“And where’s that?” he asked as he stood and walked around the desk.

“Gympie.”

“You’re straight up country, aren’t you?”

“What does that mean?”

He chuckled.  “Just making an observation.  It’s refreshing actually.”

I had no idea what he meant by that so I ignored it.  “You never answered me.  Why does Madison have Monty?”

“Couldn’t trust Michelle with him so I asked Madison to look after him for awhile.  She loves cats.”

As he said this, he moved so he was next to me and put his hand on my arm to guide me out of the office.  Locking the door behind him, he then ushered me down the hall and back into the club.  Being this close to him was intoxicating, and his touch sent a thrill through me.  It was a good thing that he’d stopped talking to me because only gibberish would have come out of my mouth in reply.

I followed him to the bar where he stopped and faced me.

“You ever worked a bar before?”

Nodding, I said, “Yeah, I know how to pour a beer.”

“Thank fuck for that.”  He motioned to the girl behind the bar to get her attention.  I recognised her from the other night.  “Amy, Harlow’s going to be starting tomorrow night.  She’s got experience but I’ll need you to show her the ropes.”

“Sure,” Amy agreed, and smiled at me.

Scott turned to me.  “That work for you?”

“Yes, thank you.”

He gave me one short nod.  “Good.  I’ll leave you to chat with Amy about what to wear and when to arrive.  I’ve got to go.”

“Okay.  And again, thank you for the job.”

He’d already started to walk away, but he looked back at me and said, “Don’t forget to call me first thing in the morning with that fridge info.”

“Right, will do.”

He exited out the front door of the club, and I wondered just what I’d gotten myself into.  Sure I’d done bar work before, but never in a strip club.  And besides all that, I’d be working for Scott Cole, and I really wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Chapter 10

Scott

What the fuck had I just agreed to?

Harlow was sweet as fucking pie.  I wasn’t sure she’d cut it at Indigo, and yet I’d said yes to her working there.  Christ, I was thinking with my dick.  And speaking of my dick, I really needed to get laid; it’d been over a week since I’d seen any pussy and that was a week too fucking long.

“Scott, where the fuck have you been?”

I eyed my father; my thoughts interrupted.  He was sitting with Griff and J at a table in the corner of the clubhouse bar, waiting for me, and appeared to be irritated.

I grabbed a chair and turned it around so that I was sitting with its back to my front.  “Hiring staff for Indigo,” I snapped at him.

“Good.  That’s one headache gone.  And it looks like the situation with Blade and Bullet might have resolved itself too.”

My skepticism kicked in.  “Really?”

Dad looked really pissed off with me now.  “Why the fuck can’t you get past your issues with Blade?”

“I don’t trust him.  Not sure I ever will.  So when you say that he’s suddenly agreed to pull back on his plans to move more coke, I don’t buy it.”

“He’s given me his word.”

I snorted.  “His word means nothing to me.  I think we need to still be on guard for shit to go down between him and Black Deeds.”

Dad slammed his hand down on the table; he was wearing his anger.  “Been the President of Storm for a long fucking time, son.  I’m always on fucking guard so don’t tell me how to do that part of my job.  It’s fucking insulting.  As for Blade, I don’t want to hear another fucking word from you about him.  He’s my son and when he gives me his word, I trust it.”

I glared at him, seething at his words.  My relationship with my father was completely fucked to the point that I hated him now; hated what he’d done to my mother and hated that he’d had a whole other family.  What kind of man did that to his wife and kids?  Obviously the kind of man that I didn’t know quite as well as I thought I did.

“Griff, can I see you in my office?  Got some paperwork I need you to look at,” he said and left with Griff.

J blew out a breath.  “I fucking hate your old man.”

“You’re not the only one, brother,” I said as I shoved my hand through my hair.

We sat in silence for a moment, contemplating that, but J was like me and hated going over and over shit so he moved on to another subject quickly.  “Hey, what’s with the blonde you hired?  Saw the way you looked at her.”

“How the fuck did I look at her?”

He smirked.  “Hate to break it to you, but I’ve never seen you look at a woman that way before.”

I leant forward and demanded, “What fucking way, J?”

“Like you want to fuck her and not let her go, brother.”

I shoved my chair back.  Standing, I muttered, “Not fucking likely.  Told you before, that shit’s not for me.”

J laughed.  “We’ll see.”

I left him there, laughing to himself.  He had me thinking about Harlow though.  And that pissed me off because I had so many other things I should be thinking about.  This was one reason why I didn’t want to settle down.  I’d watched friends settle down; it fucking consumed them and I didn’t have the time or desire for that.