “Hasn’t been for about a year.”
“Are we really considering this?” I laughed. While I wasn’t freaking out about it like Core, I didn’t think it was the best idea.
Dyno shrugged. “From my background in construction, I know it’s got good bones.”
“It’s got good bones because there were fucking dead people in there!” Core seethed.
“Well, then I guess it’s pretty fitting we continue the tradition of having bones in there.” Zephyr smiled wide.
We all stared at him.
“Oh, come on,” he chuckled. “Dead bones, and then there will be boners in there if we make it a strip club.” He threw up his hands in the air. “I couldn’t be the only one who thought that.”
Rhino pointed at Zephyr. “There is something fucking wrong with you, brother. You keep this shit up, and you really won’t have to worry about being distracted by a chick. They ain’t gonna want you.”
Zephyr flipped him off. “That’s not what your mom said last night.”
Rhino chuckled.
“What’s the other place?” Quinn asked.
“Yeah, cause there ain’t no way we’re opening Skinz in a funeral home,” Core scoffed.
“It’s not off the table.” Quinn shrugged. “I just like hearing all of our options.”
“Our other option is we build the club.” Dyno looked around. “Right here.”
“We turn the clubhouse into a strip club?” I asked.
Dyno shook his head. “Not exactly. We would renovate the back half and add on.”
Sledge held up his hands and teetered them back and forth. “It would be nice to have the club right here, but then we also wouldn’t be able to get away from it.”
“You think that wouldn’t possibly bring some unnecessary drama to the clubhouse?” I asked.
Dyno shrugged. “I’m not sure of any of that. I just know we already own this.”
Quinn laid his hand on the table. “But maybe Point is right. We might not want to have Skinz literally in our backyard.”
“So, then, it’s the old restaurant or the funeral home.” Dyno sat back. “I personally vote for the funeral home. It has two levels where we could have the main club downstairs, and then upstairs, we could use it for private dances and whatnot.”
“And then the girls can have their dressing room in the old embalming room,” Zephyr snickered.
Dyno shrugged. “Possibly. That’s in the basement.”
Zephyr’s jaw dropped. “I was joking.”
“And I’m not.” Dyno drawled. “Forget that the place was a fucking funeral home, and then, you’ll see why the place will be good for Skinz.”
Quinn nodded. “Set up times for us to go see both places. I’m gonna veto building onto the clubhouse. I have enough to deal with already with just you assholes here. If we build on, then I’m going to be dealing with shit from the strip club twenty-four-seven. If it’s on the other side of town, I can at least leave there and not have that following me home.”
“I mean, I might like having one or two of the problems from the club following me home,” Zephyr chuckled. “If you know what I mean.”
“The only problem you’ll have is Rhino’s mom following you home,” Dyno scoffed.
“You really think Rhino’s mom is going to want to work at Skinz?” Sledge asked Zephyr. “I heard she had a hip replacement.”
“Say one more fucking word about my mom,” Rhino growled. “One more fucking thing, assholes.”
“Knock it off, idiots.” Quinn shook his head. “One more thing going on.”
“Here it is,” I laughed. “This is the bullshit coming.”
Quinn glared at me. I shrugged and sat back in my chair.
Our prez seemed to be at the end of his rope when it came to us cracking jokes. “Brick is out in three weeks. He should have been out more than a month ago, but some bullshit pushed everything back. If everything goes to plan, he should be here within the month.”
Dyno pounded his fist on the table. “Fuck yeah, brother. Now that is some good fucking news.”
Quinn and Dyno were the only two who had ever met Brick. The rest of us have just been going off of what we heard. Hell, none of us even knew why Brick was in prison.
“I think that calls for a fucking blowout party, huh?” Zephyr cheered. “Invite the whole damn town.”
“I think all Brick is going to want is a feast fit for a king and maybe a wet and willing body warming his bed.” Dyno shrugged. “Though, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a big party.”
“Do whatever you guys want. I know Brick will appreciate it.” Quinn held up his hand. “One more thing.” Quinn pointed at Rhino. “You wanna explain why there was a cat in my bed this morning? I rolled over and came face to face with the little fucker.”
Rhino held up his hands, defeated. “Look, brother. I tried to tell Petra a clubhouse isn’t the place for a cat, but she is bound and determined to have that litt
le shit. At least he’s friendly. I’m sure once he gets used to being here, it won’t be a problem.”
“Keep him out of my room,” Quinn warned. “There’s only one pussy I want in my bed.”
“Damn,” Rhino laughed. “You’re as coldhearted as Point’s wife.”
I hung my head and groaned. Of course, Rhino was going to bring up Deedra. All the talk in the van on the way back to the clubhouse yesterday was about her.
After we made plans to meet up tonight, Deedra kept her distance. She interviewed one of the volunteers, and then, she pretended to like a few of the other cats before they took off.
Deedra never was one who was mushy and gushy a lot. I didn’t know she was having problems with viewers thinking she was a bitch, though. I sort of looked at it as she needed to be professional and couldn’t be fawning and crying over everything when she was on camera, right?
Even when she was being serious and whatnot, she was still fine as hell. People needed to pull the stick out of their asses if they thought she was a bitch and not downright beautiful.
“Can we not talk about this?” I asked. There wasn’t anything to talk about. At least, not between the guys and me. Deedra and I were a different story.
There was a whole heap of shit we needed to discuss.
“We’re not.” Quinn hit his fist on the table. “Set up viewings of both places, Dyno. Meanwhile, the rest of you just stay out of fucking trouble, yeah?”
Dyno nodded and followed Quinn out of the room.
“If any of you fuckers decide that having the club in that funeral home is what you want, I’m gonna personally beat the snot out of you,” Core warned.
Sledge chuckled. “Well, in that case, I can’t wait to see the funeral home and tell Quinn it’s the perfect fit for Skinz.”
Rhino smirked. “You might have made the wrong choice by showing your cards on not liking the funeral home, Core. Now, we’re all going to vote for it.”
Core groaned. “You guys are fucking insane. Do you really think opening a strip club in an old funeral home is the best idea? The place where hundreds of dead people were laid to rest.”
“I think you might be confusing a funeral home with a cemetery,” I laughed.
Core shook his head. “You know what I fucking mean. That place is fucking haunted, and that’s why it’s so damn cheap.”
Zephyr pointed at me. “Hey, maybe we can play on that with the club, you know?” Rhino tapped his finger on his chin. “Call the main club area the parlor. Have the DJ called the undertaker? Really play this shit up.”
“You guys are all fucking insane. Thinking having a funeral-themed strip club is a good idea.” Core threw his hands in the air. “Bunch of sick fuckers.”
He stormed from the room while we all laughed.
Sledge stood and stretched his arms over his head. “I don’t know about you guys, but I am going to do everything in my power to make sure we get that funeral home for the club only because I then want to make sure Core works every fucking night there.”
“Fuck yeah,” Rhino agreed. “I’m all for giving the guy a chance to be a part of the club, but he also has to know that means he’s going to get a ton of shit from us.”
“I say we figure out where the place is and head over there tonight.” Sledge nodded at me. “What do you say?”
I grimaced. “I’d normally be more than game for that, but I got plans tonight.”
Rhino tipped his head to the side. “Plans, huh?”
“You can shut your big mouth,” I growled. “You didn’t need to bring up Deedra like you did.”
“You trying to hide your past?” Rhino laughed.
“Not hiding anything, but I also don’t need to be airing my personal business out there, either,” I pointed out.
“Aw, he thinks he has personal business when he’s part of the Kings of Vengeance,” Zephyr chuckled. “Haven’t you learned by now that there are no fucking secrets around here, brother? Just ask Rhino’s mom.”
Rhino lunged for Zephyr. “Say it one more time, fucker. Try me.”
Zephyr raised his hands and took a step back toward the door. “Brother, I am so sorry. Please don’t hit me because your mama loves my face.”
He darted out the open door with Rhino hot on his heels.
Sledge chuckled. “We are a bunch of fucking idiots.”
“That’s the truth,” I agreed.
“You meeting up with the ol’ lady tonight?” he asked.
“I really don’t want to talk about Deedra, Sledge.”
“I don’t expect you to give us every detail of your life story, Point, but hiding the fact you have a wife is kind of big.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “I don’t want to talk about it because I don’t know what to say. Maybe after tonight, I’ll have some more to say about it.”
“Things didn’t end between you two?”
Fucking Sledge. He wasn’t getting the point I did not want to talk about Deedra. “We imploded, brother, and I was a fool who didn’t see it coming.”
He nodded. “Well, just know we’re here if you need anything. Even if you just wanna drink and bitch.” He headed out of the room, and I was left alone.
I was good at the drinking part. I wasn’t too keen on bitching about my own shit to someone else.
The only person I wanted to talk about Deedra with was Deedra.
She was the only one who had the answers I needed.
Tonight, I was going to get them.
*
Chapter Eight
Drop it…
Deedra
“What are you dressed up for?”
“I’m not dressed up.” I was. I reached down and tugged on the hem of my dress. It hadn’t seemed short when I stood in front of the mirror at home, but now it felt like my ass was hanging out.
Yeah, I was wearing a dress. I never wore dresses. It was typically dress slacks if I was on air or jeans if I was out chasing a story. Dresses weren’t conducive to me doing my job.
“You never look like this.”
I glared at my informant, Joseph. “Like what?”
“Approachable.”
Again with this bullshit. “Are you telling me that because I put a dress on, I look less like a bitch?” Talk about judging a book by its cover.
“Whoa, whoa,” Joseph laughed. “I don’t think the word bitch came out of my mouth, did it?”
My shoulders sagged, and I sighed. “You didn’t. I’m just dealing with some stuff. Sorry.” Dealing with the apparently well-known fact that I was a bitch, and I was the last to know it.
“Someone not treating you right, mama?”
I laughed. “What have I told you about calling me mama, Joseph?”
He hung his head and sighed. “That it creeps you out because you possibly could be my mom.”
“I would have been pregnant at thirteen, Joseph, but it’s possible. You make me feel old.”
Joseph was eighteen and had been on the streets for two years. He told me living in a cardboard box was better than being at home with his mom and dad. It made me wonder how bad things really were for him there.
He leaned against the brick wall of the restaurant where I was meeting Point.
Since Point insisted we get together at eight, I had moved my meet with Joseph to right before. I had actually left work early to run to the mall for a new outfit and then spent all afternoon primping and pampering myself. I kept repeating over and over that I was just treating myself, and it wasn’t because of Point. I needed a dress to have in my closet.
I didn’t even believe it after I finished shaving my legs and slipped on the dark blue dress. Strapless and form-fitting around my chest, it then flared out when it hit my waist. Paired with my black kitten heels, it looked like I was trying to impress someone.
Someone being Point.
Ugh.
“Didn’t even let me shoot my shot,” Joseph laughed. “Here I thought you and I were starting a thing.”<
br />
I opened my purse and handed him an envelope. “I figured you would have done the math. I’m thirteen years older than you, Joseph. You’d be much better off finding a woman who isn’t old and crusty. Or bitchy.”
Joseph grabbed the envelope and peeked inside. “Not old or crusty,” he muttered. “What you got for me today?”
“The usual and something more if you have anything good for me.” I had an extra twenty tucked away if he gave me some good information.
Joseph thumbed through the two gift cards and two twenties. I wasn’t made of money, but I paid Joseph well for the information he gave me. He was the best informant I had ever had. All the ones before gave me one or two details, and then they just held their hand out all of the time.
“New strip club coming to town. That motorcycle club in town was looking at places the other week. One of my buddies on the other side of town saw some tall dude with Vengeance on their back. Might be newsworthy.”
I pursed my lips. “Maybe. Though I’m sure it’s all on the up and up.” And if it wasn’t, I didn’t think Joseph would know of it yet, seeing as it was just happening. I didn’t know much about the Kings of Vengeance, but I knew they kept their cards close to their chests. If they didn’t want people to know about what they were doing, no one knew.
“Anything else on the lead you gave me last week?” That was what I was here for. I hadn’t known the Kings of Vengeance were opening a strip club, but I doubted that would be more than a thirty-second blip on the eleven o’clock news.
Joseph shook his head. “As of right now, I haven’t heard anything. Since the Clarks went away for a long fucking time, there have been rumblings wondering who is going to take over the meth market. Right now, it’s just been rumors about people I ain’t never even heard of.”
“Who is it you’ve never heard of? And last week, you told me there was someone actually moving in and showing face.” I slightly doubted if Joseph was telling me good information. He was slightly flip flopping on what he already told me.
Thrill Seeker (Kings of Vengeance MC Book 5) Page 4
