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“No. My mother is, though. And Duke and Savage both how much that has fucked with me and Waverly.”
“Oh.”
The room fell silent for a moment.
“So what are you guys going to do?” I asked finally.
“Damn fine question,” Joni said. “It’s not like we can get involved in club business and plead with them about this. That isn’t our place, and they clearly hid this from us for a reason. They knew we were going to be pissed if we found out, but they did it anyway.”
Brooklyn looked forlornly at her belly as she rubbed a hand across her bump.
“Brooklyn?” I prodded.
“We’re having a baby girl. How could he…” She shook her head.
I glanced at Rach. “Are you rethinking your move back to town?”
“Feeling that way,” she admitted. “Then again…if my husband were still alive, he’d have been involved in this, too.”
“So that’s it then? You just have to accept that they’re involved in this and that’s that?” I demanded.
“Why do you care?” Darcy inquired. “You’re not with Smoke anymore, so why does it bother you so much?”
Her tone wasn’t mean or even pugnacious, but it had me defensive anyway.
“Because I was hoping for once in my life that I hadn’t misjudged a man. I’d hoped that there was a real shot that Smoke and I could do this out in the open and it might actually work.”
“So you’re not ready to give up on Smoke completely, huh?” Joni asked.
I paused for a moment and then finally sighed. “I guess not. But I don’t like that Smoke is involved with strippers. And I won’t sacrifice my own self-worth and ignore the red flags. Having grown men around women like that…it’s like taking a sugar addict to a candy store. Can they resist? Sure…but for how long?”
“So how do we handle this?” Doc asked. “It’s not like we can just go to them, tell them we’re uncomfortable with it, and then they’ll sell the venture.”
“That would never work anyway,” Joni agreed. “They love us, but they won’t allow us to interfere. Especially when they’re trying to clean up the business. Let’s face it, a strip club beats the hell out of anything involving the cartel.”
There was a rumble of active agreement with Joni’s statement.
Joni looked at me. “I wasn’t supposed to say that in front of you.”
“She already knows about the cartel,” Rach stated. “Vaguely, anyway. I accidentally let it slip.”
“I’ve kept my mouth shut,” I replied. “And I didn’t tell Tavy anything. I swear.”
Joni nodded. “Mia, you haven’t said anything. Thoughts?”
Mia didn’t say anything for a moment and then she looked at Joni. “I already knew.”
“You knew?” Joni asked. “About them buying the strip club?”
“Yes. Colt talked to me to before he pulled the trigger.”
“Jesus Christ, Mia,” Darcy snapped. “How the fuck could you know something like that and not tell us?”
There was a reverberation of disbelief from the Old Ladies, but Mia appeared unruffled. “I get it. I know why you’re put off by the idea of the strip club. But come on, the club was involved in illegal stuff. They’re not anymore. This isn’t worse than that, and you all know it.”
The room fell silent. Willa stared at Mia like she’d been betrayed.
“Look,” Mia said, her tone softening. “They’re not Boy Scouts. They’re bikers. And the club took a major financial hit when they walked away from the illegal side of things.” She looked at Doc. “You want your half-way house finished and upgrades to the clinic? That costs money.” She pinned the rest of the Old Ladies with intense stares, one by one. “We’re knee-deep in construction to expand the clubhouse. That costs money too. And I don’t know about you, but I want to send my son to private school—and that costs money. Should I go on?”
