Page 80 of Spike

He headed into thebathroom and I heard the water start as I stayed on the bed, still unable tomove. I’d lied before. Iwassore, but it wasn’t my nether regions thatwere hurting, it was the rest of my body. Sex was a workout and I hadn’t workedout in years. I should probably start doing that or I was going to break a hipbefore I turned twenty-three.

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

Spike

Iwas inMinus’s office along with my RoadCaptain, Sweet Pea, the club’s VP, Clutch, and Ropes. I paced the floor as Ifilled them in on Gary’s situation.

“First of all, sitdown before you wear a goddamned hole in my rug,” Minus said.

“Sorry,” I said,taking a seat on the couch next to Ropes.

“How much is Garyin for?” Minus asked.

I leaned forward,settling my elbows on my knees. “Half a mil.”

“Jesus Christ,”Sweet Pea hissed.

“That’s who hestole it from,” I replied.

Clutch chuckled.

“There’s no way inhell Edison is gonna let that slide,” Minus said.

I nodded. “That’swhat I told Gary.”

“You put someguards on their house?” Clutch asked Pea.

“I set up arotation as soon as Spike called me,” Sweet Pea said.

“And I’ve movedTrixie into a new place,” I added.

Minus dragged hishand down his beard. “The club’s got about two hundred thousand in reserves,but with two building projects coming up, plus no guarantee that Trixie’s oldman is good for it, I don’t think I can swing a loan.”

“I can cover thedebt,” Ropes said.

I raised aneyebrow. “You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s not a bigdeal, really,” he replied. “I can have the cash for you by tomorrow.”

Ropes was a NewYork Times bestselling author ten times over, not to mention the fact he’dinherited a mint when his father died. Of course, you wouldn’t know it bylooking at him. However, spend any amount of time with him and you’d be boundto pick up on a certain layer of sophistication and style not typicallyattributed to club members.

“Even if I get himoff the hook with Edison, Gary’s about to be an unemployed church pastor,” Ipointed out. “It’s gonna take the rest of his life just to make a dent in thatkind of loan.”

“You’re not tryingto straighten this man out with Edison forhissake. You’re doing in foryour woman, right?”

I nodded.

“We protect ourown,” Ropes said. “No matter what.”

“Sounds like it’ssettled then,” Minus said, rising to his feet. “Ropes will secure the loan, andyou’ll deliver payment to Edison,” he pointed at me. “I want Sweet Pea to go withyou as backup, but you’ll take point.”

We grunted andnodded in agreement and filed out of Minus’s office.

I grabbed Ropes inthe hallway. “Hey, man. You don’t know what this means to me.”

“Yeah, I do.That’s why I offered,” Ropes said. “Do you remember what I told you the day wefirst met? Back in that shitty motel?”

I nodded. “Yousaid for most of the Burning Saints, the club was more like family than theirown blood relations.”

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