Page 9 of Frisco

“Sons of Anarchy and Mayans?” Harper said.

“His name is Ghost?” Aly started fanning herself.

“Was he hot?” Harper raised an eyebrow.

Ping pong to Aly. “Of course he was hot, look at her,” she said. “She’s still worked up. Or maybe that was our routine. We were amazing.”

He nodded. “You’re right. But also, Kali never gets heated like this. A foursome had her like this one time in a different way, though those were extenuating circumstances. This dude just talked to her.”

“You’re right.” They nodded at each other.

“Cool and calm Kali,” Aly added. “That’s what we call her.”

“Guys!” I held a hand up. My head was starting to hurt. “I still need a drink.”

Aly needed to be the bartender, always. She could be ferocious if we got inventive with our own mixology. It wasn’t allowed.

Her eyes got big, and she stood. “Right! I’m on it. We’ve been drinking since four today.”

I frowned. “Four?”

Harper’s eyes got hard.

Harper’s eyes barely ever got hard.

Now I was alarmed. I leaned forward. “What happened at four today?”

“It was more like three when it happened.” Aly went to the bar.

Yes, we had a whole bar. It was a counter set up on the far side of the kitchen. Wine glasses, shot glasses, and glass mugs lined the bottom and the top was shelved with all the hard liquor a regular bar would have. Wine had its own shelf. Next to the counter was a smaller fridge that housed the chilled wine and beer. Harper enjoyed beer. He liked his Coronas, but recently he’d been on a dark beer kick. We did a brewery tour last weekend. He’d been enthralled the whole time.

Anyway…

“What happened at three?” I looked between the two.

They were looking at each other.

Harper pursed his lips and looked at his lap.

Aly pressed her lips firmly together and turned to the bar, giving us her back.

I zeroed in on Harper. “Harp. What happened?” I didn’t have a good feeling.

Please let it be a good thing that happened. Please, please, please.

“My manufacturer called me. They’re shutting down, like forever.”

“What?!” No! No way.

He dipped his head down in a quick nod. “Yeah. I know. I can try to find another one, but this one was perfect. They did all my products. I never had an issue with them. Now…”

“We’ve already come up with a plan.” Aly came over, setting a drink in front of me before taking her seat. “My views always double when he’s with me, and today we did one in costume. It tripled, and the shares have been amazing. It’s not much, but we’re going to try to be smarter about branding. Though without a manufacturer…”

She swallowed, and I reached for my drink. My arms felt like lead.

I didn’t know what was in the drink, but it burned, and that’s all I needed at that moment.

“Wait.” Harper held up a hand, blinking a few times. “You didn’t actually tell us why that biker came to see you.”

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