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Even though I’m confused, I’m all in. “You want to go shopping?”
Bryce shakes her head. “No. We want to invest in your enterprise.”
The twins nod enthusiastically, then Emma (the one wearing the pink mini, I think) says to the other, “But how can we do it without Dylan finding out?”
Dylan?
Bryce raises her eyebrows at the girl like she’s just been insulted. “I’m a thief if you recall. Coyote doesn’t need to know what we’re doing.” She turns to me. “If you’ll take straight up cash.”
Emma stares at Bryce. “Where will you get the cash? Coyote’s generous with our allowances, but he’ll notice a big withdrawal.”
Allowance? I don’t understand who this Coyote/Dylan is and why he controls these women’s lives, but none of them seem to be particularly upset by it, so I keep my thoughts to myself. Still, when I have more time on my hands, I plan to emancipate these women.
Bryce sighs. “He keeps most of the money he gets from the club in his safe.”
Emma frowns. “He doesn’t. He gives it to the women’s shelter.”
Maddie shakes her head at Emma. “He gives some of it to the women’s shelter and the rest to the Jane Goodall Institute.”
“Seriously?” Emma counters. “He’s not into gorillas.”
“That doesn’t matter. They do good stuff.”
“What, Maddy? What do they do?”
“Good stuff,” Maddy repeats, narrowing her eyes at her sister.
Emma opens her mouth to retort, but I decide to prevent the brawl by saying to Bryce. “He gave you the combination?”
Bryce furrows her brow at my apparently offensive statement. “Of course, he didn’t.” That’s all she has to say.
The three of us go, “Ahh.”
She directs her next question to me. “Charities notwithstanding, the funds may be proceeds from criminal activities. He’s part of Hell’s Jury Motorcycle Club. I don’t know if you’re familiar with them?”
My heart skips a beat. “I am!” I want to ask them about Trigger, but I suppress the urge. I want tall, dark, and dangerous in my life, but at the same time, he’s a distraction that I don’t need right now. I decide the meeting with this Neapolitan Mastiff is serendipitous, because I will fully use my connections to track my hot tattooed biker down when I’ve got more time to devote to my love life.
Bryce ghosts me with a smile. “It’s cash. No one can trace it back to you.”
“It’ll be like cleaning the money,” Maddy says.
“No, it won’t,” Emma argues.
Bryce seems accustomed to the bickering. “We’ll have to draw up some sort of a contract.”
“Of course,” I agree. Maybe it’s naiveté, but I can’t think of any reason why one can’t invest with cash. No one has to know where it comes from. My heart is happy and so is Cujo’s as he yips his joy, then when he gets our attention, scurries down the hall in a panic.
“Then it’s settled.” I think we should shake on it, but Bryce doesn’t, so I do the second-best thing. I head down the hall, rifle through Wendy’s locker, and grab her cheap bottle of whiskey and four urine sample cups (unused of course).
“It’s not anywhere near top of the line,” I say as I return. “But I think we should drink to our partnership.” I pour a shot for me and Bryce, then wave the bottle in the air as I glance at the twins.
Bryce shakes her head when they check with her. “I don’t care if you drink, but I do care if Coyote finds out I was involved.”
“He’s owning you,” Maddy says with a furrowed brow.
For the first time, Bryce’s face lights up. “Yeah.”
My heart twinges as I think of the man of my fantasies. I wouldn’t mind being owned by Trigger. My body hums its agreement.
