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“I already thanked you.”
“Oh?”
“The money.”
“Right. Money is more powerful than words.”
“In my world, yes.”
Josie reached into her back pocket and took out the fifty-dollar bill. “I don’t want this, Starla. I didn’t ask for it. I helped you because I consider you a friend. We’re a family here, okay? If I came across the wrong way, then I’m sorry. Maybe it’s not my business to know what you do or anyone else does. But I know what that stuff does to people and what it could do to this place. And I care about this place and all of you.”
Starla rolled her eyes. “Come with me.”
As much of a pig as Jefferson was, the back of the club was actually really nice. It was wide open with plenty of space for everyone. There weren’t lockers or anything like that, but storage almost looking like closets. That’s where they went and Starla opened hers. The girls kept their street clothes in there, along with pictures and stuff Josie wasn’t sure she really wanted to know about.
Starla looked around and reached into her bag. “Here. Take this.”
She handed Josie a bag with some baggies inside it. Josie hurried to roll all the crap up and stuffed it into her pocket.
“There,” Starla said. “Happy?”
“No,” Josie said. “I want to know what you were doing with it. Using? Selling? Moving?”
“Nothing,” Starla said. “I had messed around with stuff before in life. I bought some…”
“This isn’t just some.”
“I bought a lot,” Starla said. “I was going to enjoy the rest of the month.”
“This makes me uneasy.”
“I’m sure it does.”
“This isn’t my job,” Josie said. “I’m going to get rid of this for good.”
“I want you to. I should have never gotten it. I got too drunk last night, Josie. I could have gotten hurt and gotten into serious trouble. You bailed me out. I’m embarrassed right now. Okay? I used to mess around with this stuff and got myself into trouble. I found this life and promised I would be good with it all. I guess not.”
Josie nodded. “You did the right thing here. If you ever need someone to talk to… or help…”
“Don’t do that to me.”
“I’m just being your friend.”
“Right,” Starla said. “I’m going to get finished up and get out there to make money. Simple as that.”
Starla shut the door to her storage and walked away.
Josie turned and looked at all the girls that were there. Chances were that Starla wasn’t the only one with this stuff. And to think, the town of Watersald was supposed to be a clean town. That was the balance of power between the MC and the police. They waged their own fight and other fights that went beyond the town, but inside it all, it was supposed to be clean. Josie bit her lip, knowing this wasn’t going to be a good situation.
It wasn’t going to be a good situation at all.
* * *
Josie senta text to check on Steph.
Their conversation hadn’t exactly processed in her mind just yet. The only thing Josie could offer was for Steph to relax in bed and take a day or two off to really think things over. These were the times when Josie sometimes hated the way life grabbed her wrist and pulled without warning. For what it was worth, Josie all but raised Steph from the time she was ten years old. Now she was eighteen and Josie hoped that eventually, Steph would figure out something to do with her life. The entire family fell apart when Laszlo died, leaving Steph hanging high and dry. She was Laszlo’s stepsister, but was forgotten about when all hell broke loose.
In some way though, as much as Josie took care of Steph, Steph did the same for Josie just by being around. Because when Lasz died, a lot of other things happened too. The MC almost lost itself for good. Reese pulled away just enough to give Josie her out, and she took it. Regret or not, it was time to get away from that life before a bullet ended up in the back of her head.Or Reese’s head.
