“Maybe. My brother liked bikes. He used to try and get me on the back of one.” She gave me a quick smile.
A stilted response. But I figured that progress was progress. “Oh, yeah?” I didn’t pry or take that part of the conversation further. I knew the truth about the situation. Her opening up would be her choice. I rubbed the back of my neck as a funny, lost look clouded her face. “You should definitely come check us out. I promise you’ll have fun. You can check out the bikes too.”
“Thanks for the offer. I’ll think about it.” She started fixing things up on the counter.
I took that as my cue to leave. “Have a nice day.” I saluted and walked out of the gas station. It was hard to gauge whether she would come down to the club or not. Sometimes, you have to open a flower petal by petal. It took me years to recover from Murphy’s death, especially since I blamed myself for denying that one fucking request, not to get into a car of drunken fools.
I walked back to my bike with purpose. Now, I wouldn’t be going home as I was due at the clubhouse soon. We had a meeting about the casino, and I was anticipating the Rebels had it in the bag. It was surely a matter of formalities now.
It was no surprise that sweat beads were forming on my forehead before 11 AM. Holbeck did that from time to time. It brought a heatwave early in the morning and then fizzled out in the afternoon.
I arrived a few minutes later and saw the back of Bones’ head as he walked in.
Smoke pulled up right next to me. “Hey, what’s going on, road captain?” Smoke grinned.
“Had to go pick up my keys because I don’t know how to keep them in my pocket.” I killed my engine, sliding off my helmet.
“You and those keys man! You need to keep them on a chain around your neck or something. You’re killing me with how many times you’ve lost them.”
“I know, I’ll get there… one day.” I slapped him on the back as we stepped inside together.
Hawk met us halfway as we climbed the stairs.
“Wazsup, Hawk? You got good news to tell us?” Smoke asked.
Hawk sucked in through his teeth. “Might not be as good as you think. Bones will give us the details.”
“Hmm,” Bones grunted, waiting at the head of the table as we settled in our seats. “Hey brothers, how we doing?” he greeted us.
“You tell us, prez!” Coyote laughed and so did a few of the others.
Bones rubbed his head and chuckled back at him, but his mouth looked tight. “We got ourselves into a nice bidding war. We’ve had a few competitors in the mix. The real estate company won’t reveal the names, but they’re hitting us hard. What I wanted to discuss with you all is how far we’re prepared to take it in order to win this casino deal.”
“All the way. We’ve put a lot into that place and I’d be pissed off if those other bidders won it and took the rug out from under us,” Ink replied quickly in a stern voice. He had worked at the casino for a long while in security.
“Well, all the way means we dip into the kitty from some of the bar savings we put away. Comfortably, we can go up another twenty thousand dollars. After that, there’s no guarantees. Are we down for that as a club?” Bones asked, rubbing his thick hands one over the other.
Most of the heads of the brothers gathered… nodded.
Including Numbers, who ran the finances of the club. “We can do it. We’re holding steady in most areas and we don’t have any weak links,” Numbers confirmed.
“Good. I do wanna know who is bidding against us, I have a fair idea for the most part,” Bones said with irritation.
Coyote replied as he narrowed his eyes, stroking his chin, “I think it probably has something to do with those Road Warriors and the slippery snakes Devil Riders. They have to be involved. I can feel it.”
“Yeah, but do they really have the funds to make that happen?” I asked with skepticism. “If they’re built on dirty money, why would they invest in the casino?” As soon as I said it, I remembered our flawed past as a club and the fact that we had our own shady business dealings that we were built on.
Numbers gave me a sideways glance with interest. “We used to conduct our business a certain way, and we made a lot of money, if you remember correctly.”
“You’re right, we did. My bad. I see how,” I said, correcting myself.
“Maverick, you’ve been quiet. What do you think about the bidding?” Hawk threw the question in his direction.
“I think Bones and Numbers are right on track. Our books look good and we can manage a little more. Even if the silent bidder does take us to the brink, we still have money to spare. We can shake their tree a little bit.” Maverick nodded as he spoke, looking around the room.
“So we’re at war, and I kinda like it.” Bones was still scratching his chin, but he had the gleam of competition in his eye now. “Once we get over the hump and see how we manage the casino, we can talk about what we are going to do with the earnings and where to distribute them.”
“New chapter, maybe?” I added with an enthusiastic smile. “Think we could do it?”