I was like a ticking time bomb ready to explode. “I can’t take that chance. We already had this happen before to the club. I can’t let it go down again.”
Naomi gave me a pitiful look.
Smoke added ice to the whiskey glass, poured the amber liquid over the top, and handed it to me. “I’m staying out of it but do what you think is best.” He tilted his head towards me. “Come on, let’s go out back and we can run through this.”
“Alright.”
We sat down on Smoke’s back deck and listened to the birds flying overhead. The sunlight flickered through the trees, and everything in nature seemed peaceful. A direct contrast to the fire burning inside me.
“So, what was her motive? She told you?” Smoke asked.
I took a sip of my whiskey. “No, but then again I wouldn’t let her. She spent the night, and I saw the text message when I picked her phone up. She is representing Doc. She can’t be representing Doc and us at the same time,” I said in an exasperated tone. “I should have known from what she said when she got me off those charges.”
“What did she say then?”
“She said she had no loyalty to her clients and that she just defended them. She could care less. I should have stayed away from her.” I was feeling sorry for myself and probably sounded like a wounded bear. I let the whiskey merge into my bloodstream as I stretched out my back.
“Stop beating yourself up about it. You couldn’t have known. One thing is for sure. Devil Riders are trying to take over our turf. This means we have to up our efforts from our end to purchase real estate. They can’t take over everything. We need to put our stamp on what’s ours.”
I nodded my head as I tried to put a stop to the rampant thoughts in my head. “From looking at the numbers for that deli, I think we should do it. We may need to gut the whole thing and restart. A coffee shop with the deli on the side. They did have a decent profit margin for at least ten years, and there is magic there. They got off at the end and things went downhill because the owner got sick,” I let all my thoughts tumble out of me. I was grateful for the change of subject. It gave me a chance to regroup from the shitty news I’d just been hit with.
“Uh-huh. I heard Bones talk about the nail salon too. That seems more logical. More stable,” Smoke added.
“I hear you, it’s just that the nail salon is going to take more initial capital and we are going for bigger things. The deli is way cheaper and has good long-term potential,” I stated as I polished off the last of my whiskey.
“I see. We have to call a meeting and tell the crew. Now it explains everything. That’s why the casino is getting hit with dealers popping up.” Smoke put two and two together and saw the bigger picture of the mess like I did.
“Now you see what I’m saying, and on top of that, I think Devil Riders sent that overdose guy to us. That was a plant,” I spat out. I was furious and revenge tactics were blinding me.
Smoke looked at my glass and then at his watch. “Let’s go down to the club and round up the boys. I’ll call Bones now.”
“Okay, let’s rock and roll. I will meet you down there.”
“Okay.”
“Where’s Gavin?” I asked quickly.
“He’s out with his boys. He’ll be back later.”
“Okay.” I got up from the seat and moved through the living room to where Naomi was sitting on the couch.
She watched the both of us coming through.
Smoke stopped and gave her a quick peck. “Hey baby, we gotta go down to the club to sort out a few things. I will see you later on.”
“No problem,” she said. “Numbers, I’m sorry about Mia. I hope it works out.”
“Thanks,” was all I said. I wanted nothing to do with Mia. She was already another woman I needed to get over in my mind and then move on. The quicker I could do that the better.
As we moved to the outside Smoke called Bones on his phone. “Hey, we need everyone at the club ASAP. We got a problem we need to resolve and it involves the Devil Riders… can we get the boys there? Yup. Meet you there in 10.” Smoke lifted his head up with a grim look on his face after hanging up the phone.
“And?”
“Yup. He’s heading there now, regardless of where all the boys are. Let’s go and see what we can do.”
“Yeah. See you down there.”
We both rode the short distance down to Wheelz, where the door stood wide open.