Chapter Five
Keg
Wild Bill had no soonersaid that we’d wait for Hawk when the knock at the door came. After he yelled open, the door cracked enough for Hawk’s head to pop in. “We good in here?”
“Yeah,” Prez responded. “We were waiting for you.”
Hawk pushed the door the rest of the way open, then stepped back and Charlie walked in ahead of him. She was followed by Wyan, who was hired to work with her and the Matherson brothers after they picked him up for skipping out on bail the Matherson Brothers’ Bail Bond side business had put up for him. The Mathersons had ties with the big man that went back to grade school, so when they’d gotten him out of trouble with the courts, they took him under their wings. Wyan’s size, along with his good nature, made him prey for people. It didn’t help he was a little slow mentally.
I stood to offer my chair to Charlie and gaped when I got a good look at her. Her clothes and hair were in disarray. From the looks of her hair, it looked like a tornado touched down on her head and dislodged strands from her ponytail. But her jacket was what grabbed my attention, specifically the tear down one sleeve, which resembled a knife slash.
“What the hell happened to you?” I voiced.
“And whose ass do we need to hunt down?” Moose followed up with.
“Just a little mishap on a job,” Charlie answered and took the seat I vacated.
I moved to the table and pulled a chair out, flipping it around before straddling it. I noticed Wyan shaking his head as he walked over and took a seat on the couch that rested against the opposite wall.
“Mishap my ass,” Hawk replied as he did the same with the chair beside me, then sat.
From the glare Charlie shot in his direction, I could only guess they’d already argued over the incident.
“Don’t start again with the macho crap. It’s my job to chase bail runners.”
Wyan snickered, and Hawk’s head jerked in his direction. “Don’t encourage her, Wyan. And where were you while she was rolling on the ground with the knife wielding bitch?”
“I was—” Willie didn’t get to finish because Charlie used her hand as the universal stop sign while her eyes narrowed at Hawk.
“Oh no, you don’t, mister. You’ve interfered enough with my job. You think I don’t know you talked with Travis and that’s why I have a shadow with me.” Charlie threw her arm and used her thump to point in Wyan’s direction.
“Whoa!” Moose yelled, and everyone’s attention turned toward him. “Can we back up to her rolling around on the ground with another woman?”
“I don’t know how sweet Katie puts up with you,” Prez said and rubbed his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb. When he rested his arms back on his desk, he looked at Charlie. “You wanna explain to us what happened so we can get down to business?”
“Sure thing. It’s not much information, but I thought the club might be interested in it since the Widows are involved. The job I mentioned? I was following a tip on my drug dealer’s whereabouts. He didn’t show at court, and we’ve been tracking him for a week. Smalltime dealer who looks like he uses more of the product than he sells, but anyway, he was spotted at the Twilight Inn. You know the dump of a motel that’s home to a few hookers and cheap enough that a few druggies can live off the streets and still have cash for the drug of their choice. Which in my book, it might be cleaner to shoot up in one of the empty buildings than one of the rooms at the Twilight.”
“Charlie!” Hawk called out.
“What?”
“Can you get back on track and skip your evaluation of some of the places that our local law enforcement won’t go near unless they enter as a group?”
My lips twitched, but I knew better than to laugh when Charlie rolled her eyes at Hawk’s sarcastic comment.