“I need you for something else. Stavo, keys? Thanks. All of you, stay together, stay tight, heads up. Something feels off today. Straight back here before you do the rest of your runs. Go. Jay, you’re with me, come on,” he demanded, pulling Amelia with him to a smaller office off the council hall. He unlocked the door with the keys and went in, pulling Amy in with him. “Jay. Amy is keeping books now, not Alan. Alan tries to come in here? Make a scene? Be an asshole? Call me. Keep him off her. Lee too. Keep the door locked. You carry’n?”
“Always boss.”
“Good. Keep it handy. Keep the door locked and don’t leave her in here alone. Amy, I will be back. You want anything?”
“Coffee?” she asked, sitting down at the desk with the piles of papers and stacks of folders.
“Cream? Sugar?”
She shook her head. “Black. I thought you were going to tell me about…”
“I will, I’ll be back. I need to interview a few prospects first and talk to a friend of the club in the PD. Jay, this is important. She is important. This is my old lady. Do NOT let anyone fuck with her. Understood?”
“Yeah boss, got it. No one but you gets in here. They try, they die.”
“Good. Call if you need me,” he said quickly as he bent and kissed Amy on the head. She turned and smiled up at him, blushing and he grinned before he left.
Jay locked the door and sat down. “So, this is tense, huh?” he asked.
“Is it? It feels normal to me,” she answered distractedly. “Things have been nothing but tense for me since I laid eyes on Luka.”
“Yeah, guess that’s true. Hey. Thanks for last night. Monica… she was nervous and you made it nice for her.”
“Sure.”
“Did, uh… Luka say anything after we left?”
“Just that club was club no matter what their orientation was. In so many words. Sorry, Jay, I need to figure this out.”
“Sure, yeah, sorry. You from here? I don’t remember seeing you in school.”
“Yes and no, I moved but I am back. We wouldn’t have gone to school together, you are older.”
“I guess. You seem older than you are. I heard you were 18?”
“Yes. Sorry, Jay, I really do need to focus. Maybe find a crossword puzzle or something?”
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
Amelia focused on the work in front of her, sorting and trying to make heads or tails of what this ‘Alan’ had considered bookkeeping.
Over an hour later, she had stacks arranged and had brought some order to the chaos.
Someone tried to open the door, then jerked on the knob.
“What the hell?” a male voice asked.
Keys could be heard jangling and several were tried.
“Val! Hey Val! You know why my door is locked? You have the keys? Where’s everyone at?”
“Don’t know Alan, I was told if I saw you to tell you to have a seat out front and wait for them to get back.”
“I need in my office!”
“I don’t have a key.”
“Fuck it,” he growled, then there was a thud on the door as if he was trying to bust in.
“You hit that door again and I blow a hole through it and your head,” Jay called.
“Jay? What the hell you little fucker, let me in my office!”
“Go sit out front like you were told.”
“Let me in!” Alan raged.
“I have carte blanche to shoot anyone who tries to get in that door. You want to try my loyalty to the club, Alan?” Jay asked.
“Fine! I don’t care, I just need some personal things I left in there!”
“Later.”
“No, now!”
“Alan, I shit you not, I will shoot you!”
“Alan!” Val yelled. “Put that god damn gun up!”
Jay launched himself across the room and tackled Amelia out of her seat and rolled with her. He tucked her behind the desk, then positioned himself on the floor with a gun pointed at the door.
“Get your ass to the bar and let Lola make you some eggs. Quit being a damn drama queen! I tell Luka you drew on his new Old Lady and he will damn end you!” Val yelled.
“Shut your fucking mouth, bitch,” Alan growled. “What old lady? Luka doesn’t have an old lady.”
“If you came round more than once a week, you’d know he does! She is in there right now. You better go sit your ass down, me and the girls already texted Luka. He finds out you went stupid crazy and pulled a gun in the club and you will lose more than your patch! Go sit down now or I tell him everything!”
There was a growl of anger, then silence.
Finally, Val spoke right outside the door. “He’s gone.”
Jay got up and holstered his gun, then yanked his phone out and called Luka as he helped Amelia up. “Luka? Alan is… oh, you did? Ok… Yeah, she’s fine… I’ll tell her.”
He hung up and went and checked the door. He looked around the room, then moved Amelia and shoved the desk all the way to the wall, moving her seat as well so it wasn’t directly in front of the door.
He looked around again, then let her sit down, moving his chair so it was next to the door. “Luka said he’s on his way. You ok?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” she answered quietly, her eyes still wide. “You know. Tense.”
He barked a shocked laugh. “Yeah. Fuckin tense.”
There was a soft knock at the door. “Alan just texted Lee, I think he is on his way. I told Luka already. He is calling in the club. Sit tight,” Val called softly.
“Fuuuuuuck,” Jay breathed.
Amelia ignored him as she sorted and went back to organizing and getting things in order.
After another half an hour, shouting could be heard out front and Jay got up and started pacing. Amelia ignored that too as she punched away on the calculator.
Finally, after another 45 minutes of shouting and more and more people, there was another knock.
“Jay, it’s me,” Luka called.
Jay unlocked the door quickly and looked at Luka questioningly as Luka came in with a cup of coffee from a convenience store. “Sorry Cherry, it’s cold,” he said lightly.
She hardly heard him. “I know why they are upset,” she said, still in the zone. “They have been skimming a lot of money. A lot. Small at first, you can see it back here a few years where the income wasn’t matching up with the deposits and records. It was small. It keeps getting bigger and bigger, no one was noticing, they got real brave. Look at this. Last month alone they took almost 5 thousand off the top. How was no one noticing? Last year alone they took more than forty thousand. They were in line to take almost sixty this year.”
“Jesus,” Jay whispered as Luka stared at her in disbelief.
“You can prove that? With the ledgers?” Luka asked.
“Yeah, That’s just what I found in a couple hours, Luka. I really go through this and there is probably more. He was getting more creative. There are receipts here for things I am pretty sure are either made up or inflated. Who is going to go over receipts? No one. But if someone glanced at the totals, they would be close enough. Look at this one. A $4400 receipt from a pool cleaning company. I haven’t seen a pool. This comes up on here a few times, and look, you can tell it was photocopied and the date was changed. I doubt it is just the son, he doesn’t seem that bright, some of these are stupid rookie mistakes. They are probably both in on it.”
Luka stared at her in shock, then finally shook his head, his face turning red with rage. “Jay. Tell Stavo and Apex to come here,” he hissed.
Jay left at a run as Amelia sorted the stacks with the discrepancies and the ones that looked suspect. Seconds later, he returned with Stavo and Apex.
“Disarm both of them, hold them. Put them on the ground like dogs.”
“Will do… uhh, boss,” Stavo said, glancing at Amelia. “Haven’t had a chance to tell you. Alonso wasn’t there. He left this on the bar. It’s the deed. It’s signed over to you. He’s in the wind but gave you the bar so you wouldn’t come after him.”
“Fine. Do as I ask,” Luka said angrily, flexing his fists as his chest heaved.
Amelia looked up at him when they left. “Luka?” she asked softly.
“I’m fine, Amy,” he said gently, though she heard the strain in his voice. “Jay,” he said, turning to the small young man. “Escort her behind me. Anything happens, you get her back here and safe, you understand?”
“Got it boss,” he nodded.
Luka left and a moment later, Jay led her out behind him, staying in front of her to the end of the hall.