Page 90 of Break Out

With a short shake of my head, I grimaced. “She sees goodness where there often isn’t any good.”

She nodded. “That’s sad. Is that why she’s a stripper at the Palace?”

“She told you that?”

“Not directly, but it was mentioned.”

“Yeah, I don’t remember how she got started. With as much money as she makes, she should be financially set but she isn’t.”

Her lips formed an angry pout. “Now that makes me mad.”

I lifted my hands. “She’s gotta make her own decisions.”

Those words reminded me of Circles. After Simone had gone outside, and after Torque, along with Tie, busted my balls about Simone, Torque ran down all the injuries. Both girls had broken noses and bruised ribs. One also had a broken arm and a deep cut on her other arm. Circles took the brunt of it. The doctors put him in a medically-induced coma to help his brain swelling because he’d taken many hits to his face and they believed he was repeatedly kicked in the head. From the lacerations, the authorities suspected brass knuckles had been used.

I figured it could be brass knuckles, or whoever did it wore enough rings they didn’t need brass. It was one of the main reasons I kept two rings on each hand.

Torque had told me that if Circles made it through the night, that would be the best sign for his recovery.

Simone shook her head and stared off to the side for a moment, pulling me from my thoughts. Then she focused on me with urgency. “Why was Josie there?”

My eyes closed for a long beat. No way I heard her right. I refocused on her. “What do you mean, Josie was there?”

“She’s the one who really gave me a hard time. Snickered when I wouldn’t get in the hot tub with them, not that I gave a damn, but boy did I take the wind out of her sails when I mentioned having a bun in my oven. Doesn’t take a super-sleuth to figure out she messed with your protection.”

I pulled my phone from my back pocket. “Yeah, and she shouldn’t have been there. My guess is she snuck in with another groupie, but it still shouldn’t have happened.”

Her eyes lit up. “Don’t run her off on my account, honey. It’ll be fun to mess with her later.”

I stared into her gorgeous brown eyes. “Jade, you’re better than that.”

Her head reared back. I loved surprising her. She stared down at her plate and then looked back at me. “Fine. You’re right. I should’ve had my fun when I had the chance. I’m just glad to know you didn’t forgive her for that shit.”

I glanced up from my phone. “No, I damn sure didn’t forgive that shit.”

The text app opened and I sent Torque a message to make sure she wasn’t anywhere on the property. For good measure, I sent a separate message to Tie in case Torque had left the compound.

“Is it normal for you to have a possible prospect spend the night at your house?” Simone asked.

I nearly choked. “Come again?”

“Rafferty said he isn't crashing at the clubhouse. I find it odd that you’d have him stay at your place while we’re here.”

Leaning back in my chair, I weighed my words. “You’re right, but I sprung this trip on him. Not cool to expect him to throw down for a hotel or motel room at such short notice. Plus, I’d like him to really see what my club can do for him. It’s difficult to show him that in Jacksonville since that chapter’s been fucked up for such a long time.”

She mulled that over for a bit. “Your place is fancy, I take it?”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that, but it’s been remodeled with everything I want in a house.”

“And what do you want in a house?”

“Four bedrooms, split floor plan. Huge-ass covered deck with outdoor kitchen for entertaining the other chapter presidents when they’re in town. In-ground pool, great backyard, and a metric fuck-ton of privacy.”

She laughed. “I love it. Some people mix metaphors, you mix your units of measurement.”

“Privacy doesn’t have a unit of measurement, sweetheart.”

She nodded. “For you it does.”

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