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I tip my chin.
“Backroom. Five minutes.”
Mom grabs my bag from the back seat and Holly scoops Rayna up, both women knowing it’s back to business.
Rayna waves to me over Holly’s shoulder and I wave back before slowly making my way into the bar and through to the back room. The brothers are happy to see me back and I wave them off. I’ll deal with them all later.
Easing into my chair, it’s strange to think that if I weren’t shot, I’d probably be sitting in my dad’s chair this morning.
“It’s good to have you back, brother,” Zach grunts, sitting opposite me.
“It’s good to be out of the hospital.”
Dad and Sparky stroll in and within seconds, Dad’s banging the gavel down and silence follows.
“I’ve got a couple of things to say before we get down to business. First, I wanna say on a club level, congratulations to Jay on the birth of his son Gunner. My grandson is a handsome little fucker.”
Cheers float around the table before Dad signals for order. “Second, I wanna congratulate my son for not fucking dying.”
Everyone laughs and I soon join them. “What can I say, it’s an art.”
“Now, the vote on Leo taking the gavel will go ahead tomorrow night. Nothing’s changed. I’m still stepping down and now Leo’s home where he belongs, we move forward.”
Ricky sits forward, resting his arms on the table. “Do you feel strong enough? Taking over the club during these times is stressful enough but with a gun wound…”
Tipping my chin, I promise him, “If I’m not dead, then I’m strong.”
Pope pipes up next, slamming his hand on the table. One of these days, the old fucker’s going to crack a bone.
“Look at him. You can see with your own eyes he’s strong.” He sighs, shaking his head.
Dad cuts in, “Leo’s aware of what he’ll be taking over, and it’s not like I’m dead. I’ll still be around for him if he needs it.”
“This can wait till the vote,” Slade says, adding, “The Kings gave us seven days, and it’s now up.”
“The Haywards can wait till we’re ready—” I start to say but I’m cut off by Sparky.
“They bring in a hell of a lot of cash.”
I argue, “It doesn’t make us their puppets. Effie will die, regardless of them wanting it so. We’re not gonna rush in and end up getting caught just because we’re on their timeline.”
“I’m not saying we rush in, but we made a deal.”
I feel Dad’s eyes on me, but I refuse to turn to him and show the brothers I need my dad’s backing.
“And the deal still stands but the timeframe will be on our terms,” I point out, going on to add, “Let’s not forget, we don’t workforthe Kings, we workwiththem. Let’s not also forget that we don’t need them, hence why we don’t throw cash at them for services needed. They pay us because they need us.”
Sparky wisely shuts his mouth and leans back in his chair. The fucker grins and I sigh. The fucker was testing me.
“Slade’s been tracking the fuckers closest to Effie. There hasn’t been much movement and we can’t pin her down. For now, we continue searching for her. We all know what’s going down when we find her,” Dad tells me.
He bangs the gavel down and I remain in my seat. Dad doesn’t move and waits for the room to clear before he sits back in his chair and grins at me.
“What shall I tell Jamie Boy?” he asks.
“For starters, we don’t ask for more time.”
He digs out his phone and types in Jamie Boy’s number, placing it in between us on the table and putting it on speaker.
