You heard me.
This war that’s coming?
Read my fucking lips: whatever it takes.
“What is it?” I ask Destiny, taking a sip of my whisky. It burns down my throat like fire, but that’s exactly what I need right now.
“Lester…”
“Yeah, I figured it was something that had to do with him. What does that bastard want this time?”
“He called with threats…” she trails off.
Threats? I ball my hands into fists at the sound of that word. Who does he think he is to go around threatening my woman? I’ll rip his fucking head off before he even has the chance to lift a finger.
“That motherf--”
“His threats were aimed at you, Austin,” she calms me down, placing her hand on top of mine. Looking into my eyes, she takes a deep breath. “He told me he wanted to talk with me or else he would… Well, he threatened he would do with Python what he did with Dirty Destiny.”
I breathe out, more relaxed now. He wasn’t threatening her, that’s a start, but I don’t like the fact that he wants to talk with her. What does that slimy bastard want with Destiny?
I thought he had realized she wasn’t going to help him any longer. I don’t really care that he wants to come after me and Python… These are probably empty threats. He’s been trying to get a warrant to get inside of here for ages, but he’s never managed to do it.
I make sure to get the right palms greased so that it doesn’t happen. It’s costing me a lot of money to keep Lester and his cronies outside of my club, but there’s no other choice. Besides, it’s worth it just to piss him off.
“Fuck him,” I say to Destiny, squeezing her hand in mine. “You don’t need to talk with him. And if he wants to come after Python… Well, I’ll fucking handle him, one way or the other.”
“Austin… I’m worried,” Destiny says to me. “I really am,” she starts, circling her glass with one fingertip and gazing down at the stage. Her eyes are empty, though, and I can notice that she’s thinking of everything that might go wrong. There’s something else there too, but I have no idea what.
“Lester is a corrupt asshole, but he’s not in the habit of making empty promises,” she says to me. “I still can’t forget how he shut down my club. Everything I ever worked for. I can’t see that happening to you. I just can’t… Not now.”
“Destiny, don’t worry… I’m handling this,” I tell her, trying to be calm in the face of this new bullshit.
It’s my turn now to calm her down.
I’m doing everything I can to reopen her club, but it isn’t easy. I put together a legal team so we could fight her club’s closure in the courts, but Lester pulled every trick in the book to keep that from happening.
Still, I’m not giving up. Of course, her words make me fucking worried, I won’t lie.
What if, somehow, Lester has managed to convince a judge that something’s going on in here? He never came after us like that before because it was a risky move for him. If he brought us down, Strokes and I would try and bring him down with us. He knows that, but he’s also growing desperate. He wants to stop us at all costs.
Fuck.
This isn’t looking good.
“Austin… I’ve tried to understand, and I do trust you,” she turns to me then, looking me straight in the eyes. I know that she has bottled these words inside of her for far too long, and now it’s time she comes asking questions once again. I’m just afraid I can’t give her any answers.
Finally, the questions come.
I bet you’re getting pretty curious now too, aren’t you?
“What is actually going in here?” Destiny asks me, looking at me directly. “Why is Lester so obsessed with that woman, Mistress Strokes?”
Fuck.
Well, there it is.
I’m wondering how to answer when Destiny continues. “Sometimes I worry,” she says to me. “You know I trust you, but...” she trails off.