Page 7 of Hollywood

“This place is a rental with an option to own.” The real estate agent was bright with pale blonde hair and a hot pink dress, and bubbly as fuck, which was kind of annoying, but she showed up and that mattered. “It has three bedrooms with one and a half baths, a full backyard and a double garage.” She pointed through the kitchen window. “There’s a shed back there perfect for storing lawnmowers or motorcycles.”

I didn’t do shit to hide my affiliation, and it seemed like she didn’t mind. “Sounds good. How much to rent or own?” The place was nice, nicer than the house I grew up in, hell most of Steel City had improved a lot in the five years since I was last here.

She quoted a price that was reasonable, and I was sure I could afford, but it seemed like a lot of house for one man. “I’m sure there’s some room to negotiate since this place has been on the market for more than six months.” She batted her eyelashes, a move to let me know she was definitely down to fuck.

She was hot in that uptight corporate lady way and under normal circumstances I’d have already bent her over that sturdy dining room table and fucked her until she couldn’t walk straight. But I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Winter and that message she sent me that I pretended not to read. Except I read it multiple times, especially the part aboutmaking her panties wet and her nipples hard. Hell, her words danced in my head all night until I pictured her in bed with me, on top of me rolling her hips and moaning my name until her sweet cunt clamped down around me and I jizzed in my hand. I knew I shouldn’t be thinking about Winter like that. Hell, she was my best friend’s little girl, but the fact of the matter was that she wasn’t a little girl anymore. She was a woman who was beautiful and curvy, she had a smart mouth and a quick wit that made my dick just as hard as her nipples.

She’s only twenty-one, though.

She was young but the rest of me didn’t seem to give a damn.

“This place is a definite maybe.”

Her smile dimmed but only for a moment when she realized that meant she’d have more time to convince me to stick my dick in her. “Great! I’ll mark this place, but I have a few others you might like if you don’t mind family neighborhoods?”

I shrugged, ambivalent either way. “I don’t mind.”

“Good. There’s a place nearby and it’s a two bedroom bachelor pad with an open plan and an incredible sound system perfect for game day!” She strutted to the door with an extra swing in her hips for me.

I followed, my mind focused on Winter’s words. Again. I barely saw the next three places Toni, the realtor, showed me because my mind was elsewhere. I didn’tneedto look for a place to lay my head at this exact moment, but I wanted my own space. Some privacy once in a fucking while. The clubhouse was loud and chaotic, which I loved, but not twenty-four-seven. The non-stop party was great when I was in my twenties, but tapping on the door of forty? It was exhausting.

“Thanks Toni, you’ve given me a lot to think about. I didn’t realize there were so many things to consider when buying a house. I’ve only ever rented.”

“There is a lot to think about,” she replied with a smile as she handed me her business card. “Feel free to call anytime, day or night. I’m happy to answeranyquestions you might have.” She winked and sauntered off to her sleek red sports car.

“Will do,” I told her even as I crumbled the card in my hands and made my way to my bike. My phone rang and Winston’s name appeared. “Hey Win, what’s up?”

“Greg.” He hasn’t used my first name since I joined the MC. “How are you?”

Something was off in his voice, and I knew this version of Winston. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, knowing this routine. “Win, look we both know how this is gonna go. You’ll pretend everything is fine even though I can hear that it’s not. I’ll shoot the shit with you and sneak attack until you tell me.”

“Greg,” he began. “I’m sorry.”

“No. Don’t be. I’ve been looking at houses for the past few hours and I’m exhausted so let’s skip the dance and you can tell me why you sound like your best friend—me—just died.”

“Yeah, okay.” There was a long pause before the whole fucking thing tumble from his mouth. “There was this investment deal, and it sounded great. Amazing, really. It wastoo good to pass up and you know me, Ididmy due diligence. This deal would have set up Winter for life and I owe her that much, you know? Man she was my rock when Lissa died, stepped up in ways she shouldn’t have. And I let her, so I had to do this, for her.”

I already knew where this was going. “I’m sure Winter appreciates everything you’ve done for her.”

“I know she does, but this would’ve been a way to make her life easier, to make up for all the time life was hard for her.”

I couldn’t fault him for that. He was a mess back then and I was in the military, too far away to help my friend in any way other than financial, which he didn’t need. “How much did you lose?”

“Enough,” he answered vaguely. “The loss itself isn’t that big of a deal. It stings but that’s the risk of investing, you know?”

“Sure.” I didn’t believe in investing in anything but what I could see. “So what’s the problem?”

“The first three months the returns were good, suspiciously high but they were high. Since then it’s been nothing, not even any updates or reports on what’s happening. That was suspicious enough but then one day I was grabbing a lobster burrito from one of the food trucks outside my office and this sketchy looking guy came up to me and asked me to double my investment. I said no thank you and he said when he came back, he wouldn’t be asking as nicely.”

Fuck.“What did this sketchy looking guy look like?” It was here in town which meant it was a local crew.

“I don’t know. He wore a leather jacket and had a tattoo on his throat. He could’ve been mixed race or Hispanic, I couldn’t say for sure, and he didn’t give me his name. I don’t know what type of criminal he was. No offense.”

“You mean a criminal like me,” I asked with a laugh.

“No, not at all. Whatever you do on the wrong side of the law is nothing like this, I know that for sure. This guy showed up at my home a few days later and said he expected me to double my investment or else. Those were his exact words, or else.”

“How long has this been going on, Win?”

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