Page 45 of Givin' Me Fitz!
Hill came into the gatehouse with an armed guard following him. “Sawyer, my friend. What brings you out?” He came off as a nice guy, but I had the feeling that was a bunch of bullshit.
I stood and extended my hand. “Mr. Hill. I was hoping we could talk for a minute.”
“Step into my office.” He turned to the gorilla with him and nodded.
The guy approached me and stuck out his hands. “Arms up, please.”
I was frisked, the man feeling around the inside of my waistband and coming up with my .38. “You’ll get this back when you leave.”
I nodded and followed Hill into the office where he closed the door behind me. “Take a seat, Sawyer, and please, once again, call me Regan.”
He sat behind a big cherrywood desk that was placed in front of a large bookshelf holding a lot of fancy legal books about the laws governing cultivating and marketing cannabis. I chuckled—I had some of those same books at the Tumbleweeds’ office. I’d had to learn all that shit before we got our dispensary license.
“That’s a lot of books about growing pot.” I was being a smartass.
Regan turned around and laughed. “I’m a lawyer. I know the laws backward and forward. Those books are in case I need to educate someone else.” Short. To the point.
“Our dispensary was robbed last week. It was like a smash-and-grab. Wiped me out and tore up the place. I got the cops to release it as a crime scene so we can get inside and clean it up. I’ve got new cases on order to be delivered on Monday. I was wondering if you could bring our regular order on Tuesday. I also hoped you’d let me pay you half now and half on Tuesday.”
With all the money going out, we were a little short, but I was planning to call my father and see if I could get a loan for a couple of weeks. Dad and Mom didn’t spend money on anything, and Harry had left a nice nest egg to take care of my grandmother, so I was sure Dad would let me borrow the shortfall.
I’d pay him back after the fight, which wasn’t until the Saturday night before Thanksgiving. After we talked to TJ, I’d know which way to bet, depending on what TJ had agreed to.
Regan leaned forward with his forearms on the desk. “Sawyer, you’ve been a good customer since we started doing business. Unfortunately, I don’t know you well enough to trust you with a financial transaction of this type. If you want the delivery on Tuesday, you’ll need to bring the whole payment here on Monday. Maybe if you and I were exclusively doing business, I could make an exception, but since you’re also doing business with Clarence Speck in Middlegate, I’m afraid we don’t have the level of trust I’m comfortable with.”
Regan sat back in his fancy desk chair and crossed his arms over his chest, staring at me with a cocked eyebrow. Obviously, the man was pissed because I’d sourced weed from a competitor.This—I know how to deal with this.
“So, if I stop doing business with Clarence Speck and give all my business to you, you’ll give me a better… what?”
Regan sat forward and opened the folder he had in front of him. “Okay, Sawyer. How much weight do you buy from Speck?”
“I get the same from him that I get from you. Speck carries more varieties than you, but I gotta pay for delivery from Middlegate. What kind of deal will you give me?”
We discussed strains, price per ounce, and the discount he’d give us if we became exclusive. We argued and did the math until we finally settled on a price, after he gave me free delivery and a “friends and family” discount.
“Do we have a deal?”
Under any other circumstance, I would need to take it to the club for a vote since the price was more than what we paid Speck per ounce, but with the deal we’d struck that would give the club a healthy profit of twenty-five percent over wholesale, I made the executive decision to accept his offer.
“I’ll bring the money by on Monday. You’ll deliver the product on Tuesday?” If we didn’t have the product, we’d lose the business. It was as simple as that.
We shook hands, and Regan opened the top drawer and handed me a glass vial with a hefty blunt inside. “Show of good faith, Sawyer. I’ll see you on Monday.”
I nodded, took the blunt, and headed out. I needed to talk to the guys and scrape together the money I’d need for the bet if I heard good things from TJ. If not, I’d have to sell my baby, my Harley, and I’d have to figure out where else to get the rest of the money to pay for the delivery. This was our one shot.
Prez, there’s a hot guy here to see you. Says his name is Fitz. He showed up alone. What should I tell him? Arlo
Shit!I was running late because I’d taken a ride on my bike to clear my head before I got ready for my date. I’d stopped at a used car lot under the pretense of wanting to take the car for a test-drive, and I took it out to get a look at the Scorpion’s clubhouse.
It wasn’t hard to remember where it was because those motherfuckers had held me there for almost twenty-four hours, beating the fuck out of me. I’d never forget that as long as I drew breath.
They’d lied to the cartel and said the Cowboys had stolen their product when it was the Scorpions themselves. How any of them were still alive was a fucking mystery to me.
I sent Arlo a response when I got out of the shower.
Thanks, Arlo. Can you give him a beer and a snack. I’ll be about fifteen minutes. IOU.
I trimmed my beard and towel dried my hair before I twisted it into a bun on top of my head to dry. Since we were going to the house on East Adkisson before dinner, I didn’t want to be too dressed up, but I didn’t want to look like a scrub.
