Chapter 3
CHAPTER
THREE
ELODIE
As I leave the clubhouse, I wonder what the hell I just fucking did.
Because it was definitely something big.
Really big. I essentially signed my life away, at least for the next year, and now I’ve promised to be back here on Monday to get started with the contract.
Rain or shine. This is my new home every single Monday…
for the next consecutive fifty-two Mondays.
I cannot believe I’m going to do this, that I agreed to it… and then my lips curve up into a smile the moment I turn my car onto the main road because… oh my god, this is the most money I’ve ever made a month in my entire life.
I’m sure I shouldn’t be excited or happy about it, because there is just no way the money they’re going to be paying me with is clean, but I am. I’m doing a job and getting paid. I’m not the one making dirty money.
I’ve heard enough about that motorcycle club over the years to know that what they do cannot be legal. There’s just no way in hell. There are a couple of different theories and rumors circulating around town, and I’ve always just taken the stance to stay far away from the whole thing.
Until now.
Reaching for my phone on the passenger seat, I dial Alex’s number and hit Call. I hear the phone ring in my car's speakers, and then his voice comes through. He doesn’t greet me with a hello. Instead, it sounds as if he’s midconversation… with me, which only makes me smile even bigger.
“And then I thought, where the hell is my fucking cousin, because I know damn well she is not making me do this job alone. You know Slutty Suzie answered the door in nothing but her fucking bra and thong panties this morning?”
Even his bitching can’t wipe the smile off my face as I make my way toward his location. I drive a little faster than I should, but I am so damn happy I don’t think I could slow down if I wanted to.
“First of all, you knew I had a meeting for a potential job.”
I don’t continue because I want the words I’m saying to soak in. I want them to marinate, and apparently, he’s in a hurry to hear the rest of the story because he lets out a heavy sigh, an annoyed one, but my smile doesn’t drop; it stays firmly in place.
“Well, how the fuck did it go?” he demands.
I laugh softly. I love my cousin. We grew up as close as siblings, and he even lived with us for a few years when we were in high school. But now he’s my employee, but more like a partner.
So he wants to know how the fuck it went, because he wants to get paid just as much as I do. He’s ready for us to level up and probably ready to get out of his studio apartment, which happens to be next door to my own studio.
“It went like this,” I begin. “We got a one-year contract,” I state.
“One year?” he asks.
“One year. A weekly cleaning of a ten-thousand-square-foot building, with bedrooms.”
“How much?” Alex demands.
“Three grand a month.” I sink my teeth into my bottom lip, unable to contain my smile as I wait to hear his response.
There is a long moment of silence. I think about just hanging up so I can talk about this in person, but then he speaks, and when he does, I wish I could keep some things about this job a secret, but I won’t be able to, at least not from him.
“You’re fucking with me right now?” he says with a gasp.
“I’m not. Not even a little bit,” I state.
“Holy shit,” he hisses.
Then his breath hitches and his next words come out in a whisper, as if he’s afraid to even ask the question… and maybe he should be, because I have a feeling he’s going to absolutely hate the answer.
“What’s the catch?”
“There’s only one little one.” I take my time to say the words.
Turning right, I make my way down the street where I know, on the right side, at the very end, Alex is likely standing in the driveway talking on his phone to me. He starts to say something, but then pauses, and that’s because I pull up to the house, behind his car, which is parked beside the curb.
He ends the call, then marches straight toward me. I almost laugh at how focused and intent his annoyed little march is. It’s hilarious, but as much as I want to burst out laughing, I know it would piss him off even more than he already is.
Turning the car off, I open the door and unfold from the front seat, then walk around the front of the car.
I stop as he closes the short distance between us.
Alex crosses his arms over his chest, tipping his chin down as he furrows his brows, pressing his lips together as he watches me, waiting for an answer.
“The only snafu, per se…” I begin, but the words trail off because I really don’t want to have to say them out loud, although it’s not like he won’t figure it out, considering he’s going to be doing the job with me.
“Fucking elaborate, please,” he urges.
“The job is for the Iron Flame Motorcycle Club.”