Chapter 9
Widow
“You know, I’m suddenly in the mood for a good ol’ cup of coffee.”
“What?”
Menace and I had just gone by the storage lot to drop off the week’s take from the club. It was a run we’d made many times, and never once had he ever been in the mood for fucking coffee. “Didn’t get much sleep last night. I’m not gonna make it unless I get some caffeine in me.”
“Fine.” I pointed my hand up the street. “Stop at the Tiger Mart up ahead and get you some fucking coffee.”
“Nah, their coffee tastes like ass.” He was playing it all innocent as he announced, “I’m in the mood for some real coffee.”
“And where you planning on getting this real coffee?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he remained silent until he pulled up in front of Frankie’s coffee shop. “I heard this is a good place.”
“We’re not going in there, brother.”
“Oh, yeah. We are.”
Before I could stop him, he got out of the truck and started towards the front door.
Fearing what he might say to Frankie, I got out and followed him inside.
As we started up to the counter, I was relieved to see that instead of Frankie, there was a cute redhead.
A mischievous grin crossed her face as she said, “Hey, aren’t you the guy who helped my sister out with her tire? ”
“Yeah, that’d be me.”
“I thought so.”
I was hoping we could get out of there without seeing Frankie, but as fate would have it, she was already there. When the girl noticed her standing in the hall, she motioned her hand over to us as she told her, “Hey, Frankie! There’s someone here to see you!”
“I see that.” Her eyes were wide with surprise as she made her way behind the counter. “I wasn’t expecting you to stop by.”
“Wasn’t exactly planning on it.”
“Yeah, that’s on me.” Menace patted me on the shoulder as he said, “The name’s Menace. My brother here has been telling me about how great the coffee is here, so I thought I’d check it out for myself.”
“Is that so?”
Menace nodded. “Um-hmm, and I could use a good cup of Joe right about now.”
“Well, I can certainly help you out with that.” Frankie looked skeptical as she glanced over at me and asked, “Was there a particular kind of coffee you had in mind? Maybe a latte or a cappuccino?”
“Just a couple of cups of regular coffee. Black. No sugar.”
Menace looked around the shop as he said, “Nice place you got here.”
“Thank you. I’m pretty proud of it.”
“You should be.” Menace stepped back and let his eyes slowly skirt over the cute redhead, making sure she knew he was checking her out. I gave him a glaring look, warning him to watch his fucking step, but he didn’t listen. The asshole was enjoying himself too much. “You got a name, beautiful?”
“Sydney.” Her cheeks blushed as she told him, “I’m Frankie’s sister.”
“I see good looks run in the family.”
“Thank you. That’s very sweet.”
Frankie stepped over and placed our coffee on the counter. “Here ya go.”
“How much do we owe ya?”
“It’s on the house.” A warm smile crossed her face as she told me, “It’s the least I could do for, you know... everything.”
“Thanks, babe. Much appreciated.” Menace grabbed the two cups from the counter. As he handed me mine, he looked at me like he was expecting me to do or say something. When I didn’t, he shook his head and said, “I guess we best get going.”
“Probably so.” I looked over to Frankie and said, “Good to see ya, Frankie.”
“Good to see you, too. Hope to see you again sometime.”
Menace gave her one of his smirks as he replied, “I’m sure you will.”
With that, we both walked out and started towards the truck. I was about to open my door when he came up beside me and asked, “Seriously?”
“What?”
“That chick is hot as fuck, and in case you didn’t notice, she’s got it pretty bad for you.”
“I don’t have time for this shit, brother.”
“Make time.” He was almost shouting as he snapped, “You can’t let a woman like that slip through your fingers, man.”
“A woman like that deserves better than a man like me.”
“That’s the lame-assed shit you hear in fucking chick-flicks, and it’s total bullshit!” He threw his hands up in the air. “So fucking thick-headed. I give up. Not gonna say another damn thing about it.”
I didn’t say a word as I got in the truck and slammed the door.
In fact, I didn’t speak to him for the entire ride back to the clubhouse.
I knew there was no point in talking to him.
He’d never understand why I wouldn’t, couldn’t, pursue Frankie, so I left it alone and prayed he’d do the same.
Thankfully, he did—only cause we had so much other shit going on.
We were all having to double up on shifts at each of the two strip clubs, and between all the extra hours there and the upcoming run, we barely had time to catch our breaths—much less talk about fucking chicks.
That didn’t mean I hadn’t thought about Frankie, ‘cause I had.
Hell, the woman plagued my every thought.
Thankfully, our early morning run with Flint gave me a short reprieve from my insanity.
“Are y’all all set?”
“Yeah, Prez,” Hawk answered. “We’re about to roll out.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear. I’ll call Flint and let him know you’re on your way.”
We were about to start loading up, when Rafe asked, “Any of y’all seen Country?”
“Nope. Haven’t seen him since last night at the club,” Lynch answered. “He was laying it on pretty thick with CC. Maybe he ended up shacking up at her place or something.”
CC was one of the strippers at the club.
Country hadn’t tried to hide the fact he was interested.
It was possible he’d gone over to her place, but Rafe wasn’t buying it.
“I don’t know, man. It’s not like him to be late for a run, much less miss one altogether.
” He turned to Menace as he asked, “Were you there at closing?”
“I headed out early. Had a killer headache, so I got Marlowe to collect the nightly receipts and Country to close.” Menace’s brows furrowed as he asked, “You tried calling him?”
“Yeah, but the asshole’s not answering.” He paused for a minute, then turned to Hawk, “What about Marlowe? She say anything about seeing him?”
Hawk shook his head. “He was still there when I picked her up last night.”
“Damn.”
I could see that Rafe was troubled by the fact that Country wasn’t there.
The two had always been pretty tight, and Rafe knew better than anyone that Country wouldn’t miss a run without good reason, especially this one.
We’d be carrying double the take, and Viper had made it clear that he wanted all hands on deck, so it made sense that Rafe would be worried.
Hell, I was a little concerned myself, but shit happens.
Country could’ve just had too much to drink or overslept.
Hoping to ease Rafe’s mind, I said, “Lynch is probably right. He probably had too much to drink and is laid up at CC’s place. ”
“I agree. We could go by there on the way out and see if he’s there,” Hawk suggested.
“Nah. Let’s just forget it for now. That way we can give him hell about it when we get back.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
When we started to the SUVs, Rafe turned to Menace and said, “Let me know if you hear anything from him.”
“Will do, and if I haven’t heard from him in a couple of hours, I’ll do what I can to track him down.”
“Thanks, brother.”
“No problem. You boys be careful.”
“Always.”
I got in the SUV with Lynch, Shotgun, and Rafe, and we waited until Hawk, Axel, Danny, and Badger got in Hawk’s truck.
Once everyone was set, Lynch pulled out of the gate, and after he’d checked to see that Hawk was following behind, we were on our way.
It was a routine pick up, one we’d done many times before, but this time, I had an uneasy feeling.
Apparently, Axel’s gut feeling was wearing off on me.
I knew my brothers and I would handle anything that came our way, so I did my best to shake it and focus on our upcoming meet with Flint.
The guys were quiet as we pulled up to the abandoned warehouse.
Even after we’d parked, no one said a word.
We just pulled out our weapons and watched silently as Shotgun and Hawk got out of the SUV and started towards the back entrance.
It looked like there wasn’t a soul around.
The building was on the verge of collapse with litter and debris covering the grounds, but that’s the way Flint liked it.
He didn’t want anyone knowing he was there, and from what I could tell, it was paying off.
Hawk was about to reach for the door when one of Flint’s many guards stepped out to greet them.
When they followed him inside, I tightened my grip on my Glock, preparing for whatever may go down.
Moments later, Hawk and Shotgun came out carrying the two metal briefcases.
Two of Flint’s guards followed them out, and we waited as they placed them in the hidden compartment beneath the passenger seat.
Once they had it secured, Hawk climbed into his SUV and Shotgun got in the truck with us.
And that was it. No surprise attack. No altercation with Flint or his guards.
The whole thing went off without a hitch.
Even as we headed home, there were no signs of trouble.
I couldn’t understand why I had that gnawing feeling that something wasn’t right.
We were just a few minutes from the clubhouse, and everyone was kicked back and feeling relaxed, when a black van came barreling up behind us.
Lynch eased off the accelerator, hoping the guy would just whip around us.
He didn’t. Instead, he just inched closer—so close his front bumper was almost touching our rear end.
“What’s the deal with this motherfucker?”
“No idea.” Shotgun turned to look out the rear window. “Just stay calm and maybe this dickhead will move on.”
“He’s right on my fucking ass.”
“I see that, brother. Just keep your eyes on the road.” Shotgun looked at me as he asked, “Can you see anything through those fucking tinted windows?”