“I’m deadly serious,” Wolfe rasped, cutting me a look.
I nodded, urging him on, because I’d been the one to back up Lucie’s suggestion. A quick look into the figures of the ink parlor—ones I’d known off the top of my head but hadn’t worried about because it always ran in the black—showed a manager who was capable of keeping a neat track of his accounts, who’d raised profits and turnover, and who didn’t need his hand held every goddamn day of the week.
“But I don’t have much experience.”
“You work Black Ink better than Roper did before he retired,” I pointed out. “Place is on the up and up and you’re getting people coming from all over to check you out, and our Facebook presence has come on like crazy since you took over.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make me prime Secretary material,” he replied, and I liked his honesty from the get-go.
“Trust me, it ain’t that hard. If Axe can do it, anyone can,” I jibed, laughing when Axe flipped me the bird.
He moved away from the sofa and leaned against the desk, a few steps away from Ink. “You fuck up, we demote you. Simple as.”
Ink pulled a face. “Reassuring.”
“I try,” was all Axe said, but his smirk had Ink grinning.
“Shit.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe this. I thought you were bringing me in to—”
“What? Tell you off? I ain’t your principal,” Wolfe retorted, but he was grinning as he said it.
“Thank fuck for that,” Ink breathed with a laugh. “Okay, so where do I start?”
“Axe will help you get set up,” I stated.
“Cool. Does this mean that you’ve picked the other councilors?” he inquired, his tone curious.
“It does. Wheels and Rodeo.”
He nodded. “Cool. Young council, man.”
Wolfe shrugged. “I’m a young Prez. Let’s take this place out of the Dark Ages and into the modern world.”
He whistled. “This ghost gun shit has most of the MC talking. All good stuff.”
“Really? No arguments?” I queried, cutting Flame a look—he’d stopped flicking his lighter so that was as powerful as the world fucking quaking beneath his feet.
“Nope, none at all. Especially not with our distribution lines all set up for the cigarettes.” He rubbed his hands together. “Got a lot of people wanting to learn how to do it, wanting to take part in the fabrication, not just the distribution.”
“What about the reaction to Lucie being back?”
Ink winced. “Not so great. But I’ve always liked Lucie, and I never believed the shit that was spread about her.”
“You don’t have to say that because you’re Secretary now,” I commented.
“I’m not.” Ink raised his hands. “Look, at the time, sure. It was funky as fuck. But that’s just it. Bomber was funky. He was my Prez, and I’d have fucking died for him. But he was nuts, man. And where Lucie was concerned? He was even crazier.”
Wolfe scraped his hand over his jaw. “Well, that ain’t no lie.” His gaze darted to Flame who nodded—brother needed to catch the fuck up and sniff out our rat.
“Can I ask about the other shit?” Ink asked softly. “I assume I’ll be making arrangements for the other stuff?”
“Soon as we get the ghost gun production underway, we’re stopping that line of work. Wet work is too high risk,” I told him, aware that his shoulders relaxed at my words. I cocked a brow at him. “Not a fan of it?”
“Stinks of doing other people’s dirty work. Don’t get me wrong, man, I appreciate what you guys did. Know you got the club out of a lot of shit with the fees, but—” He pulled a face. “Prefer your ass here where it should be instead of rotting in a high-security jail because some pussy Bratva boss couldn’t take out his own man.”
I snickered at that. “Thanks. I think.”
Ink grinned, and I knew Lucie had been right in her reading of him.
“You went to school with Lucie, didn’t you?” I queried softly.
Ink nodded.
“Figures that’s how she knew you well.”
“Not really.” His tattooed arms shifted as he raised one and ran it through his faux hawk. “Mostly because I knew she ran with you.”
Wolfe frowned at me, obviously wondering where I was going with this, but I ignored him. “That last year, did she act out in class or something?”
Ink scowled, not at me, but in thought. “Not really. She’d calmed down actually.” He cleared his throat. “In fact, it made sense when I saw one of you kissing her at