Page 30 of Brew
Nova
Keep your pants on. I was nice. Exceptionally friendly
Me
I’ve got some business to attend to. I’ll swing by after that
Nova
Don’t expect your food to be still here
Me
Text me what you want and hurry up about it. I’m busy
I roll my eyes, placing the order with her favorite burger joint as she sends through text message. It’s like babysitting your annoying little sister, who has no money and keeps raiding your wallet, but you don’t have the heart to say no.
I don’t want to give her my credit card, and it’s clear she has no money.
I need to talk to Haze and Logan about what we’re gonna do with her, pronto, and she still needs to call her mother.
When I get to Big Papa’s, not much has changed since I was here last. He bought an abandoned underground subway station and turned it into a business. Granted, illegal fighting is just that,illegal.But he also makes sure order is kept in the underworld, and we’d rather have him in charge than thefucking mafia, or criminals without a soul. At least with Big Papa, he has a moral compass.
In this city, we don’t traffic people. We don’t abuse kids. We don’t allow corruption, and we deliver our own justice. It’s just how it is.
Now we have Cale Callaghan, Stella’s old man, stepping up as the new Mayor of New Orleans, there may be some hope of actually getting somewhere after years of fighting for moral justice. Cleaning up this city of all the scumbags is number one on his priority list, and we second that notion.
While I never really liked the guy — largely due to him being a cop who hated the MC — he’s put his money where his mouth is and started at the top. Anyone who tosses out the chief of police, politicians, members of the City Council, as well as colleagues he thought were friends. That takes some balls.
When I get downstairs, I head to Big Papa’s office. No doubt this scumbag is tied up somewhere. I give the two goons on the door a chin lift as they let me by. You wouldn’t think a subway station would be as eloquent as it is, but I dig what Big Papa has done with the place since I was here last.
“Classy,” I say, looking around the space. He’s furnished it with Persian rugs, a huge black pool table, brass candelabras with long, thin candles that make this look like some fucking grotto without the water feature. He also has artwork hung all around in huge, thick gold frames. They look like they cost a fortune.
“Brew,” he chuckles, happy to see me. The man is called Big Papa for a reason. He’s fucking huge. He’s also about sixty-five years old, white-haired and a grandfather of six. “Long time no see. How’s business?”
“Great,” I say, honestly. “Appreciate all the business you’re sendin’ our way.” The man has sent us so much new clientele, it’s the whole reason we had to hire Erica, and we’re probablydue to hire another receptionist to keep up with invoicing and accounts.
Maybe Erica needs a raise…
“Anytime.” He slaps me on the back. “You know I’ve always had a soft spot for you and Haze.”
“Is that because we made you a lot of money when we were stakin’ you out?”
“Precisely,” he grins. His large gold medallion around his neck gleams with tiny little diamonds. “You boys ever want back in, you know where to find me.”
“Will do. Now where the fuck is he?”
“The dungeon,” Big Papa replies. “Where else?”
The dungeon is exactly how it sounds. “He talkin’?”
“Not much. I didn’t wanna fuck him up too much, but if you plan on dismembering him, I’d prefer it if you did it on your own turf.”
I rub my chin. “It’s a little early to decide that yet, but I’ll deal with him.”
He points in my face. “Fine, but you owe me.”
I quirk a brow. “How do you figure that? Not my fault he says he knows me. He was probably just tryin’ to save his own hide.”
