Chapter 4
4
O n opening night, Blood and I made the rounds checking in with the bartenders and waitstaff. I gave Ricky the key to the liquor storeroom and made it clear he was the only one to restock the bar. On a busy night it was easy for bottles to go missing and Ricky had proved himself over the last few weeks.
Blood gave one last speech to the bouncers at the door. He reminded them to be firm, but not aggressive and if any trouble started, they were to escort them out the back. Absolutely no fighting in the club. Once they got the stupid fucker out the back Blood and I didn’t care what the fuck they did—as long as it didn’t happen inside The Tropics.
I stuck my head into the kitchen and the savory scent of tacos, fries, and other bar food made my stomach growl. I’d been so busy all day getting ready for tonight I forgot to eat. We kept the food simple with only four or five things on the menu depending on the day.
The kitchen was hopping as the line chef barked orders in Spanish. I nabbed a taco off a tray and stuffed it in my mouth devouring the damn thing in record time. Fuck, I was hungry, but my stomach would have to wait.
Out in the club the DJ was setting up and I had to admit the place looked pretty good. I’d taken some of those before and after shots and sent them to Jameson for two reasons. I wanted him to see the progress and what they’d gotten together in a short time, and I also wanted to prove to my national prez I wasn’t a screwup. Petty shit, for sure, but when you get your ass kicked out of your home club it hurts.
The back hallway exploded with strippers rushing to and from the bathroom and the dressing room. Glittery G-strings, X-rated cowgirl costumes, even one with a Minnie Mouse theme. That is if Minnie Mouse wore a midriff top with the nipples cut out, and booty shorts with the ass cheeks cut out while teetering on five-inch stilettos.
Blood did a good job hiring them. No drugged out glassy eyes or rail-thin tweakers chopping up coke on their makeup tables.
True to my word, I kept far away from all of them cause I couldn’t afford any screw ups.
I slipped into the office for a few minutes of quiet to find Blood texting on his phone his face serious.
“What’s up?”
“We’re supposed to have five bartenders tonight and one didn’t show up. I’m texting her to see where the fuck she is.”
“If that’s all that goes wrong tonight we’ll be lucky.”
“Just pisses me off. I gave each one of them this speech about being on time and the first fuckin’ night she’s late.”
A loud knock then Ricky poked his head around the door. “He’s here.”
Blood and I exchanged a look. “Who?”
Ricky came in the office all the way and leaned in like he had the secret of the century. “Rico Sandoval. ”
“Interesting.” He had waited for opening night just like I suspected.
“He asked for you.” Ricky fixed his wide eyes on me. “Said he’d like to talk to you in private.”
“I’ll bet.” I threw a look to Blood. “Whaddya think?”
“I think it’s our opening night and we don’t have time to deal with his bullshit.” Blood rolled his eyes. “But I guess you can’t say that to one of the kingpins of the cartel.”
“I could, but he is kinda the reason we’re here.”
Ricky’s eyes darted between us like every minute counted.
“Send him in,” I said to Ricky, then turned to Blood. “Let’s see what the big man has to say.”
“This should be interesting.” Blood pulled out his gun, checked the clip, then shoved it back into his waistband under his t-shirt. That’s what I loved about my VP, he was always ready for action.
Ricky dashed out of the office and a few minutes later there was another knock on the door and Rico Sandoval appeared. The old cliche about being shorter than expected applied to Sandoval. No shit, I really thought he’d be taller especially with the hell he rained down on his underlings and rival organizations.
The three of us silently eyed each other, scoping out the playing field, looking for weaknesses. Rico had the slick confidence that came from money and power. His hair was clipped tight, the scruff along his jaw was intended, and his fitted designer clothes skimmed his slim figure perfectly, and could probably pay the rent for most of my employees at The Tropics.
I motioned for Rico to sit in the chair, then I went behind the desk as Blood hovered at my side.
“I was very interested to see what everyone in the neighborhood has been talking about.” He waved his arms toward the club. “It’s amazing what you’ve done. So many changes in so little time. ”
“Yeah well, I don’t know who was running the show before, but this place was a rathole.”
“Yes, very unfortunate. The former owner just couldn’t keep up with his payments. I understand your boss grabbed it up for practically nothing, then instructed you to run it.”
“First off, I don’t have a boss.” I was gonna set this fucker straight right away. “And secondly, I don’t answer to anyone.” A fuckin’ lie, for sure. Jameson had the power to fuck with my life like no other, but I had to come from a position of strength.
“That’s not what I hear.” Rico paused for effect. “My sources tell me you and your friend,” he jerked his chin at Blood, “are down here as some sort of punishment.” He let out a humorless laugh. “Although I can’t see being in our tropical paradise as punishment.”
“And my sources tell me you’re blaming our club for some shit that had nothing to do with us.” Might as well rip that band-aid off and get right down to business.
Sandoval’s eyes widened and for a split second his face clouded over, then just as fast he recouped. “So you say.”
“No, that’s how it is. The Royal Bastards had nothing to do with it. We may dip our fingers into a lot of shady shit, but women and children are off-limits—always.”
“I would like to believe that, but I know what I saw on the security cameras and I know what was reported to me.”
“Can’t always believe everything you see or hear, right?”
“Hmmm, well, for the sake of business I will put my personal feelings behind me. I’ve learned over the years mixing business with sentimental anger can have costly effects both monetarily and individually.”
“Smart move.”
“I only want to wish you the best here in our little paradise.”
Only one problem, two percent of the population enjoyed the paradise, the other ninety-eight percent were working their asses off for shit salaries while the cartel got rich.
I slapped my palms on my desktop and stood. “Tonight’s our opening night, so unless you got something else to say?—”
Rico slowly stood, then smoothed down the front of his white linen shirt. “Just wanted to welcome you to my neighborhood. You’ll find we’re a very gracious community.” Rico strode to the door and turned. “I’ll be back next week when you’re less busy, and we can discuss the business end of our relationship.”
Blood pushed off the desk. “What the fu—” I grabbed Blood’s arm and shot him a look.
“Until next week, then.” Rico slithered out the door like a slimy snake, slamming the door behind him.
“What the fuck was that?” Blood threw his massive arms up in the air. “Some kinda threat?”
“Calm down. You’re doin’ exactly what he wants. You gotta handle him cool.”
“You didn’t believe all that bullshit about putting the past behind him and forgetting old grievances.”
“Of course not, but for now we gotta play the game. When we get more settled here we start to do some digging. I have a feeling Tijuana has an underground of people who know exactly what’s going on and we just gotta find out the right information.”
“I hope you’re right, but you know damn well what he’s gonna say next week.”
“He’s gonna press us to pay protection, and that’s when we make our deal.”
“What deal?”
“When we were tearing this place apart remember we found a crawl space under the main floor.”
“The entrance is from the side alley, but it was all mud and garbage. ”
“Until we dug it deeper, braced up the dirt walls and floored it.”
“Right, we did that so this whole place doesn’t float away on the next rain, but what does that have to do with Sandoval?”
“The whole area is the length of the bar and about four and a half feet high. You and I will have to crouch down to get in there, but with the concealed entrance it’s the perfect spot for hiding shit.”
Blood leaned in. “Keep going.”
“Sandoval’s gonna come here next week and try to squeeze us for protection money, but I’m gonna offer him a place to store his artillery. Then I’m gonna broker a deal for us to ship those guns up to the States.”
Blood’s hard face split into a grin. “I like it.”
“Instead of working against him, we act like we wanna work with him—Until we don’t. We get back on Jameson’s good side and all this.” I spread my arms wide. “Will be a distant memory.”
“Plus, the money we make from the profits right here in the club.”
“Exactly.”
Blood dropped his large frame into the chair. “I gotta hand it to you, when you ain’t getting pussy-whipped you’re pretty fuckin’ smart.”
“Fuck you, twice.” I laughed around my words, but Blood was right. Pussy definitely fogged my brain.
The door opened and Ricky stuck his head in. “Just checking to see you’re both okay.”
I threw Ricky a big smile. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
“No reason.”
Blood threw his muscled arm over Ricky’s shoulder. “You got nothing to worry about, kid.” Then he turned back to me. “Let’s get out there and enjoy our opening night.”
“I’ll be out in a minute.” I shut off my laptop and checked the gun I had taped to the underside of my desk. I had other ones discreetly scattered around the club just in case. Never could be too careful. I used the same precaution at the clubhouse in San Diego, although it didn’t ward off a traitor and a rat for the DEA.
I crossed the office just as the door flung open and a girl burst in breathing hard and wide-eyed. “You’re not Blood.”
“Nope, I sure the fuck am not.” I couldn’t help the smile as she pushed her tousled, wavy hair away from her face.
“I can’t believe it. My first night on the job and my junker of a car breaks down. I tried and I tried, but I couldn’t get it to start so I left it and I walked, well mostly ran here. I really don’t want to lose this job, and I know Blood stressed that he doesn’t want us to be late, but I really couldn’t help it. I knew that there was something wrong with my car yesterday, but I don’t have the money to get it fixed which is why I really need this job, so I can get my car fixed. And of course pay my rent and feed my cat and?—”
“Whoa, back up.” I braced my hands on her shoulders for fear she would screw herself into my new plush carpet. “You have a cat?”
She cocked her head and I burst out laughing. “I’m just fuckin’ with you.”
“The person I really need to speak to is Blood.”
“Calm down. Get yourself together, and I’ll bring you to Blood.”
“Do you think he’s going to be mad? Do you think he’ll fire me on the spot? Like I said, I have a lot of bills and now with my car?—”
“Babe, you gotta settle the fuck down. You’re making me nervous.”
“You’re right.” She sucked in a deep breath and I could see her inwardly talking to herself.
“Oh, and I’m Marisol.” When she wasn’t rattling on her voice was kinda soft, and it made me wonder if she’d make it in this jungle. “Are you also my boss?”
Everything about her seemed different from the other women Blood hired. I towered over her petite frame of five foot-two maybe three, but what she lacked in height she made up for with a tight body, tiny waist, and curves in all the right places.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that. Me and Blood have the good fortune of owning this place.”
She bit her bottom lip and my dick twitched. No fuckin’ way. I had to get her out of this office, behind the bar and far the fuck away from me.
I motioned to the door, then herded her out of the office and into the club.
“I remember this place,” she shouted over the pounding music. “It’s amazing what you’ve done. It looks so much better than before.”
“We’ve made a lot of changes.”
Guys jockeyed for drinks three deep at the bar while others sat at tables around the stage. Even the raised VIP area was sold out.
I guided Marisol around the edge of the room to Blood standing by the service end of the bar.
I leaned into Blood. “This is Marisol, your missing bartender.”
Blood scowled at her, then jerked his head. “Get to work and don’t be late again.”