novelxo Axel: Chapter 4
I’m about ready to rip someone’s head off. The figures I’m looking at mean we have lost a fuck load of money at the nightclub in the last nine months. More than I’m anywhere near willing to overlook.
We cannot afford this loss. Since we went legit, club funds are tight. The nightclub is not pulling in enough to cover everyone’s pay at the end of each month.
The negotiations for the bar are not going well. They are being unreasonable with the amount they are asking for a bar that has been closed for three years and will need money spent on it to upgrade and reopen.
I know we are the only ones to put an offer in on the place in the last two years, so they will have to lower what they want for it, or we look at something else.
Rock, Clay, and Dice are building custom bikes, which is helping everyone out financially as the club put the finances up to get them going.
Knuckles and Mav are working at the door of the nightclub, but they need something more long-term. The other brothers do whatever is required, where it is required, and this is a good thing with the new place Mia is going to turn over and any new businesses we get off the ground.
Stopping our gun and drug trading has hit us reasonably hard, but we had quite a bit in the club’s coffers at the time. We now need to use what we have left to create legit businesses that we can move forward with.
Taking out my cellphone, I send a group message stating Chuch first thing tomorrow morning. That way, I can catch Silver and Fox before they hit the nightclub.
Walking out of the office, I scan around to see if Mia is anywhere as I want to take her with me, using her as cover as to why I’m checking in at Club Whisky.
Not seeing her anywhere, I jog upstairs and knock on her bedroom door. Waiting for her to open up, I tap my toe and lean on the door frame.
As the door opens, I turn, and as I open my mouth to ask if she wants to come with me, I notice her hair’s been cut. It’s not black anymore.
‘Hi, Axel, what’s up?’ Mia asks, giving me a questioning look.
‘Well, I like your hair. It’s the shit, babe,’ I say as I walk around her, ‘The color is gorgeous.’ I run my hands through her hair and feel the thickness and softness. Stunning is such a plain word to describe it.
Mia blushes a deep pink, which looks adorable. I grin at her and lean down, kissing her forehead. ‘You never said you were going to get your hair cut, but I like it.’
‘I didn’t plan it. To be honest, Axel, I just had a mad impulse to go back to my natural color and take some of the length off. It was getting hard work to keep it as it was,’ Mia grins, ‘I took Joe with me, he stood at the door like a sentry, and then I dragged him around Victoria’s Secret,’ and she bursts out with the sexiest giggles I’ve ever heard.
‘Victoria’s Secret, shit babe, what did you buy?’
‘Underthings, pj’s, joggers, and stuff,’ she tells me, embarrassed, which has me smirking.
‘I’ve got to go to Club Whisky. I wondered if you’d come and be my cover as I’m going to see if I can see anything shady going on. But if just I go in, it will look suspicious,’ I lean on the doorframe again, ‘We could have something to eat and a drink. We can just chill a bit too. What do ya say?’
‘Yes, I’ll grab my purse.’
‘Put your kutte on, babe, remember whenever you go anywhere outside the compound, you wear your kutte.’ I tell her, and I have to admit I love seeing her in it as the ‘Property of Axel’ gives me such a buzz.
Arriving at the club, I park the bike near the main door and take Mia’s helmet. As we enter, Knuckles is on the door, so I hand him both our helmets, and he places them on a table next to the entrance.
As we walk into the club, I hear Knuckles say, ‘Hey Mia, love your hair, babe.’ and she blushes and ducks her head. Given she has served time, she still has a lot of innocence about her, which I’m happy to see. She seems to show her strength when she’s threatened. It just comes to the front naturally as a protective instinct.
I throw my arm around her shoulders, and she places her arm around my waist. Things are getting easier and feeling more natural between us, which gives me lots of promise for the future.
Standing at the bar, Silver walks over and places a beer and a wine down for us, then leans on his elbows. ‘Keep your eye on Jewel. She has been rushing around a lot these last couple of days, trying to look like she is irreplaceable. The other three, Carol, Twig, and Sue, are just giving off the same vibes as always, so I don’t think they know anything could be wrong,’ he states quietly.
Mia is sitting with her back to the bar now, listening but taking in everything going on in front of us, but then she suddenly tenses up. Her entire body language has gone rigid. I slowly turn and lean on the bar, balancing on one elbow, keeping my body loose, then I lean over and quietly ask, ‘What did you just see?’
‘That woman in the Club Whisky tee just palmed something from that man at the third table from the back. It looked like a small bag.’
‘You sure?’
‘Oh yes, I’m sure. I think she just passed drugs to him. Are you selling shit in here?’
‘No, we fuckin’ are not, and neither should she.’ I turn to see Silver is serving further down the bar, and I catch his attention. Once he’s finished, he comes over, hands me another beer, and I tell him what just occurred.
‘Church in the morning, we’ll discuss it then. Keep your eyes on her? If you see her distribute, we’ll get her in the shed,’ I take out my cell and send a message to Specs to check the club feed, see if he picks it up. He has a timestamp, at least.
Mia steps away from the bar and walks over to Hammer, who has just entered the club. I’m watching closely, as this is new. Maybe them working together will be a good thing, but then maybe not when I see Mia put her arm in his, and they walk past the table Jewel had passed to.
As they walked past, Mia slipped or looked like she had. Hammer grabs her and makes a play of apologizing to the man at the table. They then make their way back to me at the bar.
Turning her back to the bar again, Mia checks the man at the table then slowly turns her back to him. She slowly slides her hand across the bar to me and pushes her hand under mine. Then, as she slides her hand away, she’s left a bag under mine. I grip the bag and then slide it into my kutte pocket.
‘Hammer, can you stay here with Mia until I come back?’
‘Course I can Pres. We’re besties now, so don’t you worry, I’ll watch her closely.’ Hammer winks at Mia, and she gives him a massive eye roll. Then they both chuckle.
I walk behind the bar and head for the office, giving Silver a nod to follow me. He shouts to Drag, who is sitting having a beer with Buzz. My VP and Enforcer have been friends for years, and every week they get together and check if either has a concern with anyone or anything club-related.
Buzz walks over with Drag but follows me into the office, where I close the door, then sit behind the desk. I take out the bag and place it on the desk, looking at Silver and Buzz as I do so.
‘Now, Mia just lifted this off a man Jewel passed this to just after I arrived. Specs is checking out the feed to see if we have it on camera. We need this little bitch taken to the shed, but let’s get some more evidence first. We need to know who she’s dealing with and why.’
I’m spitting fire as I told everyone the club was no longer involved in drugs of any kind, and they were not allowed on the property. The staff was notified of this when they started, and Jewel has been helping to manage the place, so she’s being paid well.
Buzz is fisting his hands and then stretching his fingers. He’s more than ready to hurt someone, but before I can say more, he says, ‘Pres, I’ll watch the bitch, I’ll get Target in here too. She doesn’t know him, not seen him. I’ll ask him to speak to his Green Beret brother and see if he fancies doing some undercover shit. A new face she won’t suspect will only be good for us.’
‘Okay, speak to Target, then update us in the morning at Church. If we have a drug problem here or in the town, we need to do some clean-up and bury these fuckers,’ I stand and walk over to the door, but before I open it, I turn to Silver, ‘Get some brothers in here, even if it’s to sit drinking free beer while they keep their eyes open. We don’t need feds in here checking us out.’
In the bar, Mia is laughing at Hammer, and I cannot help but smile, as she is stunning. Her natural hair color is impressive compared to the black she had hidden it under, and although I liked the longer length, this length has made it look fuller and lusher somehow.
I walk up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her back into my body, then I push my face into her neck and take a large breath in, taking in her almondy smell she always seems to have.
‘You okay, Babe?’
‘Yeah, I’m good.’ Mia responds, then points at Hammer, ‘You teamed me up with a fruitcake.’ And she’s laughing while she says it.
‘Do you want to go get something to eat? Rather than eat here?’
‘Oh yes, can we go for Chinese? I would love that,’ Mia gushes, which has me grinning at how many women show so much emotion over something so small.
‘Of course,’ I say, and before I can say more, Mia shouts out, ‘Silver, go get the boys. We’re going for Chinese.’
Hammer looks over at me and must see the shock on my face as he busts out in a belly laugh.
That is how we end up at the Chinese place in town with most of the damn brothers following along, but I have to admit it was a great night, and it took the fire out of the issue we had with the drugs, for now anyway.
Mia laughs and shares dishes with many of the brothers. They’ve all taken to her, and I have to admit she seems to have taken to them, too.
When it’s nearly time to leave, Mia disappears for a short while. I thought she had gone to the restroom, but she had gone to the kitchen door and organized six meals to cover the prospects. What a great ol’ lady she is, and she does it without realizing how she draws my boys to her. Yeah, she’s a great ol’ lady, and I’m feeling more than a liking for her, which is scary when you think we’ve only ever kissed.