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Shell rubbed her eyes and sighed with exhaustion as she stared at the envelope in her hands. As usual, it was full of ten one-hundred dollar bills she needed to feed her daughter and keep a shelter over their heads. Unfortunately, this money was marked for someone else. Someone who was due to collect it any minute because they arrived precisely at eight thirty p.m. the first Monday of every month. The rest of the month would be a tough one of buying dented cans and disappointing her daughter when she couldn’t afford any special activities or treats.
She glanced up from her spot, seated on the steps that led to her small house as a brown sedan pulled into her driveway. Rising, she met the driver at his car. It didn’t really make any sense, but she always preferred he stay as far from her actual house as physically possible.
He exited the driver’s side and stood, leaning on the open door. “Got something for me?” he asked as he did every single month. Joe wasn’t a large man, in build or height, but he made up for it with the frostiest stare Shell had ever encountered. Every time she met the steely charcoal gaze, she imagined what would happen if she missed just one payment. It wasn’t a stretch to picture those eyes glaring down at her as she writhed on the ground with broken kneecaps. She bet they wouldn’t even show a flicker of emotion. Just cold calculation and indifference.
She extended her arm, and he snatched the envelope from her over the top of the car door. That small barrier provided a world of comfort. The dome light from Joe’s vehicle illuminated the dark driveway enough for him to withdraw the money and count it out. “One thousand. You’re good.”
“When have I ever not been good?” she asked, voice thick with disgust. Maybe if her temper wasn’t already hanging by a thread after dealing with a cranky four-year-old all day, she’d have thought twice about mouthing off. This entire situation was so infuriating, it took everything in her not to rake her nails down Joe’s face each month. Only reason she typically kept her annoyance in check was the child sleeping inside. She’d be no good to her daughter if Joe worked her over. But tonight, she was short on patience and long on frustration.
“Never,” he said with a sneer. “And that’s why we’ve never had to have the chat. We could change that if you’d like. I like attitude from bitches about as much as I like missed payments.”
Shell wrinkled her forehead. “The chat?”
“Yep,” he said popping the p as he carelessly tossed the money she’d worked so hard for into his car. “The chat about that beautiful little girl you have in there.”
Shell stiffened, and clenched her fists at her sides. “Are you threatening my daughter?”
Joe laughed. “Sure as fuck am, lady. That’s how this shit works. I threaten, you pay. You run your mouth, I threaten some more. You keep tossing attitude my way, I make those threats a reality. Get me?” He winked as though he was having some flirty conversation instead of bullying her into biting her tongue.
“The fuck’s going on here?” Copper’s furious voice sliced through the quiet of the night. She jolted so hard, her heart skipped a beat then shot off like a greyhound.
Shit! What the hell was he doing here?
Her mouth opened and closed but was so dry, she couldn’t get a word out.
How on earth had she missed his arrival? She was beyond screwed.
“Get in the car and fucking go,” she whispered.
Joe just raised an eyebrow.
Shit, shit, shit.
Copper had parked right in front of her house, and he now climbed down from his supersized truck as though it was no bigger than her little Corolla. Then he strode his hulking form toward them looking every bit the dangerous MC president he was with his leather jacket, narrowed eyes, and deadly scowl.
Shell swallowed and wrung her hands. Her heart sped as it usually did in Copper’s presence but for an entirely different reason this time. Shit was about to go south. Maybe she’d get lucky, and Joe would lie out his ass, sparing Shell the epic blowout she and Copper would have when he found out the first of her many secrets.
“Joe?” he asked as he grew close. “The fuck you doing here?”
Of course they knew each other. The club had worked with Joe’s crew back in her father’s days.
“Copper. Been a while,” Joe replied, extending his hand across the top of his car.
Copper just folded his giant forearms across his chest. “Asked you a question.”
“Nothing to get hot about, Copper. Just finishing up some business with Miss Ward, here.” Joe smirked and rested his crossed arms on the roof of his car.
