I was meant to fly free, and that was the way it was going to be, no matter who was in my life.
Monk had been the first person to realize that and give me the space to do it.
Maybe he would stick around, but if he didn’t, I would be fine either way.
*
Chapter Thirteen
Hell of a ride…
Monk
“Rain is here tonight.”
I grabbed my beer and turned on my stool to rest my back on the bar. “You talk to her?” I asked Six-Gun.
He shook his head. “I haven’t been able to get near her. She’s been on and off stage. I can’t seem to catch her in the in-between.”
“Well, you better talk to her soon because I’m pretty sure once Mitzy fires her, she ain’t gonna tell any of us shit.”
“Hell, she’s doing that tonight?”
I shrugged. “Not really sure, but knowing Mitzy, she isn’t going to sit around on the decision.”
“Maybe you should have her hold off until we figure out where Tank is.”
“You think?”
Six-Gun nodded. “As much as I am more than in agreement to let the rancid pussy go, I think she might have some information we need.”
“Or she could be the one who tried to kill Mitzy.”
Six-Gun tipped his glass to me. “And that, too.”
I spotted Mitzy across the crowded room.
She was standing next to the stage with a clipboard in her hand and one of the girls talking to her. “Who’s that?” I asked.
“One of the new girls. Memphis was talking about her last night.”
“She mention her name?” I had remembered Mitzy hiring a couple of new girls, but I couldn’t remember who they were.
“Memphis,” Six-Gun called. He motioned for her to come over. He nodded to Mitzy and the woman. “Who is standing next to Mitzy?”
“That’s Flo.”
“She a dancer or a waitress?” I usually didn’t take much notice of who was who, but now that we were trying to figure out who would want to hurt Mitzy, I was looking closely at everyone.
“Neither. Mitzy hired her to be house mom.”
“Come again?” Six-Gun asked. “Is Mitzy just making up jobs now?”
Memphis laughed. “No, she’s actually not. A house mom is someone who keeps the dressing room in order, cleans up after the girls, cooks meals sometimes. You know, a house mom.”
“You keep saying that like we know what the hell you are talking about,” I drawled.
Memphis shook her finger at me. “I’m not talking to you. I really thought you were really pissed off at Mitzy.”
I took a drink of my beer. “Serves you right for thinking you could pull a fast one over on me. Don’t try to prank the master, Memphis.”
Memphis rolled her eyes. “We’re gonna get you back, Monk. Raelyn and I are already plotting.”
I nodded to Mitzy. “Well, you can plot all you want, but you better not get Mitzy tangled up with your craziness.”
“Hey,” Memphis protested. “Mitzy is part of the Sisters, so that means she’s loyal to us, not you.”
“Sisters?” I laughed. “Just what in the hell is that?”
Memphis folded her arms over her chest. “You guys get your little club, and we get to be sisters.”
“Hey, are you pestering my waitress?”
I turned and found Mitzy a few feet away with Flo standing next to her. “No more than she is pestering me,” I countered.
“I find that hard to believe,” Mitzy laughed. She motioned to Flo. “I want you to meet Flo. She’s going to be the house mom. Take care of the girls and the dressing room for me.”
“So, she’s doing your job for you?” Six-Gun jested.
Mitzy flipped him off. “Hardly. With Flo taking care of the dressing room, I can focus more on the floor and paperwork.” Mitzy batted her eyes at Six-Gun. “I’d like to see you do half the work I do.”
“Oh,” Memphis crowed. “I’m pretty sure Mitzy would run circles around you, honey. She’s always all over while she’s on the way to do ten things.”
Six-Gun grumbled. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
Mitzy cleared her throat. “Anyway, this is Flo.”
“You’re gonna be straightening G-strings and picking up titty tassels?” I asked.
“Monk,” Memphis gasped.
Six-Gun choked on his beer and bent over coughing.
“And that is your welcome to Skinz from the president of the Royal Bastards,” Mitzy sassed.
“Acting president,” I corrected. “As soon as Barracuda gets his ass back here, I am back to being VP.”
“Who knows,” Six-Gun chuckled. “You’re doing such a bang-up job that maybe we’ll just keep you in charge.”
I finished my beer and set it on the bar behind me. “Not fucking happening. I want the perks of being in the club without actually having to take the responsibility for any of it.” That reminded me I needed to talk to Mitzy and see if she could think of anywhere Barracuda could have went since the last time we had talked to her. A few months back Jinx had asked her about Barracuda, but she couldn’t think of where he could have gone.
“You think maybe you could have this conversation not in front of the new girl?” Mitzy asked. “I figured you should know who she was.”
I held out my hand to Flo. “Good to meet you. I’m sure you’ll do amazing.” I looked at Mitzy. “Is that better?” I drawled.
She threw up her hand in the air. “I don’t know why I try. Let’s go back to the dressing room, Flo.”
She moved to turn away, but I caught her arm. “We gotta talk when you’re done with Flo. We need to pause on the staffing changes we talked about before.”
She tipped her head to the side. “Is that so?”
I nodded. “I’ll explain more later. Come find me when you can talk alone.”
She rolled her eyes but nodded. “You got it, biker.”
She flounced away with Flo and disappeared into the back area of the club.
“You two seem to be getting along pretty well,” Memphis remarked.
“Don’t you have drinks you need to be delivering right now?” I asked
Memphis rolled her eyes. “You guys and your feelings. Just admit you like her and get on with it.”
Six-Gun grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in for a kiss. “I like you, so can we get on with it?”
Memphis rolled her eyes but pressed a kiss to his lips. “Check with me after work. My boss is a slave driver.” She winked and headed to her section.
“Still hard to believe she’s mine,” Six-Gun mused.
I grunted and pulled out a cigarette.
“You wanna go talk to Rain?” I asked. I didn’t want to talk about this mushy shit with Six-Gun.
“Not really, but I figure we better, right?”
I nodded and looked around the club. “You see her?”
Six-Gun shook his head. “I don’t see her out here, so she has to be back in the dressing room.”
“Let’s go.” We made our way down to the end of the bar and stepped into the hallway that led to the dressing room. “The new cameras should be here in a few days. We’ll need to hook them up to our existing system and make sure we get one put in Mitzy’s office.”