Yeah. Okay. My excuse was weak, and I hated lying. But the less Jody knew, the better. If the cops pulled her in, at least Jody could tell the truth.
“Babe, we need the money.”
“Magic, I can inform my boss I can’t do college and work those extra two days.”
“No!” I exploded. “You won’t throw away your future because I can’t provide properly for you.”
“Magic, that’s old-fashioned. We can both share in the bills; we’re in this together,” I said.
“Honey.” Magic cupped my face. “The bar is doing shit. It’s barely breaking even, and it’s taking whatever savings I have to keep it open.”
“Okay, we can cut back on stuff.”
“No. I won’t allow you to sacrifice for me. Baby, this is a stopgap until I can return to the bar. Once the bar’s backunder control, money will flood back in. But until then, I need something to keep us afloat,” Magic argued.
I recognised that look on his face. Magic was digging in his heels, and now it was a matter of pride. While Magic was a modern man who supported women working and having the same rights as men, he was also old-fashioned. He believed he should pay the bills, and if not all of them, then at least half. If I argued, I’d hurt Magic and insult his masculinity at the same time. That wouldn’t do.
“How about I manage the bar? If you can’t go near it and you’ve said you’ve seen Rutter there twice when you tried to sneak in, how about me?” I suggested.
“No!” The refusal was instant.
I bit my lip. There had to be a solution. Magic breaking the law didn’t bother me as much as it should. Possibly because he treated me like I was something precious, and I’d not known that feeling before. As long as Magic wasn’t beating up old ladies and robbing young kids, I didn’t really care. Maybe it was warped—the illegal fighting hadn’t worried me, but this did.
I got up and curled onto Magic’s lap. “Let me help.”
Magic’s arms wrapped around me and hauled me in tight. “I am.”
“Magic, please. At least let me check on what’s happening at the bar,” I argued gently.
“I already know. Without me there, degenerates have moved in. Stan said the regulars have drifted away.”
“So, what do we do, Magic? You can’t be seen there, Rotter will throw you back inside,” I muttered as I played with his necklace.
“God knows, baby, I really don’t,” Magic murmured. “But for now, I need extra work.”
Magic phrasing it like that didn’t lessen the fact that he was doing something illegal and doing it for us. I felt awful. Magic had too much pride to bend, and I couldn’t force my will on him.We were sharing this apartment because Magic usually lived above the bar. And of course, those assholes had banned him, which meant Magic would have been homeless.
“What about the MC? Could they do anything?”
“I won’t ask. Club life is difficult, Jody. They owe me markers, but using one for a job is pointless. I don’t want to join an MC and be governed by its rules. I trialled as a prospect once, it doesn’t suit,” Magic said.
A smirk crossed my face. “You punched someone out, didn’t you? And you prospected for the Riders of Vengeance.”
“Yeah, and not Riders, another club,” Magic admitted.
“Magic, you need to play nicely with others.”
“The fuck I do,” he retorted, and that was the end of the conversation.
Magic – March 2008
“You said fifty k, that’s five thousand short,” I announced to Guy.
He scowled at me.
“Count it again.”
“Magic, deliver the fuckin’ money,” Guy ordered, and I shook my head. The two men with him became alert as I dug my heels in.
