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But three times my salary was, honestly, a bit too much.
"Is he out of his mind?" I asked. "I am asking that genuinely. Is he crazy? Has the stress gotten to him?"
"He is just being careful, Mina. He can't afford to be careless right now, to make mistakes. So he is paying enough so that you can't, in good conscience, turn the job down."
Really, for three times my salary, could I? As much as I wanted to say no, to save myself the confusion and stress, I really didn't think it was possible to turn down that kind of money. Hell, I could buy a house with it if I wanted to.
"There is a catch though," she added, getting my full attention.
"Of course there is," I snorted. I should have known there was. "What is it?"
"You're kind of going undercover," she hedged.
"Undercover as what at an MC compound? I love you and Hailstorm, Lo," I said with a smirk, "but I don't care how much he pays me, I'm not going to be a clubwhore."
She laughed at that. "Could you imagine?" she asked, shaking her head. "I think the clubwhores are in semi-retirement right now. No, I would never literally pimp you out, babe."
"What then? I think Maze was a prime example of them being a bit backward in the female equality among members thing."
"Here's the deal," she said, finally getting to it. "The Henchmen have some new prospects. They want to start taking on probates and bolstering up their numbers again. But they want to be careful. They need someone inside to pay close, but unobtrusive, attention on the new guys. And to be there full time, well..."
"No," I said, shaking my head.
"You would need to be someone's old lady. And since everyone already has..."
"Nope. Not a snowball's chance in hell. Not for a million dollars, Lo."
"No one is saying you have to be a couple. You'd be playing a part. You'd be acting."
No, we wouldn't.
Fact of the matter was, if Renny and I started pretending to be biker and old lady, well, the inevitable would happen.
"It's not going to happen. I'm sorry. I can't."
"Why?" she asked and I knew to be wary of the look in her eye. "Because you don't trust yourself around Renny? Really, babe, I thought we trained you better than that."
That was a low blow and she knew it.
But I wasn't tapping out.
I had my pride, sure, and that comment bruised it. But I wasn't going to be ruined by an ego. I was smarter than that.
"Nice try. But no."
"Mina," she said, her voice going softer, more reasonable, "what if one of them is a plant? What if they are going to take them out? You know these guys and women and kids. Do you want that on your head if it goes south?"
She was right; I had spent enough time there to get to know all of them personally. Reign with his gruffness and ability to put everyone ahead of himself. Cash with his sweetness, his good humor, his capacity for love. Repo with his bone-deep loyalty. Duke and his resilience. And Renny, well, with his various positive qualities that I didn't even want to think on.
Then there was Summer with her sweet toughness. There was Maze and her badassery. And there was Penny with her innocent goodness.
The kids, well, it went without saying that I never wanted anything to happen to them. They were as innocent as innocent could get.
"Why do this now? Why do this at the compound? Have the guys be external until the profiles are done so no one is at risk."
"Because, despite shit hitting the fan, there are traditions. This is how it is done, how it has always been done, how it will continue to be done in the future. It is, above all, a brotherhood. The prospects need to be brought in and trained around that mentality. And, maybe a little part of it is the guys wanting to torture the new guys with menial tasks. They could use some fun after all the stress."
"You don't understand what you're asking of me, Lo," I said, emotion slipping into my words.
"Babe, it's not torture. You sit on your ass around the clubhouse most of the day. You pretend to be..."
"In love with Renny," I filled in. "In lust with Renny."
"Put your big girl panties on, Mina," she offered a little gruffly. Then to soften the blow because while we both knew she was the boss and I ultimately did have to do what she said or risk being out on my ass, we were still friends and she didn't like to pull the boss-card if she didn't have to, she added, "And maybe Renny will pull them off you. Or maybe he won't. Your personal life is your personal life. What you do or don't want to do while over there is up to you. No one is forcing you to do anything you don't want to do."
