Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 45045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Gus looked stunned. “You’d fire her?”
“No,” I said, hoping I wasn’t making a huge mistake. But I couldn’t forget the pain on her face. She’d said that I hurt her. And I had. But it’d been Gus hurting her, too.
He needed to be part of the solution.
“I won’t be able to fire her,” I told him. “Because I’m not buying the bar. Not unless you hear her out. You need to listen to her, and then you need to explain why you’re selling to me in a way that satisfies her. Then I’ll sign.”
Gus’s face flushed, and I heard a few mutters.
“He can’t share club business,” Gage said. “You know better than that, Eli.”
“Then I guess Gus can’t retire yet after all,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “Gonna be a real bitch, running this place without me or Peaches. Good luck with that.”
“I took you in when you had nothing,” Gus said, his voice rising.
“And I went to prison for a crime you committed.” Everyone went silent. The words were true, but I’d never spoken them out loud before. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a relief. But then I took a deep breath and focused on the only father I’d ever known. “I love you, Gus, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. But I already gave you five years. This time, you need to clean up your own mess.”
Chapter Eight
Six years ago
~Peaches~
“You know,” I said, speaking very slowly so the words wouldn’t slur. “I think I like the drinking alcohol better than I like serving it.”
McKayla nodded, her face serious.
“Way better,” she replied, handing me her liquor bottle. “And that’s not the only thing we’ve been doing wrong.”
I took a deep swig. Tequila. Wasn’t sure how much I’d had, but it was enough that it didn’t burn going down anymore.
“Doing what wrong?” I asked.
“Working,” she said, swaying to the side. I caught her arm so she wouldn’t fall over. Not that it’d hurt her much. We were already sitting on the floor for reasons that’d made sense to me in the moment.
“We should stop working here,” McKayla continued. “And start drinking here. You know, instead of working. I just think that’d be better. Can I have the bottle again?”
I frowned, considering the idea as I handed over the tequila. Challenging, with all the party noise. The buzzing in my head didn’t help either. Every time I caught a thought, it tried to wiggle away.
“Drinking does seem way better than working,” I agreed. “But we also need money to buy the drinks. So, if we stop working here, we’ll probably have to work somewhere else. Otherwise, we’ll run out of money.”
“Oh,” she said, her smile fading. She fell silent. I took the opportunity to survey the room—well, as much of it as I could see from the floor—pleased with how many people had shown up. All the Reapers, of course. Not just the locals, but quite a few from other chapters. Most of our friendly regulars, too.
The only one I hadn’t seen yet was the birthday boy. Gus.
McKayla grabbed my arm, shaking it.
“What?” I asked.
“I’ve got the best idea! We don’t need our own money to buy drinks. We just need someone to buy them. Anyone, really. So, why couldn’t we just sleep with men to get alcohol? That’s way more efficient than working.”
“Tough call,” I said slowly. “Because that sounds a little like prostitution.”
“Nope. Prostitutes earn money. We wouldn’t be earning money, just booze. And we’d keep it classy, too. No well drinks.”
“Hard to argue with logic like that…”
“I know, right?” she said, giggling. McKayla was many things. Sweet and cute. Friendly.
Ultimately not much brighter than a chicken, though.
“So, assuming we decide to do this—and that’s a big if—then who do you want to sleep with first?”
“Eli,” she said with a little too much enthusiasm. “I’d really like to fuck Eli. But only once you’re done with him. I follow the code.”
I scrunched my nose at her. “I’m not interested in Eli. He smells like dirty feet.”
“Yeah, I don’t believe that,” she said, reaching for the bottle again. “If you weren’t interested, you wouldn’t hang out with him so much.”
“I hang out at Gus’s house, which is where Eli happens to live,” I corrected her. “Between that and work, I see him a lot. Doesn’t mean I like it.”
“Does that mean I can have him?” she asked, perking up.
I frowned. For some reason, I didn’t care for that idea. Don’t think about it. Thinking is almost always a bad thing.
“Okay, whatever,” I said. “Just be sure to use like, six condoms. Because he’s probably got all kinds of cooties.”
McKayla gave a high-pitched squeal.
“You’re amazing, Peaches. I love you!” she said gleefully, raising the bottle for a drink. But instead of swallowing, she lowered it, glee replaced by grief. “Oh, this is the worst. How could something so terrible happen in such a beautiful moment?”