Page 10 of Outcast

Growing up a Dirty Dog, I was used to dingy warehouses, seedy clubs, and oil-stained auto shops. When my girl, Amorette, and I first built this place, I'd been out of sorts.

I didn't belong. And I sure as hell didn't wear pencil skirts and button-downs like she did. From the very first second the doors opened and we made our offices here, she was right at home, floating around with her five-two self, glaring at people down the end of her nose like she knew she was smarter than them and didn't give a fuck.

She didn't look at me that way. We had a special bond, one I forced because girl besties were hard to come by in gang life. The only girls in the Dirty Dogs werethe girlswho serviced the clubs and hangouts, or old ladies and daughters who weren’t allowed at the compound.

I plopped my round ass in the chair as a knock came at the door. Then it cracked and Amorette poked her head in.

"Morning," she said with a sly smile on her face. No matter how hard she tried to get me to come in at eight, it wasn't going to happen.

"What's up, bestie." I grinned, and she returned it. As much as I needed a girlfriend, she had needed one more. And that Blanca bitch wasn't the ride or die kind. She was the stab you in the back if it suited her kind, and Amorette couldn't convince me otherwise.

"We've had another issue with Molly. She's starting fights in the dorms." Amorette smoothed some of her black hair off of her face as she sat down in the seat across from me.Even after giving birth only a few months earlier, she barely took up half of it.

It was like a high metabolism was her super power. I was only mildly jealous. I loved my curves and I loved good food and an even better cocktail.

"So?" I asked as I curled my nails over the ends of the chair-arms. Carefully. I'd had them done the night before and they were filed so sharp, they might puncture the expensive leather Andre picked out.

Now that was something I never saw coming. Being connected to the brothers of the man I–

Fuck that. Fuck that so hard with a jolly red dildo.

I would not think about that lying coward. If I did, I'd cry, and I was too much of a badass to cry.

"You don't see the issue?" Amorette quirked a brow.

"We're training assassins. Spies. Bodyguards. We're teaching these girls how to kill with their pinkies and be unapologetic about it. Starting fights is a byproduct of that goal." I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the desk.

I was proud of these littlechicastoo. They were cute as shit, just like Amorette, until you turned your back on them.

"Rita," she sighed. "We want them to have control. If they go around fighting everyone, it will get them killed. That's not what I'm working toward. Maybe she needs to be sent back home."

My throat closed up. We would not be sending Molly home. The very worst feeling in the world was to be cast away from something that was important to you. If we did that, who knew what Molly would do or grow up to be.

The one thing I was certain of, Molly would make decisions she'd regret. They'd probably come back to bite her in the ass.

"Why are you smiling?" Amorette asked slowly, her brows furrowing in confusion.

"Shit, I am smiling." I touched the corner of my mouth with my index finger, careful not to smudge the red gloss. It was transfer proof, but the temperatures outside were enough to melt asphalt. I wasn't taking any chances.

"Yes, in a sad sort of way. I'm asking why."

"Don't be such a smartass." I wish I had something to toss at her, but all I had was a crystal paperweight and a stapler on my desk. Items I never used but the interior decorator said every desk needed. "Look. Let's give Molly a chance. The last thing we want is to be the beginning of her villain origin story."

We had too many real examples for that. Amorette more so than me.

Outside of typical gang drama and the shit with the Institution before Vicente and Valentina met their end, I had a great life growing up. Loving parents until mymamápassed. A club that would die for me, and the training to take care of myself.

Then I was cast away. It fucked with my head and my perspective about everything.

"You remember when I tried to force Parker to fuck me?" Parker as in one of her many men. While she was with him. It hadn't been that serious. I'd backed down fast, but I'd been committed to the cause for about ten minutes.

Amorette barked out a laugh. "That’s a memory I tried to bury. Why are we friends?"

I grinned and shifted in my chair. "Because I'm awesome with killer style, and I'll cut a bitch for you." Then I remembered Molly. "I lost my head like that because I'd been kicked aside. That asshole we're not naming made me feel like scum. Like I was lower than a cockroach. Corneringyou guys seemed like a good idea to get some of my power back. All I'm saying is, let's not be so quick to cast Molly aside."

"Rita." She raised her eyes, impressed. "That sounds eerily close to a moral compass."

I scoffed. "Please. I'm still the self-serving princess you know and love, but I can relate to Molly." I glanced at my watch. "Let's go check on her. I don't have any meetings this morning anyway. Maybe if we chat with her, she'll calm down."

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