My penetrating gaze cut into my father’s, who was shaking his head and seemed to be attempting to do everything in his power to keep from bursting his gut with laughter.
“It’s a long-ass story, son. I’ll tell you after the meeting’s over,” he informed, acknowledging my bemused expression.
“Would you like something to eat, sir?” The delicate voice barely made its way into my ear.
Am I awake right now?I asked myself the question as I watched members at the table eating whatever it was the woman had served them.
I glanced at the woman still standing next to me. I assumed she hadn’t moved because she was waiting for my answer.
“No, thank you. Not hungry.”
My elbows hit the table, and my face fell into my hands as I massaged my head. When I glanced back up, the woman had moved on to my father.
Good God! The woman was gorgeous, and despite being brown, her presence was eye-catching. I scratched my head, realizing this was the first time I’d noticed…truly noticed a woman of color. Since I’d been forbidden from being around them all my life, my reaction to my attraction to this one was justified, I supposed.
When she offered my father one of the bowls of food she had on the tray, my gaze zoomed in on the dish. My father leaned away and allowed the woman to set one of the bowls in front of him before he expertly took up the napkin and spoon she’d set in place and started eating.
Soon after the exchange, my father continued his conversation like I wasn’t sitting there, freaking the fuck out at what was going on. Were their lives in jeopardy and they, for some reason, couldn’t say what was going on? I placed my hand on the .45 tucked in the back of my pants. Weapons weren’t supposed to be allowed in the clubhouse, but I was the enforcer, so I was never without a weapon.
The crease in my face deepened, and the veins below the surface of my skin started to pound. My gaze left my father and followed the woman, who was heading back into the kitchen. She wore a long-sleeve, baby blue, cotton T-shirt and thin cotton sweatpants that were about two sizes too big, although it was July and hot as fuck outside.
My eyes swept around the table as spoons clinked against bowls and rose to mouths. Lips smacked, and even a few grunts of satisfaction escaped. Was anyone planning to tell me what the fuck was going on? My chair creaked under my shifting weight as I sat higher and leaned over the table.
My voice rang out, carrying the weight of my frustration. “Does anyone plan to tell me what the fuck is going on? Are my eyes fucked up or did I just see a black woman inside our clubhouse boardroom serving food that all of you, crazy motherfuckers are eating?”
Throats cleared and wide gazes traveled towards my father. So, my gaze shifted in that direction too.
“Son, she’s working off a debt for her crack-head sister. Your dumb-ass cousins let her drug-addicted sister get away with about three grand in coke, and this one was crazy and brave enough to come out here and work off the debt to keep us from killing her sister.”
My gaze traveled around the table. This shit just wasn’t sinking in as my father’s words continued.
“If you ask me, she is just as fucked up as her sister for doing some suicidal shit like this, but so far, she hasn’t been any trouble, so we’ve agreed to let her work off the debt. The only law I laid down concerning her was that no one was to fuck her. I can’t allow any of you to get tangled up in some black pussy. Now, if you need your house cleaned or a maid, she’s a good cleaning lady and a pretty good cook.” My father tossed one of his hands in the air. “Look around, son. Haven’t you noticed we’ve done some remodeling?”
I sat stunned for a moment, searching for words as I gave the place a once over. When I’d walked in, I was so concerned about getting the meeting over with that I hadn’t even glanced too far past my own damn feet.
“Are you all fucking crazy?” I asked as my tired gaze scanned the room. “What if she’s the law and you’re in here freely discussing business around her? Not to mention the fact that you just let me walk in here with money and guns. What if she has a team of fucking lawmen waiting on some line for one of you to say the right thing that will take all of us down?”
“Son, calm the fuck down,” my father said as he leaned towards me. “What do I look like? A fucking fool? I checked her out and had her checked out again. I know how to spot a fucking rat. I’ve been in this business longer than you’ve been alive. If I thought she was a danger to us, she would be buried with the rest of the bodies. She writes books—one of them nerdy bitches. Her books and shit are all over the internet, and that crack bitch of a sister of hers is in rehab just like she told us she would be. I gave her a month to work off her sister’s debt. The only place we could keep the public from seeing her is in this clubhouse.”
Shark glanced around at the other chairmen, who nodded their heads, agreeing with his words. “So far, she hasn’t been any trouble. She even helped us get rid of some vermin, Nelson Cates’ son, Scud. Fucker came in here after sniffing his balls, thinking he was going to take me out. Shit, I’m thinking about keeping her ass for good. She shot that bastard and kept him from blowing Wade’s fucking brains out.”
Wade nodded his head in my direction, confirming my father’s words. I was so fucking confused that my head started to hurt. My forehead veins started to jump under my skin, threating to pop out and spray my tired blood all over the table. It took my father’s last words a moment to take root inside my brain.
“She shot someone? Tell me you didn’t just say she shot someone. What the fuck is going on around here?”
Grinding my fingers into my temples, I roughly massaged my forehead. I’d only been gone a little more than two weeks. How could our world have changed this fucking much?
“Son, relax. I’ll give you the full-court press when this meeting is over.”
On cue, the pretty brown woman stepped back into the room with cups and a pitcher of something to drink.
Instead of listening to the rest of what my father was saying, I was too busy attempting to figure out what alternate universe I’d landed in.
“Would you like something to drink, sir?”
Sir?
This was the weirdest situation I think I’d ever been in. I caught a glimpse of the woman’s bruised arm when she attempted to hand me one of the cheap plastic cups. Those bruises reminded me of the hellish world I’d grown up in, and I couldn’t imagine the shit my MC had likely put this woman through.