“I have an idea,” Ridley looked at me over her cup.
“What’s that?”
“I’m trying to find a way to buy the building next door, it is zoned commercial. I want to open a tattoo shop. You could learn to be a tattoo artist and work with me.”
I lifted one brow. “You want me...?”
“You are a kindred spirit, Kobe. I can’t explain it, but your vibe? It’s good. So, are you interested?”
I nodded. “I think that I like this idea. I think that I’d be a good tattoo artist, I’m good at drawing. Question, what do you need to buy the place next door?”
“I need about thirty-five thousand.”
“I have sixty-one,” I said matter-of-factly.
“You have sixty-one thousand dollars and you were living in that shit hole? How the fuck did you get sixty-one thousand?”
“My house, the house Jared and I lived in, belong to my grandparents, then my mom, then Jared and me. I sold it and put the money I made from the equity into the bank. I could buy the building next door. I have good credit. That way I’m not freeloading totally. My question is, are you sure that you can you teach me to do tattoos?”
Ridley nodded. “I can train you, I’m positive.”
“Then I’m totally down with getting the building. But there is one caveat.”
Ridley’s smile faded a little. “What’s that?”
“I can’t do it until I get the evidence against the Coyotes. Sasha, my boss, is close to the gang and she hired me because I was desperate for money. If someone sees me going into a bank for a loan, anything, then I’m fucked.”
“I gotcha.” Ridley gave me a warm smile. There was something so warming about the way I felt around her, like I had found a genuine friend.
Easton
I sat on a stool at the far end of the bar at Sasha’s. The place was quiet today. The usual bustling rowdy behavior of the Coyotes was more subdued. Dante’s display last night at his party still had everyone tense. Yes, we got out of there with our lives, but no one trusted that to be the end of it. The threat was still there under the surface, undeniable and almost tangible.
I drew long slow lines in the condensation from my beer and followed uneven crisscross marks that someone had carved into the wood.
I glanced to my left where Spider sat quietly on the opposite end of the bar. He took a long slow drag of a cigarette, looking tired. We all were. I didn’t think anyone got to bed before four this morning.
Every time the front door opened, I kept turning to see if it was Kobe. I’d gone by her apartment last night, but there was no answer and her car wasn’t there. I was on edge and needed to make sure she was okay.
The clicking sound of heels against faded wood floors drew my attention, and my heartbeat accelerated. Kobe must finally be here.
“Hello, handsome.” A high soprano’s futile attempts at a sultry voice had me grimacing, and I took a long sip of my beer, my eyes forward on the cracked glass window of the bar.
“What are you doing here today?” she asked as she ran a gentle hand down my shoulder, over the leather of my biker vest that I still wore, and rested sizzling red nails on my wrist.
“Just having a beer, Missy,” I said, I didn’t even have to look at her. The overwhelming scent of her cheap floral perfume was an insult to my nose. I’d rather have Spider puffing smoke in my face.
“Did you have a rough night, baby?” she asked as she slid her fingers up the back of my neck and through my hair.
I wanted to jerk away, but I wasn’t in the mood to cause a scene.
“Go away, Missy.” I sighed and gulped down the last of my beer, setting the glass down hard in front of me.
“Oh, come on, talk to me,” she said. “I’m a really good listener. Everybody says so.” She slid onto the stool beside me and spread her knees provocatively. One resting at the back of my stool, the other rubbing against my knee.
“I’m sure they do,” I said. “I’m sure Crow really appreciates your listening ear.” I gave her a side glance and waited impatiently for Sasha to see me, I either wanted another beer or my total.
“That’s why I’m here. Crow told me to suck you and Spider off. He said you three had a stressful night last night.” She pouted her thin lips, which were the same shade of red as her fingernails. “I’m just trying to help, you aren’t going to reject my kindness, are you?” Missy leaned forward, rested her chin on my bicep and looked up at me from under false lashes. “We all have our jobs, don’t we?”
I frowned and gave her my full attention.
“Job? I didn’t realize you were charging these days,” I said, and she snorted out a laugh. Probably the only real thing about her.
“Well, I will be once Sasha gets the upstairs remodeled.” She nodded toward the rode-hard-put-away-wet-looking woman who was in deep conversation with Cipher.
“She’s remodeling, how nice.” I slid my knee away from her attempt to cross it under the bar.
“Yes, she’s a real business woman. Says I got potential.”
I suppressed a groan as I looked up at the ceiling. “Potential for spreading chlamydia.”
“What?” she asked, genuinely confused.
“Nothing, Missy. You’re right, you’ve got potential, I’ll give you that.” I stared into her eyes probably for the first time and hated that she reminded me of a lost child. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m going to have to pass on your offer. I appreciate it, I really do, but you’re not the one for me.”
“Oh, honey, I wasn’t talking forever,” she said. “Just seven minutes.”
“Seven?” I
