“You can’t make me paint!” Levi snapped.
“I can take all your artist shit and burn it, and if you replace it, I’ll do it again!” Chance threatened.
Levi paled and fell into line. He offered Chance a mulish stare, and Chance wouldn’t be surprised if Levi’s next portrait depicted Chance with horns on his head.
“We’ll be opening a tattoo shop. Smokey and Wraith will be in there. They’re wasting their talents bumming around, and a couple of Rage will join them. We plan to open one here and one in Rapid City, so you’ll cycle through on a rotation,” Chance remarked, and the brothers perked up. Good, the prospects were getting their asses kicked, too.
“Thalia’s finally decided what she prefers to do,” Chance said, and there were several shouts of laughter. Thalia had jumped from idea to idea in the months she’d been with Bear.
“What now?” Tiny grumbled.
“She wants to open a clothing store,” Bear replied.
“Not a bad idea; that woman is a clothes horse!” Pyro agreed.
“Yeah, your lady also had her own idea.” Chance grinned.
Pyro frowned. “Janey’s gonna leave Magic?” he said, shocked.
“Nope, she’ll work part time for him while opening a specialised brewery shop. She will tour local breweries and picking stock and selling it. Giving locals an outlet,” Chance informed him.
Pyro’s jaw dropped open. His precious girl had mentioned nothing to him.
“Tati wants to open an antique shop. She’ll need a large space, but she’s already filled two storage lockers with shit. Quality stuff, not the crap often found at antique stores,” Big Al mentioned. Eyebrows rose even further as Big Al spoke up. Hellfire was far too used to having Tati around to care for them. They’d never considered she might want to do something else.
“Clio has also suggested a farm store, homemade pickles and jams, etc. Says she has someone who supplies the café who’s looking to expand. And she knows a woman who makes chocolates and needs a space. The place Chey shops at for her lotions and bath shit is closing on their tenant. The girl who runs it is distraught. They put her rent up abysmally to force her out, and now she’s got nowhere to go. She’ll be one of the first units we finish,” Chance said, and Celt’s eyes softened. If it made his woman happy, Celt was pleased.
“Phoe has put feelers out for other skilled craftsmen, and we can open further workshops and shops as we go. But we plan to have the first five units finished within six weeks. Get ready fuckers, because Levi, Chey’s girl, Shotgun, Thalia and Janey will move in then,” Bear warned them.
None of the men looked amused. Phoe snorted, and Chance winked at her.
“And one more piece of news. Phoe is holding Fright Night at Halloween Marissa Hawthorne’s place this year. The Halloween ball will take place at Reading Hall and is fancy dress as usual. But the event will be held at Haunted Nightmares,” Chance warned.
Phoe beamed at him while the brothers paled and turned to Chance.
“Do we have to go?” Rooster whimpered.
Phoe stared at him. “Really?” she snapped.
“Zombie chickens,” Rooster whispered.
Phoe snickered.
“Phoe, a couple of years ago, you scarred every member of Rage, Hellfire, RCPD and Hawthorne’s.You’re teaming up with Marissa Hawthorne!”Shee pointed out as he paled. Phoe turned her attention to him.
“You wanna go there, Shee?” Phoe asked, crossing her arms. She had a don’t fuck with me look, and Chance knew his brothers were in for it. He swallowed hard as he thought of the event where Phoe had spectacularly fucked them up for at least two weeks. Chance had nightmares for a solid month of his cousin Drake’s murdered ghost floating in front of him. Behind Drake had floated Phoe and the kids. Yeah, it hadn’t been good. Phoe had well and truly hit him in his fears. Now she was with Marissa Hawthorne, and he could only imagine. Chance’s eyes met Phoe’s, and he saw unadulterated glee in them. Fuck, he and Hellfire were screwed.
“Have fun, Phoe,” Chance said weakly.
His brothers turned betrayed looks at him as their one and only sister gloated quietly. A quiet knock made Chance glance up, and he frowned as Clio entered without being told to. Chance was angered. Clio knew better than to interrupt church, and he opened his mouth to berate her, but her eyes were fixed on Big Al. Chance rose to his feet as he noticed how white Clio was.
“You can’t disturb church, honey,” Bear informed her. Clio didn’t even acknowledge him.
“Clio!” Chance snapped.
“I’m sorry… I took the call… Big Al… Tati was in an accident. Lio’s on scene. It’s serious,” Clio stammered as Big Al leapt up and charged past her.
“Where?” he tossed over his shoulder. Clio yelled an address as she turned to Chance and the others.