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“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” he said, almost pleading.
“You’re not going to get any trouble from me. But I’m guessing it’s trouble from somebody else you’re worried about.”
He finally glanced up at me, and his eyes were ashamed. “I’m sorry… but I just can’t afford to put myself in a position where…”
His voice trailed off, but I didn’t need him to finish the sentence. Lou did business with Tom’s bank – the commercial loans on the Seven Veils and the motel, if I remembered correctly.
“I understand,” I said, and it was true. I didn’t hate the guy. If I were in his position, I’d probably be worried about potential blowback. After all, he had a family to look out for, and he wasn’t used to dealing with warring biker factions. “I would appreciate it if you could give me a couple of weeks to remedy the situation… but if you can’t, then I understand.”
He looked sad. “I’ve always liked you, Jack. You know that. I trust you. But…”
“But there’s a new sheriff in town.”
He paused, then nodded morosely. “Something like that.”
I walked around to the other side of the desk and pulled my checkbook out of the drawer. “What about the car? Do you want my guys to tow it back to your place?”
“That’d be great… just take it out of the ten grand…”
We all stood in silence as I wrote a check for $9900 and held it out to him. He glanced at Kade like he was ashamed to take it, but he did anyway.
“I need to know something, Tom,” I said. “Should I expect a whole flood of people looking to pull their business out of the shop?”
“…probably.”
“Did Lou call you?”
“No, it was somebody else. Didn’t give me his name, just…”
He trailed off again.
“He made it clear it wouldn’t be looked on kindly if you kept doing business with me,” I suggested.
“…yeah,” he said, shamefaced.
I held out my hand. “I just want you to know, you’re welcome back here anytime. After I get this all straightened out.”
He looked at me in surprise, then shook my hand. “I’m sorry, Jack.”
“Don’t be. See you soon.”
He gave me a sad little smile, like We both know that’s not going to happen.
“See you around, guys,” Tom said, then ducked out of the office as fast as he could.
I turned towards Kade. “How many others have pulled out?”
“Two so far. And there’s a couple of phone calls I haven’t returned that probably want to do the same.”
“Goddammit…”
“Well, it’s not like you didn’t predict it.”
“I thought we’d be losing future business, not shit we already had booked.”
“Could be worse.”
I glared at my former Sergeant-at-Arms. “Yeah – at least I still have my anal virginity intact, right?”
