Page 60 of Stepbrother Dearest

“Ahem.”

We all turned to where Biggs stood looking uncharacteristically shy. A tiny sprite of a woman was next to him, a big smile on her face.

“So,” he started. “You might be wondering why I called a staff meeting.”

“Where’s Stone?” River asked.

“Probably counting his money and laughing at us for having to follow the rules while he gets to play princess,” Zane said.

“Actually, funny thing about that.” Biggs didn’t look amused. “Stone doesn’t work for the club. He never has.”

“What?” we chorused.

“He’s a headliner. He only shows up on featured nights because that’s the only time he’s supposed to.”

“So why the fuck was he on the roster every week?” River asked.

“And why did our dickhead bosses always make a big deal about him not showing up when he wasn’t supposed to be here?” Zane asked. “Why did they make us scramble every week to fill a schedule they knew was fucked up?”

We all turned to Biggs.

“I think it was a power play. A way to spread discord among you guys. And to give you a ‘bad guy’ to focus on and distract you from what was going on.”

“Yeah, about that,” Kai spoke up. “Whatwasgoing on?”

Biggs sighed. “A lot of shit.” He looked down at the woman by his side.

“You going to introduce us?” JJ drawled.

“This is my wife, Hazel.” He smiled affectionately at his wife. “She’s also my new business partner.”

“Business partner?” Knox asked.

“We bought the club from Corey and Ray.”

The silence that fell over us was deafening.

“That’s awesome!” Nick jumped out of my lap and launched himself at Biggs.

Biggs caught him with a laugh and let Nick hug him like a crazed koala.

When he was back on solid ground, Nick turned to Hazel. “Ma’am, are you a hugger? How about a high-five if you’re not?”

She held out her arms. “I’m a hugger.”

Nick gave her a quick hug, then rushed over and sat on my lap again.

“Congrats, man.” Kai beamed. “That’s awesome for you guys.”

The rest of the staff chorused their congratulations as Biggs and Hazel smiled bashfully and accepted them.

Okay, so Biggs owned Crimson now. Did that mean he was going to keep it open? Did we still have jobs?

When everyone quieted down, Biggs gave us a serious look. “They sold both Crimson and Scarlett. Some bigshot bought Scarlett. Lucky for us, he didn’t want Crimson, which gave us the opportunity to buy it.” He peered down at Hazel. “We’re still going over the books and trying to untangle all the shit they did here, but stealing tips is only the tip of the illegal iceberg.”

“What does that mean for the club?” Zane asked. “I don’t mean to be blunt or to shit on your happy parade, but do we have jobs or not?”

“That’s up to you.” Biggs looked around the room. “We’re keeping the club open, but we’re making some changes.”

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