Page 20 of Double the Redemption

Rogue shrugged. “We have more people here now that we have our newest guest. Wouldn’t take much to make sure they’re doing their jobs.”

Savage nodded. “Does anyone have any objections?”

“What about a trial run?” Fury suggested. “We test it out for a month, see how things go, then we make a decision? Tom doesn’t slack off, things run smoothly, and we keep it that way. Ink’s right that he needs more help, and if this is one way to do it and make more money, then we’ll do it. If it doesn’t work, we bring in someone temporarily, and if Tom earns his patch, we move him over there.”

“I’m good with that,” Ink said.

“All in favor?” Savage asked. Everyone raised their hand, and Ink relaxed. Tom would be happy. “Alright, that’s what we’ll do then. You’re going to have him do your paperwork for you too? I’m sure he can draw you some pictures to help you.” His grin had everyone else laughing and Ink rolling his eyes.

“Fuck off. That’s another thing I was going to bring up. The paperwork side is a mountain of shit. I don’t have the time or patience to handle it, and neither will Tom with everything else he’ll have to do. Rogue is going to have no one to manage it either when Esme finally stops working. We’re not running any other businesses or things through either business, and Naomi is bored. She’s also fucking smart and good with numbers. What if we offered it to her?”

Everyone was quiet.

“You want to let a woman we don’t know, who has a memory that could cause a lot of problems for us, around our money?” Snake asked, his tone doubtful. “Is that really a good idea?”

“We hired Esme before we knew about her ties to the cartel or any of that,” Ink reminded him. “And when we found out the connection, it didn’t change anything.”

“The difference is that Fury had put his claim on her from the start. She wasn’t going to walk away in six months,” Razor pointed out. He raised his hand placatingly when Ink shifted his gaze to him. “I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, but it’s not the same situation. And don’t kill me for this, Fury, but Esme isn’t on the same level as Naomi when it comes to smarts and memory. None of us are,” he added when Fury glared at him. “Brother, she’s got a fucking genius IQ and an eidetic memory. That’s not just as simple as saying someone is good at their job.”

“What are we worried that she’d find?” Code asked. “Ink is right that there isn’t anything in them other than the actual business documents and receipts. Everything about it will be above board. And it’s only for six months.”

“Do we really want her to be able to tell the Feds what we’re doing? How much money we make?” Rogue looked at Ink. “You’re getting close to her, brother, but this isn’t a simple situation.”

Ink cocked his head. “I’m not saying we have to do it, but Savage, you, and Ice gave me the okay to give her the paperwork, and she aced it. I had Ice review it, and he said it was perfect. If we were willing to give her that last night, what’s the difference for the garage too? We kill two birds with one stone as well. By the time we reach the six-month mark and she leaves, Esme will probably be back to work and Tom will probably be patched in. Or we hire someone else to handle both for now and cost the club more money and time.”

Savage slowly nodded. “Did you ask her the questions I asked?”

Ink nodded. “When we were going over it, I asked her about two specific invoices, and she didn’t even need to look at them. Just recited them.”

“That shit freaks me out,” Jax muttered. “Freaky mind shit.”

Ink ignored him. Everything freaked Jax out, even on a good day. “What are we most worried that she’s going to remember? If we only give her the documents and nothing else, she won’t be looking for trouble. And we don’t discuss club shit around her. Besides, we’re current on everything, so even if the IRS came knocking, they wouldn’t find shit.”

“Do we have any other options?” Savage asked. “Anyone else willing to step up and do the job?”

No one volunteered.

“What about Karissa? Or Saylor? Royal or Harlow, maybe?”

“No,” Steel stated. “Harlow is trying to get her degree by doing online classes, and with Harley, she’s exhausted.”

“Royal’s exhausted from taking care of the girls,” Savage agreed. “And honestly, I’ve seen her work on some budget stuff for the bar before, and it was a fucking mess when she was done. She’s a damn good bartender, but the other shit?” He gave a rueful smile.

“Saylor is taking a break from her designer business, but she’s also not the type to do the paperwork. She outsources that to a company back in her old city.” Jax chuckled. “And she’s no better than Ink when it comes to his file-keeping system. It’s a fucking pain in the ass to find shit scattered all over the place on her computer instead of in proper files.”

“So we’re down to offer it to Naomi or hire someone else.” Savage sighed. He glanced at Ice. “I guess we’ll add to the plate. Go ahead and tell everyone what we were talking about, then we’ll put it all to a vote.”

Ice nodded and launched into his plan of opening a strip club. Ink perked up at that. Hell, yeah, who didn’t love watching women get naked on a stage? They already had one successful club, so a second one couldn’t hurt.

The image of Naomi twirling around a pole jumped into his mind—blonde hair falling as she stared at him unbidden with those pretty blue eyes.

He barely managed to bite back a groan, his cock jerking at the thought. Damn it, no! No, he was not going to think about that.

He forced himself to pay attention to Ice’s proposal, asking questions as much as he could. Namely, who got to audition the dancers, which got him eye rolls and knowing looks. What? He was one of the few single brothers left, which had to come with some perks.

When Ice finished, he added, “I’m going to oversee the books for this place. It’s a good way to launder money, and also to run some other shit through if we need to.”

“Wouldn’t that be the exact place the cops would look?” Code asked.