Zero Tolerance (Lost Kings MC 12)

“She’s so sweet,” I say.

Heidi pats the baby’s back. “She is. Almost makes me miss when Alexa was this little.”

Murphy smirks and glances around. “Damn, make sure to say that again when your brother gets here.”

Heidi elbows his leg. “You two are ridiculous.”

There’s the rumble of a couple engines outside and a few minutes later, Hope and Rock join us.

“She just ate,” Heidi announces.

“Thank you. I thought we’d be back sooner,” Hope says, eyeing Rock who shrugs.

“You weren’t gone that long,” Murphy says. “She only woke up a few minutes ago.”

“Hi, Lilly,” Hope says, dropping down next to me and giving me a quick one-armed hug I wasn’t expecting. She leans forward and wiggles her fingers. “Hi, Chance.”

“Hi,” he says, suddenly shy.

“You remember Aunt Hope?” Z asks.

Chance nods and climbs right up next to her when Heidi passes Grace over. “Thanks for the pic, Murphy,” Hope says.

Grace fusses a bit and Rock ends up taking her.

“Such a daddy’s girl already,” Trinity teases. Rock just grins.

All in all, not a bad afternoon.

Twenty-Five

Z

Having Lilly up at the clubhouse went better than I expected. She seems more at ease there now. We even make it to the next two family dinner nights. Something Chance seems to love.

The following weekend, she follows me up to the clubhouse and heads over to Hope’s while I sit down with the guys for church.

First, there’s the completely mundane stuff that we need to get out of the way.

“Couple girls who are friends of Swan’s wanna come hang. That cool?” Hoot asks Wrath.

Wrath shrugs and lifts his chin my way. “Give us their names. We’ll check ‘em out.”

Sparky raises his hand. “Boss, we got an issue. More choppers have been doing sweeps.” He waves his arms in the air, in case we don’t understand what he means.

“Gotta be a federal thing, since the fuckin’ morons are on another “marijuana is evil” kick,” Dex grumbles.

“The basement’s safe,” Wrath says. “That’s the whole reason the operation’s down there instead of outside or in a hothouse.”

Sparky bristles. “And it’s the most suitable environment to grow the best product. We couldn’t ask top dollar for some outdoor-grown muck-weed.” He punctuates his statement with more arm flapping.

Wrath rolls his eyes and sits back without commenting. Even Wrath knows it’s not worth the risk of agitating Sparky.

“I have an idea,” Stash says.

Because he’s a jackass, but a funny one, Teller claps his hands. “Congratulations. About time.”

“Don’t be a fuckstick.” Stash laughs, completely unoffended. “I’m serious.”

“Go on,” Rock encourages.

“Well, we still own that empty lot next to Crystal Ball where the old clubhouse used to be.” He gestures toward the side window. “Since this is really becoming more residential and we got our families living up here, maybe it’s time to build another clubhouse. We can entertain other clubs there. Give us a visual presence so the cops ain’t so curious about where we hang out.”

Teller groans. “You remember what that was like back then? All those fucking dancers thought our clubhouse was their second home.”

“Had to chase those bitches out with a fire extinguisher on Sunday nights,” Bricks adds, holding his hands together and making a sweeping motion over the table.

“Just because your dick shriveled up and died,” Ravage points to Birch, Stash, Hoot, and then himself, “doesn’t mean we want ours to.”

“Keep on fucking dancers and it’ll probably shrivel up and fall off,” Murphy says under his breath.

“Now, Murphy, that’s not fair,” Dex says in his let’s-be-reasonable tone. “Ravage is just as likely to infect someone with crotch-rot as anyone else.”

“True.”

Ravage reaches under the table to scratch…I don’t want to know what.

“Nah, I just need to change soaps or something,” Ravage says.

Everyone groans.

Rock shakes his head. The corners of his mouth twitch with the laughter he’s holding back. “Continue. Without the dick itch talk, please.”

“Why don’t we build a new clubhouse?” Stash sits back and lets the idea sink in before continuing. “Doesn’t have to be anywhere near as fancy as this place. Something where we can entertain people we’re not comfortable having up here.”

I raise my hand. “It is annoying to do business at Crystal Ball, Prez. Separating the two things isn’t a bad idea.”

“Be a nice, easy way to clean some of that extra money coming in from our deals with Loco and Stump,” Teller adds. “Now that the rebuild of Furious is finished.”

“I like it,” Rock says. “Might be a good place to house any prospects or out-of-town visitors.”

“Thank fuck.” Wrath smirks and sits back. “Sway will never want to stay up here again if he can hang out next to CB.”

Sparky leans over the table and catches Teller’s attention. “Next time you go over the club’s portfolio, we should invest in some condom manufacturers.” His mouth doesn’t so much as twitch. This is as serious as Sparky gets.

Our treasurer’s on top of everything and doesn’t really need investment advice from our resident stoner, but he’s not about to offend Sparky either. “Who says we don’t?” Teller answers.

“Yeah, baby!” Ravage shouts.

Rock groans. “Simmer down.”

“We always planned to do something with that land,” Teller says. “Especially since Empire county still assesses it as a commercial property.”

Rock looks around the table. “Who wants to take the lead on it?”

Wrath raises his hand. “I’ll talk to the guy who finished Furious. He had a good crew. Worked quick and didn’t fuck around trying to upcharge me.”

“An honest contractor? That’s a first,” Dex comments.

“I think he was terrified of Wrath,” Murphy points out.

Wrath sits back and crosses his arms over his chest, smug smile in place. “As everyone should be.”

“True story,” Birch mutters.

“All right.” Rock looks at each of us again. “Who else? Stash, this is your idea.”

Stash slumps back in his chair. “I don’t know if I want full responsibility for it, Prez.” He gives Ravage and Hoot the side-eye. “And it’s not only my idea.”

Dex raises his hand. “I’ll help him out. Fuck knows I wouldn’t mind having a place to crash after working until close some nights.”

“All right.” Rock nods at Teller. “Stay on top of the finances.”

“You got it, Prez.”

“You got it, Prez,” Murphy mimics in a high-pitched voice.

Teller laughs and elbows Murphy in the side. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Next,” Rock barks before we get too carried away.

“Are we having any more “special events” at Crystal Ball?” Ravage’s question is followed by his patented skeevy eyebrow wiggle.

Rock’s mouth slides into a half-smile. “You wanna answer that one?”

I roll my eyes and sit forward. “Stella won’t be performing at CB anymore so if anyone has other suggestions, feel free to let Dex know.”

Dex, the fucker, ducks his head and shakes with laughter.

“Don’t be a dick.”

He holds his hands up in the air. “Sorry, you’re right. Totally never saw that coming.”

Rock shrugs. “She was good for the club while it lasted.” He runs his steely-eyed glare over every brother at the table. “It wouldn’t kill the rest of you to use that gray matt

er between your ears to come up with something creative once in a while that helps the club earn more.”

I appreciate the support from Rock, even though Dex has a point. Mixing business with…whatever Stella and I were was stupid and I should’ve known better.

Dex is either feeling bold or suicidal today. He sits up and plants his palms on the table. “I get you, Prez, but this does affect the club. Sway’s not willing to work out an arrangement with any of his other girls now.”

“Good,” Wrath says. “We don’t need him in our business.”

Dex continues as if Wrath hadn’t said a word. “He’s bankrolling more than Stella’s independent venture now. He’s got several girls. It could’ve been a lucrative way to rotate new talent in and out of Crystal Ball.”

Rock stares at Dex for a few minutes—I can’t remember the last time Dex challenged him and I’m guessing Rock can’t either. Since my damn dick created the problem, I raise my hand to stop this before it gets worse.

“I’ll smooth things over with Sway,” I promise. “Stella’s just pissed at me, she’ll get over it.”

“Honestly, bro,” Ravage raises his chin at Dex, “was that arty frou-frou aerial show of Stella’s really bringing in that many new customers?”

“Yes,” Dex says. “Got us some legitimate publicity too.”

Now my anger kicks up. “Listen, brother, I didn’t exactly plan for my life to blow up.”

“Don’t shit where we eat!” Sparky bangs on the table with both fists. “First rule of life and we’ve all broken it. Why you takin’ this out on Z so hard, Dex?”

Dex sits back and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m not.” He glances around the table and finally lands on me. “We’re not coming out of this slump, brother.”

“Everyone simmer down,” Rock says. “Crystal Ball has had its ups and downs over the years. That’s to be expected.”

“This down doesn’t seem to be ending,” Dex says.

Teller sits up and flips through some pages in front of him. “It hasn’t turned a profit in at least a year. It’s not a big deal, I use those losses to offset other gains.” He glances at Rock quickly. “That business has always been a front.”

Under the table, I kick Teller. Why not just say the hours Dex puts in at Crystal Ball are pointless?