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Chapter Eighteen
What the Future Holds
Irene
When I get to the coffee shop, Preacher is already seated in a back booth waiting on me. When he spots me, he stands and gives me one of those lopsided smiles. Everyone has their attention focused on us and it grates on my nerves. I can’t believe people treat him this way on a daily basis. When I reach him, I stand on my tiptoes and draw him in for a hug. I kiss him on his scarred cheek and smile brightly.
“Thanks for inviting me,” I say as I pull away and slide into the booth.
Preacher has a frown on his face and a slight blush coloring his unscarred cheek. “Why did you do that?”
“Because you are my friend. And because it pisses me off that people stare at you like some monster that escaped from a black-and-white horror movie.”
“Don’t let it bother you.” He makes a dismissive gesture with his hand. “I’m used to it.”
“But you shouldn’t have to be!” I exclaim.
“It is what it is, Irene, and you hugging and kissing me isn’t going to change that.”
“Why don’t you just leave me to do whatever I want, and we won’t have to have this argument every time we meet each other somewhere?” I sass at him. “Besides, you didn’t ask me to meet you here to complain about how I choose to greet my friends.”
“You’re going to be a pain in my ass, aren’t you?” he says and sighs.
“I don’t know. Depends on what kind of job you want to offer me.” I smile as innocently as I can.
A waitress puts two cups of coffee on the table between us before hightailing it away from us. Preacher already knows how I take my coffee and must have ordered when he came in. She doesn’t even try to look at Preacher and I feel my blood boil. People can be such assholes. Taking a deep breath, I reign in my anger and wait for Preacher to tell me about the job he has for me.
“I need a manager down at Dusk. My dad isn’t getting any better and it’s too much for me to do on my own.”
“It’s a wonderful gesture, Preacher, but I don’t know a damn thing about running a strip club,” I reply. “I would be more of a hindrance than anything else.”
“You would be perfect.” He chuckles. “I need someone who can take charge, isn’t going to take shit from the girls, and doesn’t want to get in my pants.”
“But—”
Preacher cut me off. “You’ll be perfect. I’ll still deal with the day-to-day, I just don’t want the drama that goes along with all the females that work for me. They can be a lot to handle sometimes.”
“And you think I can do it?” I arch a brow at him.
“The moment I saw you corral those three women you call friends, I knew you would be able to do it. Did you know the last time they went on a ladies’ night, Pope and Wolf ended up sleeping in jail for kicking the shit out of a guy?”
“What?” I ask a little too loudly. “You can’t be serious!”
“Every time those three go somewhere and alcohol is involved, something bad happens. All of us know it, that’s why the guys only let them go to Dusk now. We can control the damage they cause.” He chuckles. “You kept them in line, even if you were very subtle about it.”
It wasn’t something I was doing on purpose but thinking back on our night out, I realize that I did steer them away from anything that may have caused trouble. Shit, I didn’t even know I was doing it.
“All right.”
“So, you’ll do it?” Preacher looks hopeful as he watches me sip my coffee.
“Why not?” I smile at him. “Just give me a couple of days to sort everything out.”
“You can start on Monday,” he replies.
****
“Where have you been, woman?” Justice asks the moment I walk back into the clubhouse. I raise a brow and glare at him. “Sorry, that came out wrong. What have you been up to?”
