beside me and gave me a bone-crushing slap to the back.
I wanted to be happy. I was. I guess I hadn’t realized how much I’d been holding my breath waiting to see how the craft beer launch would go.
“That’s great,” I said. “I mean ... wow.”
“There’s more,” Kellan said. “Chaney’s up in Traverse City wants an exclusive deal for northern Michigan and the U.P.”
Dutch Chaney had been one of our champion MMA fighters. He retired two years ago after a knee injury. He’d taken his winnings and opened a sports bar in Traverse City in a prime, downtown location. He was making money hand over fist.
“That’s really good news,” I said. “Damn good.”
The meeting devolved into good-natured ballbusting. Only Brax kept a frown. It took a minute, but Colt noticed it.
“You got something you want to bring to the table?” he asked.
Brax leaned forward, folding his hands in front of him. “No,” he said. “Nothin’ concrete. I’m just waiting for some other shoe to drop. Tim Davis is still the damn police chief and I was wondering when we were going to do something about it.”
The table fell silent. Tim Davis had been a beat cop in Lincolnshire years ago. He’d planted and sold phony evidence against the club to the Lincolnshire P.D. on the dime of our biggest club rival, the Devil’s Hawks M.C. Brax’s wife, Nicole, had almost gotten hurt because of it.
“I’m aware of that,” Colt said. “For now, Davis seems to understand he’s better off with the Wolves operating as we are. The Hawks have enough trouble of their own.”
“I don’t like it,” Brax said.
“I know,” Colt answered. “But he was sworn in over a year ago. Yeah. Maybe he’s playing a long game. But we’ve got nothing to hide. Everyone knows how to stay sharp. So keep doing it. And let’s enjoy what we have for once, okay?”
Colt adjourned the meeting. Brax wasn’t satisfied. It was written all over his face. Kellan and Colt hung back. The club’s senior leadership had some shit to iron out. The rest of us were dismissed.
I walked into the bar, and my heart stopped. She was perched on a stool at one of the high-top tables. She wore that flaming red hair slicked back into a bun. Tight skirt. High heels.
“Damn,” E.J. said beside me. “That is one fine, refined piece of ass.”
Anger flared deep. I clenched my fists. E.J. was shrewd enough to catch it.
“Sorry, man,” he said. “You planning on laying claim to that?”
“Easy,” Joker said.
“What’s she doing here?” I asked. Shannon, our head waitress, sat opposite her going over some paperwork. She had her own head of red hair, but it looked somehow duller next to the sunlight that was Sydney Bailey.
“Job interview, I guess,” Joker said. “Colt said we might be seeing her around more.”
Shannon looked up. She held up a finger to Sydney, gesturing for her to wait. Sydney turned her head, watching Shannon as she hopped off her stool and headed toward us.
Sydney saw me, and I swear that was a blush I saw creeping into her cheeks.
“Hey, guys,” Shannon said. “You know how much longer Colt or Kellan will be? Colt said he wanted one of them to finish up with the new girl.”
Shannon rolled her eyes. No doubt, if it were up to her, she wouldn’t have even let Sydney in the door.
It wasn’t up to her though.
“They’ll be a while,” E.J. said. “I’ll talk to her.”
“No,” I blurted out. “I’ll take care of it.”
A look passed between Shannon and E.J. Beside them, Joker smirked. I had the urge to punch the smile right off his face.
“You do that, brother,” Joker said, patting me on the back.
“Fine by me,” Shannon said. “It wouldn’t disappoint me if you could scare some sense into her. She seems like a nice enough girl. Smart. But I’m sorry. I think she’ll get eaten alive here and I don’t have time to babysit a deer in headlights.”
It ended up being Joker who rose to anger.
“Shannon,” he said. “Colt told you to give her a chance. You got a problem with that?”
Shannon’s face fell. “Uh ... no. Sorry.”
Great. No matter what else happened, I got the feeling Shannon now had another reason to dislike Sydney right out of the gate.
“Here,” she said. “Her resume.”
She emphasized the last word with sarcasm.
I took it from her, and Shannon rushed off to deal with stock issues in the back room. Sydney had turned back around. She sat rod straight in