Whoever tried to hurt Mitzy grabbed the bottle of pills from her desk before I found her or after she was taken to the hospital. Someone had been watching the whole time and knew to take the pills before someone else found them.
“You check the cameras?” Mace asked.
“That was the first thing I did. None in Mitzy’s office and the one in the hallway doesn’t show anyone obviously going into her office.” Repositioning the cameras and ordering a few more was on the top of my list to do today. That should have happened long ago.
“So. You’re sure it wasn’t any of the girls? Maybe pissed off about not getting a day off or Mitzy just being a bitch to them?” Jet asked Rebel.
Rebel shook his head. “If they are pissed off at her and want to hurt her, they didn’t tell me. There wasn’t one second of talking to the girls where I thought they were lying to me.”
Well, that was the first dead end.
“Did Mitzy say if she knew of someone who would want to hurt her?” Playboy asked me.
I shrugged. “I didn’t exactly ask her, but I will this afternoon.” I had figured if there was someone she thought would hurt her, she would have told me. Though, she hadn’t actually believed it was intentional at all at first. “Until we figure this shit out, I’ll be with her when she’s at home or out. I want one of you guys to always be at Skinz when she is there. Whoever tried to kill Mitzy is more than likely going to try again. This time, we are going to be ready for it and stop it before they can try. Good?”
A chorus of “ayes” went up, and a couple of fists pounded the table.
“And now to the thing that we’ve been talking about for too fucking long, and it seems like we’re getting nowhere.”
The “ayes” turned into groans.
“Anyone hear from Barracuda?” I asked. I looked around the table, and all the guys shook their heads. “Me neither.”
“You hear anything from Leo?” Jinx asked.
“Nope. I’m gonna give him another week and then call. I don’t want to hassle him when he’s really just doing a favor for us.”
“Yeah, but that favor is going to turn into us making a deal with the Banachis,” Jet pointed out. “He’s more than getting something out of this.”
“True, but I’d rather just stay on the good side of Leo Banachi.” That was one guy I did not want to piss off. “He’s got a week before I check on what’s going on with Menace.”
“Have we checked with the Kings of Vengeance lately to see if they’ve had any more Barracuda sightings?” Mace asked.
Playboy sliced his hand through the air. “Not a damn thing up by them. Last I heard, they were working their asses off getting the funeral home renovated for the strip club.”
“Tell them if there’s anything they need, they just need to let us know,” I told Playboy.
Playboy saluted. “I’ll make sure they know.”
“So, we figured nothing out and have a shit-ton of what-ifs, yeah?” Jinx laughed.
In a fucking nutshell.
“Just keep your fucking eyes open around Skinz, and honestly, just keep your eyes open everywhere. Fucking problems keeping popping up from every direction, and I’d like to know if there are any more coming our way.”
“Head them off,” Six-Gun agreed.
Everyone filed out of church until I was the only one left.
I leaned back in my chair and stared up at the ceiling.
Things were a fucking mess, and I wasn’t sure how to fix any of it.
Right now, it seemed like figuring out who wanted to hurt Mitzy was the easiest thing to deal with.
Figure out what drugs she took and follow the trail to who wanted to hurt her.
Barracuda—and now Tank—missing was some shit I never thought I would have to deal with. Fuck being prez. I wasn’t cut out for this shit, and Barracuda could have it back.
*
Chapter Nine
Jokes, huh?
Mitzy
“I told Monk if we weren’t gone in an hour, I was leaving without him.”
Memphis’ eyes bugged out. “You did?”
I shrugged and finished my bottle of water. “I realize now that I didn’t really mean it.”
Raelyn held up her phone. “Yeah, seeing as it’s been almost an hour and your ass is still sitting on the couch.”
“The company is good.”
“Aww,” Memphis sighed. “I always knew you had a sweet side, Mitzy.”
I waved my hand at her. “Keep that shit to yourself. It’ll ruin my reputation if people know I have a heart.”
Raelyn leaned her head back on the couch, and her eyes connected with mine. “You terrified the shit out of me the first time Leona and I met you.”
That day, I had been surprised to see Playboy with a new woman, but I had been shocked as shit to see Barracuda showing interest in Leona. Not that it had anything to do with Leona. It more had to do with Barracuda letting down his guard to let someone in. Too bad their time together had been cut short. Too short. The same that happened to him with Charlene. “Eh,” I chuckled, “I’m mostly a soft teddy bear. You just need to get to know me.” I winked at Memphis, who blew a raspberry.
“I have yet to see you be a teddy bear,” she spat. “Maybe when you’re sleeping.”
And that was why I liked Memphis, and now, even Raelyn. Hell, I liked all of the girls at the club, too. I just couldn’t let them know I liked them or that I wanted to be their friends. There was a fine line in being a good boss. If I was too nice to the girls, they would run right over me. I chose to be fair, supporting, but aloof. Sometimes, my aloofness came off as more bitchy than not, but it was for the best.
Raelyn glanced down the hallway to where the guys had disappeared. “You know what we should do?” she asked. “I think when the guys come out, you should hide, and then we’ll tell them you took off.”
Memphis squealed and clapped her hands together. “Oh, my God, they will fucking flip.” She jumped up. “We should totally do it.”
“The closet!” Memphis shouted. “You could hide in there, and they wouldn’t know.”
“Wait, wait,” I laughed. “I’m not going to hide in a closet.”
“Why don’t we just put her in Monk’s room?” Raelyn suggested.
“Brilliant. You can hang out in there.” Memphis grabbed my hand and pulled me off the couch. “Come on. We need to walk past the church door to get to his room. We’ll need to be very quiet.”
Raelyn giggled and led the way down the hallway.
Somehow, it felt like we were teenagers trying to sneak past Mom and Dad. Except we were all in our twenties, and we were sneaking past a room full of bikers.
Memphis pressed her finger to her lips. “Shh.”
I rolled my eyes but followed along. I was half-serious when I had told Monk I was going to leave if we were there more than an hour, but after hanging out with Memphis and Raelyn, I would have stayed there the rest of the afternoon.
Raelyn opened a door and motioned for Memphis and me to go in. Memphis flipped on the light, and I stepped next to the bed.