Page 90 of Dagger

“I was only asking,” she muttered under her breath. “No need to have a period about it.”

Cash busted out laughing.

“You should order coffee and donuts for Church,” Layla announced. “Big companies like Microsoft have coffee and donuts. People laze around on beanbags and brainstorm. Apparently, it’s very productive. Maybe if you’d started that a year ago you’d have caught Bear.”

My jaw dropped.

“She’s gotta point,” Bowie muttered.

“Right on,” Atlas boomed, rubbing his stomach. “I could sure eat a donut.”

“Fat ass,” Cash coughed into his hand.

Layla beamed at me. “You should see to that.”

A weird noise escaped my throat. “We’re not ordering donuts. This is Church, not a corporate meeting. We don’t brainstorm.”

“We do,” Atlas corrected. “But our brainstormin’ involves killin’ and dismantlin’ sex trafficking rings instead of the World Wide Web. You go on like we’re not smarter than those suit-wearin’ nerds.”

“Hey,” Colt protested. “Less of the nerd talk.”

“Church sounds awesome,” Cara breathed, turning to her ol’ man. “Cash, when you’re prez, can I crash Church?”

I stood so fast that my chair toppled backward. “Can we get back to club fuckin’ business?”

Silence fell over the room.

I crossed my arms across my chest and set my feet apart. “All the women out, except for Elise.”

Gripes and mutters went up.

“Out!” I ordered again, but louder.

Elise giggled. “You better do what he says, girls. He’s turning into a grumpy cat.”

Freya laughed.

I glared at my daughter, stretching an arm out to point toward the door, and that time yelled, “Out!”

Five pairs of pretty eyes rolled from left to right.

“Alright, alright,” Sophie murmured. “We’re going.”

“Jesus,” Kennedy muttered. “No need to be so snippy.”

Layla smiled sweetly. “Sorry!”

Cara glowered at me. “Someone’s on the rag.”

High heels clicked against wood as all the women—except for Elise—headed toward the door, Ned bringing up the rear.

“Later, babe,” Kit called. “Make sure you wait up.”

Kennedy turned and blew him a kiss before closing the door behind her with a loud click.

“Best Church ever,” Cash declared.

I snarled at him, taking my seat again.

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