Page 21 of Hendrix

Carina let out aharrumph. “She could give you ten fashion shows with the amount of money you put on that card. You spoil her.”

He took a swig of coffee. “Got nothin’ else to spend my cake on except Roscoe, and there are only so many dog chews and toys I can fit in my room.”

“We could keep some at our house,” Gigi offered. “Roscoe spends loads of time there anyway. He loves having sleepovers with me.”

Blade’s face softened. “He does. Roscoe loves your sleepovers ‘cause he feels like he’s protecting you and your mom.”

“That’s nice,” the little girl replied matter-of-factly. “But he doesn’t need to worry. We’ve got you for that.”

My breath caught, and I watched as my tall, proud, tough ex-military lieutenant VP visibly melted at the innocent words of a young girl.

Not for the first time, I wondered why he hadn’t made his move on Carina. It had been years, and more than a couple of my men had definitely noticed her. Problem was, every time one of them tried to get close, Blade warned them off in a way where he left them in no doubt that sniffing around her would be very bad for their health. There was no way he wasn’t saving her for himself, except if he didn’t get his head out of his ass, somebody would snap her up. She was beautiful and sweet, caring, and kind, and my men weren’t stupid... well, except for Fletcher. It went without saying that he was a fucking idiot.

Carina turned back from the coffee pot and handed me a mug. “Do you need me today apart from the usual cooking and organizing?”

I glanced at Gigi, who was looking up at me with a hopeful look in her eyes and shot her an understanding wink. “Nah. You two have a girls’ day out.”

Giselle let out a “yesss” under her breath and brought her fist down in victory.

Grinning, my eyes slid to her mom. “Iwillneed you tomorrow. Gotta job for ya.”

Her eyebrow raised questioningly.

“Gotta man from Wyoming joinin’ us. His name’s Fender, and he’s got three kids. Gonna get Gopher to clear out the old cottage down by the copse.”

“Oh,” she exclaimed. “It’ll be good to have another woman around the place. I love Ciara, but she’s too busy with the bar to help me keep the club girls in line.”

The air in the room thickened as Blade made a low growling noise. “Come again?”

Carina’s cheeks turned pink. “What?”

Blade’s cup clattered against the countertop, and he stalked toward her. “What the fuck’s been goin’ on with the girls?”

She sighed and placed a hand on his arm placatingly. “Everything’s fine. It’s just that over the last couple of weeks, that new girl, Sara, has been a bitch to me. Whenever I ask her to do something, she either ignores me or straight up refuses. It’s not a big deal, and I felt like a crybaby going to Drix about it?—”

“Me!” he barked, thumping his chest. “You come tome, Carrie. I told ya time and again. Any shit from anyone youcome see me.”

“You’re not meant to sayshitin front of me,” Gigi declared from the table.

I covered my laugh with my hand.

Carina gave Gigi a stern stare before sighing defeatedly. “I didn’t want to speak to you about it. I felt awkward.” Her eyes cast downward.

His forehead drew together. “What d’you mean, awkward? What’s awkward?”

“Well,” she began, her cheeks going from pink to red. “She’s your... I mean, you and her regularly umm....” Her voice trailed off, but her meaning was crystal clear.

I choked back a laugh at the look of horror on Blade’s face.

My VP had been fucking Sara on the reg since she arrived a few weeks before. She’d turned up looking for work, and I gave her a trial run bartending and waitressing, but when she saw the club girl setup, she came to me and asked if she could start whoring instead.

Blade got into her pants the first night she started work and had continued getting in ‘em ever since, though once she started fucking around, he pulled back, probably ‘cause he wasn’t into sharing body fluids with his MC brothers. Sara had no doubt seen the way Blade looked at Carina, so it didn’t take a genius to work out that she was jealous and blamed the other woman for Blade’s sudden lack of interest.

Knowing Carina was in the loop about what he’d been up to with Sara was gonna piss Blade off. He was in love with her ass but couldn’t bring himself to admit it for some fucked-up reason.

Sucks to be him.

I looked up to see Blade glaring at me, looking fit to be tied. “Sara’s out,” he snapped.

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