Total pages in book: 212
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
“We’re off for a few days then. What do you wanna do instead?”
“You don’t wanna just stay here and keep an eye on things for Deke?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Deke hired a security company to watch the grounds since most would go to the rally but there are a few brothers stayin’ back already. Me stayin’ back for Easter and for the wedding means I won’t have to do it the next few big events. We should do something. Get outta town for a few days.”
“Could we visit your parents? Maybe stay there overnight and then spend a little time at Deke’s cabin? If that’s okay with him, I mean.”
I liked that idea. Deke gave me the green light on that, telling me that no, Jackals probably didn’t know where his safe house was since the guys Fork had disposed of might be the only ones with access to the tracker info on Fork’s truck. Fork had disposed of the cell phone with the app on it, saying it was rudimentary. Since then, we’d burnt out that Jackals van in the woods and put up two trail cams on Deke’s property.
But Deke wanted an alarm system and more trail cams put up to cover all potential access points just in case, liked how Fork had planted some trail cams around some of the Jackals hideouts giving us the ability to see what was what from his phone. So I was gonna install some when we got there so they could keep an even better eye on the place.
He told me to make sure I was armed, giving me a key to his gun safe in the basement. Ride gave me the specs of the system he wanted for it and laid out where he wanted all the new cameras installed.
Me and G drove to Bismarck in my pickup truck after getting escorted the first hour by Scott and Nico. Deke had put the two of them together on assignment a couple times since their time in the ring and Scott seemed to be okay with him.
And my girl fiddled with my radio, taking charge of the music without asking, and she looked happy. Very fucking happy.
***
“Your momma still suspects nothing?” she asked as we pulled down their street.
“Nope. Haven’t talked to her in at least a week. She loves surprises. She’ll be tickled.”
She clapped her hands happily.
I wasn’t sure if they were working or not, but after finding their driveway empty, we showed up at the bar.
Since it was around nine o’clock, things were in full swing, girls on stage, most of the tables and booths full. Arch was manning the bar and his face lit up when he saw us.
The Playpen wasn’t a dive bar. It was absolutely a titty bar, but it was a little more upscale. It was spotless, with nice furnishings and good lighting. The servers dressed in halters and leather miniskirts and the clientele was more than a couple men sitting up in pervert’s row. Yeah, there were always men on their own up front, but in addition to that there were groups of tradesmen coming in after work as well as couples on a spice-night (a night out to spice up their sex life). It was also popular for stags and more recently also for bachelorette parties, too.
Ma didn’t run a skeevy titty bar. She wanted to be known as an exotic nightclub with more. That’s why she had events, trivia nights, did fundraisers for the local area, and had set up an extra dance floor to the side for anyone who wanted to get up and move to the music, keeping their clothes on, of course.
When I bounced there, I regularly found myself reminding people that the only ones permitted to take their clothes off were the employees.
“Holy shit! Fernanda!” Archer bellowed.
Ma popped up from behind the bar, making me jolt in surprise at her sudden appearance, not to mention the fact that she was directly in front of him.
Ma squealed in delight.
“Fuck sakes,” I muttered at what it looked like.
“Surprise!” Gigi sang out giddily.
“Hey!” Ma greeted in return, then when her eyes settled on my grimace, she waved her hand like the notion in my head was ridiculous.
“I was stocking, since his knees are buggin’ him,” she defended, while flipping the bar top over to come and wrap her arms around my girl.
They hugged like they were long lost besties.
Arch laughed heartily, then went serious. “Yeah, she was stocking but now I got a new fantasy.” He tapped his noggin and smiled. “Thanks, Jesse.”
My lip curled with disgust. Arch laughed again and wrapped his tree trunk arms around me. I slapped his back.
“Good to see ya, son,” he said.
“You, too,” I returned before Ma and Arch switched places.
Ma was in her usual work attire, a business suit, hair piled up on her head, though still looking like she belonged in the titty bar with her stripper shoes, heavy makeup, her jewelry, and two of her blouse buttons undone, showing off the tops of her bra cups. She wasn’t joking when she said that she dressed for work like a hot executive who could, at any minute, tap into her inner exotic dancer. I was used to this.