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“I, uh…” I avert my eyes and quickly grab a slice of the pineapple. “Yep.”
I love pineapple so surely I’ll like it on pizza.
I take a bite and immediately regret my decision. Happy to have learned something new about myself, and embarrassed that it happened in front of Jenny, I force myself to chew. But when it’s time to swallow, I can’t.
“Kennedy?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you want a napkin to spit that out in?” she asks, her lips twitching.
I nod, and she hands me one. There’s no delicate way to spit out chewed food, so I’m grateful when Jenny busies herself getting us both a drink.
“Here.” She hands me a bottle of water after twisting the cap off, and I greedily gulp half of it. “Girl, if you don’t like pineapple pizza, why the hell’d you take a piece?”
Tears spring to my eyes at her innocent question, and her expression falls when the salty drops slip down my cheeks. Jenny rushes around the bar and wraps her arm around my shoulders.
“Kennedy, honey, what’s wrong?”
I shake my head as I try to gather my thoughts. How am I supposed to explain to someone that I have no clue who I am? How do I make Jenny believe that I’m not crazy, just sheltered and shattered?
“Nothing… and everything.”
Chapter7
Dip
“What the patch binds together, let no force tear apart. Satan’s Legacy now and forever.”
My palms itch as I recite the club motto so church can begin. I don’t want to be here, but as an officer, I’m required to be. Besides, what else am I gonna do? Go to Barlow’s for the sixth straight day in a row?
Ya gotta get her outta your head.
“As you all know,” Snow begins. “Dip stopped an attack on a woman outside of a bar last weekend. That fuck has been eliminated, but I’m concerned that this is a bigger problem than we first thought.”
“Prez, shit like that is always gonna be a damn problem,” Duck says. “Too many guys think they’re fucking entitled to any pussy they want.”
“And that shit won’t fly in our city,” Snow snaps.
“Unless we plan to stand guard on every street corner twenty-four-seven,” Magic comments. “Not real sure how we’re supposed to stop it.”
“Which is why we’re here.” Prez thrusts a hand through his hair and heaves a sigh. “We need to step up our presence downtown.”
“Agreed,” I add. “But there are only so many of us and an unending supply of sick fucks.”
“Even if we could be everywhere all at once, business owners won’t all be on board with our brand of protection,” Toga says. “They’ll see our cuts and run in the other direction.”
“Which is bullshit,” Brady grumbles. “You’ve got innocent people being attacked and because we wear a cut instead of a badge, they’re gonna continue to be attacked.”
“We might not be able to be everywhere, but cameras can be anywhere,” I say thoughtfully.
“Go on,” Snow prods.
“Well, a lot of businesses have security systems, but as we all know, most of them don’t work for shit or are just for show,” I explain. “Barlow’s for example… When I asked Jenny to see the security footage from the night I took out that creep, her equipment had failed so there wasn’t shit to see.” I shrug. “I’m guessing that’s the case for most of the smaller businesses where this kinda problem is happening.”
“Okay, but how do we fix that?” Duck asks, leaning his elbows on the table.
“We offer to set up better security systems, and we monitor them at all times.” I push up from my chair and start to pace. “We already have rotating shifts for the shelter’s security and here at the compound. Why not add monitoring the security feeds for businesses downtown into the mix?”
