Makenna would never know the answers to those questions, but she’d internalized the ruthless lessons. She wouldn’t allow anyone close enough to be harmed when Roger and her father inevitably caught up to them again.
CHAPTER THREE
“HOW DO I look?” Tex asked, as he smoothed his hands down his prospect’s cut. He was a smart kid with a bit of Texas country swagger.
“You look like a fuckin’ dirtbag, like always,” Thunder said, hiding his grin with his coffee cup.
“Fuck you.” Tex flipped him off, then checked his reflection in his goddammed spoon.
“Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?”
Tex put the spoon down then shrugged. “Nothing’s wrong. Just making sure I’m putting my best foot forward.”
Best foot forward? What the…Thunder burst out laughing. “Fuck me, this is for Kristy, isn’t it?”
“What? No! What the hell is wrong with a man wanting to look good?”
“Nothing. You do know she’s not gonna strip in here, right?”
“Seriously, fuck you.”
Thunder laughed. Tex was a trip. They were in a coffee shop, one town over, waiting on a friend of Thunder’s. A friend who also happened to be a stripper Thunder had worked with in the past. After many years in the biz, he was well acquainted with all the entertainment in the area and then some. Though he knew them, he rarely associated with coworkers outside of the job. Not that he had any problems with his work peers, he just preferred to keep away from that world when not performing.
But this wasn’t a social visit. This was strictly business. And he’d begged Copper to let him be the one to conduct this fact-finding mission. Ever since the day Viper had died, the urge to take the CDMC down had been clawing at him like a feral cat. He’d been there that day. Witnessed Viper’s lifeless body broken and bleeding on the diner’s floor. And while the club had eliminated the man who’d been personally responsible for tossing the grenade that killed Viper, it wasn’t enough. Thunder wanted each and every CDMC motherfucker to pay.
Shit, if he thought about this much longer, he’d fucking cry as he’d done the day Viper died.
“Hey, there she is. There she is.” Tex rested his hands on the table, then in his lap, then back on the table.
Thank God for the distraction. And what a distraction she was.
“Could you not act like you’re gonna bust a nut the second she sits down?” Thunder asked, as he stood to greet Kristy.
“Shh, shut the fuck up,” Tex whispered.
“Well, if it isn’t the sexiest two men in the MC.” Kristy strutted over on stilts with skintight leather pants, a bright red crop top, and her long brown hair in a sky-high ponytail.
“Hey, beautiful.” He took her outstretched hands and accepted a kiss on his lips.
Tex cleared his throat in the most unsubtle way possible. With a roll of his eyes, Thunder said, “Kristy, this is Tex. Another prospect for the club.”
Since she’d danced at several Handlers’ parties, she probably already knew Tex by sight, but the two hadn’t been formally introduced.
With a sly grin, Kristy extended a hand to Tex. “Hi, Tex,” she purred. “I’m Kristy.”
The woman was a shark. She’d been stripping for fifteen years and still had the same energetic, flexible, and tight body she’d had at eighteen. Having been married three times and engaged two more, as far as Thunder knew, the girl could play men like no other. She reeled ’em in, chewed ’em up, and spit them back out, never to be the same again.
Poor Tex had no idea what he was in for.
Kristy slid into the empty seat at their round table. After crossing her mile-long legs, she turned her attention to Tex. “I didn’t realize you were bringing a toy, Thunder,” she crooned. “You want to play with us, Tex?”
His eyes bugged, and Thunder nearly laughed. If he’d been a woman, he had no doubt Tex would be all over a threesome, but the kid seemed like he might hurl at the idea of getting naked with his fellow prospect.
“Simmer down there, tiger,” Thunder said, drawing Kristy’s attention. “This isn’t that kind of visit.”
She pouted. “Oh, that’s too bad. We always had so much fun together.”
They’d been together once, about five years ago. A woman who came to every single show he headlined asked to fuck him and another woman for her birthday. She’d paid serious coin for the experience. Thunder had barely touched Kristy and certainly hadn’t fucked her since they’d focused the attention on their client. So technically, they hadn’t been together at all.
Instead of rolling his eyes as he wanted, he winked. “You know it, baby.”
Tex sat there gaping like he’d never seen someone with a set of tits before. The twenty-one-year-old cracked him up. Copper had wanted him to tag along with Thunder. He’d been accompanying different members on tasks recently to get more exposure and insight into the club’s inner workings.