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“I think you’ve made your point,” Joni drawled. “But it feels dirty. Like, is my new car going to be paid for because someone shook their tits and ass on stage?”
Mia was silent a moment and then said, “You want your kitchen renovated? You want to go back to work or do you want to stay home with your newborn? You want Zip to quit the club and get a hard physical job working construction?”
No one said a word for a while.
“But the not telling us…” Brooklyn added.
“It’s club business.” Mia shrugged. “The guys don’t tell us about club business. Why is this any different?”
“Because Colt told you,” Rach pointed out.
“He wanted me to look at the books to see if it was a good investment, and he knew y’all would find out at some point. It took me time to digest the idea, but here we are. The strip club turns a profit and will eventually fuel other ventures. It’s time to dig deep. Do you want the lives you’ve grown accustomed to, or do you want out of the club completely?”
“She’s right,” Joni said with a sigh. “We can’t pick and choose what we’re okay with. We’re either Old Ladies or we’re not.”
Chapter 40
The cool autumn air did nothing to ease the heat of my skin as I stepped out of the gym. I’d pushed myself hard, hoping it would quiet my mind.
It had been two days since Smoke had left my apartment; regret and sadness lingered.
I hadn’t heard anything from the Old Ladies about the situation with the strip club, but it didn’t feel like my place to ask.
I walked back toward the bakery, my mind attempting to move away from thoughts of Smoke and the club to focus on other things. On a whim, I decided to go home to visit my family. I needed to get out of Waco for a few days. I needed to clear my head. I hadn’t been thinking straight since I met Smoke, and that had to change.
He’d turned my upside-down life right-side up again. But now he was gone and I was mourning the loss of him already.
I didn’t know how to handle what was going on. With Knox, the decision was easy; leave. I just picked up and moved on, changed everything about my existence. But with Smoke, I didn’t know what to do. Even though I’d only known him a short time, he’d slowly wormed his way into my heart against my will.
I rounded the corner, and like a vision I’d conjured, Smoke was leaning against his motorcycle, his sunglasses shielding his eyes.
My heart soared in excitement, but it was quickly replaced by annoyance. Leave it to the man to show up when I was red-faced and glistening with sweat from my workout.
When I was within ear shot, he said simply, “Hey.”
“Hey,” I said flatly. Silence fell between us. “What are you doing here?”
“Can we talk?”
“I think we’ve said everything we needed to say to each other.”
His jaw clenched. “Please, Logan.”
Smoke’s raspy tone reminded me of how he sounded when he was inside me, whispering words of passion in my ear.
I wanted to pretend I was strong and unmoved, but the way he leaned against his bike so sure of himself, so confident in his mere existence had me thawing immediately.
“Okay, we can sit in the bakery and talk.”
“Upstairs.”
I raised my brows. “You don’t get to dictate where we talk.”
“What we have to discuss requires privacy. I’m not having this conversation with you out in the open.”
In our battle for dominance, curiosity was my downfall. Finally, I nodded. “Fine. We can go upstairs.”
He pushed away from his motorcycle and took a step toward me. “I missed you, cupcake.”
