Page 132 of Property of Bob

I grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, I walked into the common room under my own power. That still felt fucking good.

There were mornings when I woke up and almost forgot what had happened. Then I’d swallow wrong, turn my head too fast, or catch sight of the scar running across my neck in the mirror.

Today, I was going to take walking into the common room as a win.

Piney sat at the bar with a cup of coffee.

His eyes moved toward me, then behind me, and then back to me. “Where’s Ramona?”

“Sleeping.”

His eyebrows lifted.

“Don’t.”

“I was about to ask if she wanted coffee.”

“Bullshit.”

Piney smiled into his cup. “Anchor told me to tell you he’s looking for you.”

I grabbed a mug and filled it with hot black coffee. “Anchor’s looking for me? What happened?”

“Nothing new.”

That wasn’t exactly reassuring. “Then why’s he looking for me?”

Piney pushed away from the bar. “Wants to go through Ron’s office. He figured since you’re feeling better, you need to get back to actually helping the club.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Yeah, it was pretty shitty of me to get my throat slit.”

Piney nodded. “Yeah, enough vacation time.”

I took a sip of my coffee, and Piney slapped me just as the hot coffee touched my lips.

“I’m glad you’re back.” He grabbed his cup of coffee and headed to the door. “Now let’s go see if Ron left us any fucking clues to figure out who this asshole is.”

I slid off the stool and followed Piney. “Let’s go.”

*

Ron’s office smelled stale.

That was the first thing I noticed when Anchor opened the door.

Stale air, dust, and whatever cheap air freshener Ron used that had long since stopped doing its job.

The second thing I noticed was how fucking normal everything looked. Desk. Computer. Two filing cabinets. A couple shelves stacked with binders and paperwork. Printer and fax machine sitting on a table against the wall.

Nothing about the room screamed that the man who’d worked in here had helped somebody terrorize the club.

That pissed me off more than it probably should have.

Ron had been here every fucking day. He’d walked around our businesses. Talked to members. Hired people. Erin had worked here because of him. And all the while, he’d known something. Maybe everything.

I looked around the room.