Page 5 of My Casanova

“Jesus,” Pirate muttered, rolling his eyes as he grabbed the amaretto bottle and got to work on the drinks.

I shifted on the stool, and a groan slipped past my lips as a dull ache shot through my ribs.

Yarder glanced at me. “You either need another shot or just to lie down.”

“I’ll take four more shots, and you giving me the rundown of what’s going on.” Then, I planned to lie down.

Yarder shrugged. “Don’t know shit, man.”

“Kate still in the hospital?” I asked.

Yarder nodded. “Yup, but shit doesn’t look good for her.”

“That’s because she took the brunt of that explosion,” Pirate added, pouring the drinks. “Which I’m sure was not a coincidence. She was the bait to get us there, and they knew they would need to get rid of her.” He grabbed my empty shot glass and filled it before sliding it toward me.

“We thinking she was in on all of this?” I asked.

Yarder shook his head. “Nah. She was just a pawn.”

“Fucking Boone and Gibbs,” Pirate muttered.

“Boone and Gibbs, who we can’t get fucking close to, but they seem to be able to get to us whenever they want,” Yarder sighed.

I grabbed the shot and tossed it back, feeling the burn. At first, I was drinking to dull the pain, but now I was drinking because of Boone and Gibbs. Those two fuckers were gunning for the club, and every time they made a move, they got closer. “I think I’m just going to get drunk and not think about Boone and Gibbs. They’ve fucked up my day enough.”

“Truth,” Pirate grunted. He finished off the drinks for the girls and called out, “Come and get your girl drinks!” He refilled my shot, and I tossed it back.

Sloane, Poppy, and Fallon came up to the bar to grab their drinks.

“Thank you, Pirate,” Poppy cooed. Yarder grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his lap.

“You can thank me too for having him make them,” Yarder growled.

Poppy reached up and patted his cheek. “Thank you for being the big bad president. There are other ways I can show you thanks later.”

“Oh, get it, girl!” Sloane called as she juggled two drinks in her hands.

Fallon grabbed the remaining glasses and passed them to Olive and Dove while Sloane handed the last one to Adalee.

“Let’s talk about The Cakery and not Boone and Gibbs,” Adalee suggested as she sipped her drink. “I know we didn’t get to see the space today before it got a hole blown in it, but from the pictures I saw, it would have been perfect.”

“I bet we could get that space for pennies on the dollar and have input on how it’s fixed,” Fallon added. “I mean, you gotta think the landlord is freaking out about having to make all of those repairs on a space they don’t even know who is going to rent.”

Sloane stretched out her arms like an airplane and soared around the room. “I think maybe the Iron Fiends could swoop on in and help them out.”

“Is that you swooping?” Aero laughed as Sloane landed in his lap. He wrapped his arm around her and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Perfect landing.”

“Uh, that sounds like a good plan, but how do we find out who the landlord is? Our connection was Kate O’Hara, and she’s laid up in a hospital bed,” Throttle pointed out.

“What about the wine chick?” Fade asked. “She might be able to help hook us up with the landlord.”

“Wine chick?” Adalee asked.

“Wine and Cheese Me,” I grunted. “She helped pick me up off the ground after I landed in front of her shop.”

“There’s a wine and cheese store in Mt. Pleasant?” Sloane asked. “That sounds like my kind of store.”

“Oh, please,” Dove laughed. “The only wine you like is Boone’s Farm or a wine cooler. I don’t think a snooty wine place is going to have either of those.”

---