Grimm grinned, then grunted.
“Fucking bastard. We do all the hard work, and he gets the praise,” Snake muttered, then quickly ducked when Grimm hurled a bottle of whiskey at his head, smashing it behind him against the wall.
“Damn it, Grimm! I’m not cleaning that up,” Snake shouted.
Turning, I saw the mess and stood stock still staring at Snake. My foot tapping lightly on the hardwood floor. I didn’t move an inch as I waited for Snake to say something more.
“Fine,” he growled. “I’ll clean up Grimm’s mess.”
“You wouldn’t have to if you hadn’t said what you did. Calling people names isn’t nice, Snake.”
“He calls me names all the time.”
“Really?” I asked, turning to Grimm. “Is that true?”
Grimm shrugged his shoulders and went back to work, cleaning the mirror over the bar.
“Well, it isn’t nice. Now hurry up. We’re almost done in here. I want to start on the bedrooms next.” When those words left my mouth, I saw Shamrock, Snake, Grimm, and Bullseye each take out their phones and quickly typing something into them as they stopped what they were doing and headed for the stairs. Seconds later, all other Golden Skulls members came running in from every direction, each heading for their rooms.
“What in the world?” I asked as chaos reigned around me.
Max came up behind me laughing as he wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. “Remind me to use you next time when I need to motivate them.”
“But I didn’t do anything?”
“You were threatening to clean their rooms, babe.”
“It wasn’t a threat. I’ve got the kitchen, the common room, and most of the offices downstairs done. The only thing left is the bedrooms and the chapel. They need to be cleaned too.”
“Baby, the place looks great. But I don’t want you cleaning up after us all the time. That’s not why you’re here.”
“And why am I here?” I asked, turning in his arms.
Max smiled brightly. “To service my needs, of course.”
TWELVE
REAPER
I walked into Patty’s diner and smiled. God, I loved this place. Patty and I grew up together, went to school together, and even went to prom together. While I stayed and worked at my Pops Autobody shop, Patty went to culinary school and got her degree. She was a fantastic cook. We were still good friends, and when she returned to Purgatory, I asked my Pop’s to help her out with her first place, and he did.
Patty was now married with two young boys who loved bikes and a husband who served in the U.S. Marine Corp. With her husband deployed, the club looked after her and her kids and made sure she had everything she needed.
“Reaper,” Patty smiled. “Hungry?”
Looking around the diner, I spotted Chief Brian Conners at the back table. Nodding, I turned my attention back to Patty.
“Yeah. Make my usual, please.”
“Sure thing. Oh, and thank you for sending some of the boys over to fix that leak.” Last month a pipe burst in her small house, flooding the whole downstairs. She tried calling for a regular plumber, but she called me when she realized she couldn’t afford the fix. I sent three of my guys over to her place the next day, and they fixed the pipe and even stayed to help clean. When they were done, Patty praised them to the moon and back, and my boys came home with freshly baked brownies, which they refused to share.
“No problem. You need anything else you call.”
“Will do.”
“When’s Patrick due back?”
“Three more months.”