It was too late. The thought of having money like that was mind-blowing. My own money. Not my father’s. Not Caleb’s. It was something I’d never thought possible for myself.
“Six months. The guy in my room the other night. He said his contract with Axel lasted another six months. If I sold Psychos now—”
“You probably wouldn’t get enough to pay him out. Psychos the bar is worth next to nothing. We don’t own the building. Just the business. We pay rent for the entire space, and that contract would need to be paid out too. As well as our alcohol tabs and utility bills. I can’t imagine anyone really wanting to come in and take over a place that smells faintly of piss and spilled beer.” He shrugged. “But I guess you wouldn’t really need to worry about that. You could just sell a diamond earring or something to cover the shortfall.”
I didn’t tell him that all my diamonds were actually cubic zirconia. I’d already pawned the only set of true diamonds I owned. I hadn’t gotten nearly as much as I’d hoped for them either.
Nash’s intense gaze flickered over my face. “So, what’s it gonna be, Blissy girl? You selling up shop to the highest bidder? Or you walking in your brother’s footsteps and becoming one of us?”
My father had raised me to do the right thing. That meant selling Psychos and going to the police about the illegal goings-on and the masked man in my bedroom.
But even as I considered that, the hood rat in me knew that going to the cops would only make things worse as well as leaving me with more debts to pay.
There was a third option. I could look at this as an opportunity for something more. It might not have been the business I’d dreamed of owning. But it was already mine. It could provide for me and help pay off some of my father’s debts so he could get back on his feet. He could hire a business manager to get his company back on track, and Everett and Verity wouldn’t have to leave their private schools. I could pay for them to continue getting the very best education.
I wanted that for them. I never wanted them to suffer hunger or neglect the way I had when we’d had no money. I didn’t want them to lose the safety and security they had now. I didn’t want them knowing there was any other way to live than the privileged lives they’d had so far.
I could take away that pain before they even felt it.
“I’m in,” I told Nash, knowing there was no other real option. “I’m one of you.”
14
NASH
“Put your eyes back in your head, Boss Man.”
Rebel nudged me with her elbow as she collected our empty glasses. Bliss had announced she was going to the bathroom, and I’d watched her walk every step of the way, her rounded ass swaying as she strode away.
“Huh?”
“Don’t play dumb. I’m standing right in front of you with my tits out and see-through panties, but all you have eyes for is Disney. I could literally shake my tatas right in front of your face right now and you wouldn’t have even noticed.”
“Please don’t do that.”
She snorted on her laughter. “Admit it. You like her.”
“Of course I like her. She’s a good kid.”
She huffed on a laugh. “She’s not a kid, Nash. She’s twenty-five.”
“Exactly. She’s a kid.”
“Just because you act like you’re eighty doesn’t actually mean you are, you know? You aren’t that much older than her.”
“I’m nearly forty. I was having sex before she was even born.”
“Don’t blame her because you’re a slut!”
I sniggered.
“I’ve got to get these glasses back to the bar. But if you don’t want her realizing you’ve got the hots for her curves, then you might want to stop panting over her like a slobbery dog. And for fuck’s sake, do something about the boner.”
I rolled my eyes. “We’re at a sex club. Everybody has a boner.”
“Yeah, but yours basically leans in her direction every time she’s near you.”
“Why haven’t I fired you yet?”
“Because you love my tiny tits?”
Right now, I wasn’t interested in anyone’s tits. I wasn’t looking to date. I wasn’t even really looking for a fuck, though that would probably come soon enough.
But it wouldn’t be with Bliss.
Axel wouldn’t have stood for it. And even though he wasn’t here now, I would respect that.
She might have agreed to join our crew and keep our doors open, and for that I was grateful. If she’d sold the place, I would have been out of a job that earned me more money than I’d ever make anywhere else, and so would my team. Rebel and the rest of them were the only family I’d ever had. And I was going to do everything in my power to make sure they all had roofs over their heads, money in their wallets, and food on their tables.