Were they serious?
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“You got bill collectors on your ass, credit cards to pay off and you’re on the back of Buck’s bike or your ass is in his ride because A, you’re his woman, but mostly ’cause, B,” she leaned in, “you ain’t got no ride because it’s been repoed.”
“I know that,” I told her softly.
She leaned back. “So, my guess is, you talked to Buck about this, he’d say take care a’ you. And what I know is, an old lady takes care of her old man. He’s swung his ass out there for you, you hit a windfall like this, you can find six and a half million ways to pay him back and you’re gonna give it away?”
Oh dear.
I saw her point.
“Minnie—” I started.
She threw up her hands. “Even if you didn’t look out for him, babe, you need to learn to start lookin’ out for you.”
“She’s right.”
That came from Scott and everyone turned to him, but I suspected only I did it with my lips parted.
“Sorry?” I whispered.
“She’s right, Clara,” he repeated. “The million and a half, that’s dirty money. Kirk stole from a lot of people. We recovered a good deal, he didn’t piss it all away, but there was a major deficit. That won’t cover it, but somethin’ is better than nothin’. You give that back, they could use it and they’d be grateful. The five mil,” he tipped his chin to me, “that’s yours. You feel like bein’ generous, you give a little back. But you cover yourself before you do that. Pay your bills, get yourself a car, buy a house, put some away, make certain where you were is a place you’re never gonna be again.”
This was met with silence until Chap grunted.
Scott’s eyes never left mine and he finished, “Kirk dies, you come into that windfall, you know how to find me. But listen to your girl.” Now his head tilted to Minnie. “And don’t do anything until you take care of you.”
After delivering that message, his eyes swept Minnie and Chap, he turned on his boot and walked out the door.
The second it closed, Chap turned to Minnie and pointed at her. “I’m leavin’ and, ’cause she makes good cookies and cupcakes, I’m keepin’ my mouth shut ’bout this shit. You,” he jabbed his finger at Minnie, “get her shit sharp. This kinda shit happens again, I ain’t keepin’ my mouth shut. You hear me?”
“I hear you,” Minnie said softly.
Chap nodded, and without looking at me, he followed Scott out the door.
I turned to Minnie in time to see her hands go to her hips.
“Sit your ass down, babe, the rain in Spain is right now fallin’ on the fuckin’ plain, get me?”
I pressed my lips together.
I got her.
So I sat down.
* * *
Two hours later, I was in search of Buck because we had to go get Mrs. Jimenez and meet his kids at the house.
As I searched, my latest Professor Higgins session was rumbling through my brain.
Apparently, biker babes deferred to their biker boys in everything, which meant everything.
The man made the decisions, the woman lived with them.
And also, if the man told the woman to do something, she did it. No matter what it was.
Or, if he told her not to do something, she didn’t do it, no matter how much she may want to.
I had to admit, I was uncertain about this.
I also had to admit, the word “uncertain” was a massive understatement.
I further had to admit that I was uncertain Buck actually lived by this philosophy.
I was certain he was domineering, but he was also sweet and gentle, in a rough and tumble way.
Still, he was.
I couldn’t imagine if I wanted something badly enough, we couldn’t discuss it and he wouldn’t see my way of thinking.
I also couldn’t imagine he wouldn’t want me to be free and clear to make decisions about my life.
We were living together, but only out of necessity. Buck wasn’t sure I was safe yet (no word about Esposito, except from Buck, “He’s got his hands full dealing with his own people,” which I took as something that would have Esposito’s total focus), and therefore, I was never alone. Unless I was in the office. But with the place crawling with people, that wasn’t really alone.
I had also only earned one paycheck and my fat, as Minnie put it, was by no means out of the fryer.
In other words, I wasn’t (yet) in a position to find my own space and live my own life beholden only to me.
That didn’t change the fact that Buck and I were still new. He acted like I was his woman and his people acted like I was his woman, but I wasn’t sure yet that I actually was.
So I figured I was still my own woman.