Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 141464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
We park behind Rooster’s truck and the three of us get to work reloading the UTV.
“Go ahead,” Z says when we’re finished, waving toward the clubhouse. “I got this.”
“Prez, I don’t mind,” Rooster protests.
“Nah, you already went above and beyond. Appreciate it.” He pulls Rooster in for a one-armed hug and slaps his back.
“You too.” Z pats my cheek, the same way he pats his dog’s hind end. “See you at church.”
He climbs in and takes off.
Once the UTV disappears into the woods, I turn and stare at Rooster. “When’d you turn into such a brownnoser?”
“What?”
“Prez, I don’t mind,” I mimic in a high-pitched voice.
“What?” He holds his hands out. “Z’s been really patient with me running back and forth to Tennessee all the time. Just trying to help him out.”
“Yeah,” I say slowly, feeling shitty that never occurred to me. “He’s been cool with me hanging out at Margot’s all the time too. Relieved me of my duties down at the laundromat.”
“True, but you’re also working with me on website maintenance, and helping out at Cedarwood’s. Even though that’s Upstate’s action, it’s still a club business.”
“Bro, we both know the only person I’m helping out there is myself.”
“That’s not true. Supposedly, the old man gave Rock an earful at the funeral about how much you help out around there. Seems like he appreciates it.”
“What? Margot’s dad talked to Rock? About me?” How’d I miss that?
‘Cause you were stalking Margot all day instead of paying attention to anything else.
“Apparently.”
“How do you know?”
“Z mentioned it last night. I guess Teller called him and gave him a report of what went on at the funeral.”
Not sure how I feel about being mentioned in Teller’s “report” of anything.
“And, we want to expand our presence in that area,” Rooster continues, “so having you out there helps in that department too.”
I did walk around downtown Johnsonville in my cut this morning. “Funny you said that. I stopped at Strike Back today and watched the place for Sully so he could run home.” I pull the info I’d gotten about the laundromat out and hand it to Rooster. “Found a potential investment. Something to give us a foothold out there. You think it’s worth bringing to the table?”
“Hell yeah.” He grins and flips open the packet. “Maybe it’s something both Upstate and Downstate can invest in, so we have one joint business.”
Both charters are good about helping out wherever we’re needed, but I get what Rooster’s saying. A business we each have a stake in makes sense.
He hands the packet back to me and I stuff it inside my cut.
“I’d bring it up after church. With just the officers for now,” he suggests.
“Yeah, okay.”
As soon as we step into the clubhouse, the sugary-sweet scent of vanilla and bananas fills the clubhouse. My stomach rumbles.
“You think Shelby will let me grab a pancake early?” I ask Rooster.
He huffs a laugh. “I don’t think she’d say no to you.”
We head down to the dining room together. The coffee station’s set up, but we continue into the kitchen.
Shelby’s at one counter cutting fruit while Heidi’s flipping pancakes from the griddle to a big platter. Alexa, Chance, and Grace are seated on the other side of the counter, each with their own plate-sized pancake, decorating them with fruit and whipped cream.
Murphy’s on the other side of the kitchen at a table with baby Brittany.
“Now I know why the whole clubhouse smells like banana cream dreams,” I say, snagging a still-hot pancake from Heidi’s platter. “Ow, fuck!”
“Duh, it just came off the griddle, Jiggy.” Heidi waves her spatula at me.
I grab a napkin off the counter and toss the pancake on it.
“Do you want a plate like a civilized person?” Shelby asks, waving a paper plate through the air.
“No, it’s not going to last that long.” I borrow the can of whipped cream from Chance, squirt a big glob of it on the pancake, fold it in half and stuff a big piece in my mouth.
The kids giggle and point at me, so I add a bunch of nom-nom noises, making them laugh harder.
Shelby shakes her head. “Hungry much?”
“Starving,” I mumble around the mouthful. “I’ve been running all over the tri-county area and then your man made me do manual labor.”
Rooster grabs the whipped cream and smears some on his own pancake. “I didn’t make you do anything.”
“Lilly said you guys had a sleepover,” I say to Heidi. “Looks like everyone had a good time.”
“We did.” She turns and flashes a wide grin. “We’re racking up those babysitting coupons for when Bit-Bit’s old enough to join the sleepovers.”
“Nooo,” Alexa whines. “No Bit-Bit.”
“She can too,” Grace says.
“You like that solo time, huh, Alexa?” Shelby asks.
“I need it.” Alexa throws a dramatic stink eye at her baby sister. “She screams. A lot.”
Murphy cracks up laughing.