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“That’s not the only vitamin D you need in your life.”

Her breathy tone had me raising my eyebrow in annoyance. Of course Nikki couldn’t hold a conversation without bringing sex into it. She started cracking up at her joke, and I tried to hide my smile while I rolled my eyes.

“Besides, I’m the only Sunshine you need in your life,” she said.

My arms crossed over my chest as I flicked my gaze to Nikki.

“Ay Dios mío…Nikki, just because you chose Sunshine as your stage name does not mean I’ll call you that. It’s almost as bad as if you would have chosen Cookie or, God forbid…Candy.” I faked a shudder at the mention of that last one, knowing she would pick up on the reference.

She drew in a gasp of horror, her manicured hand over her heart like she was some southern bell. I knew damn well she wasn’t. I didn’t actually know where she was from, but the accent she tried to hide from time to time wasn’t southern. And the swear words she would say under her breath weren’t Spanish.

“Do not insult me by putting my stage name in the same sentence as hers.”

Laughter spilled from my lips at how offended Nikki was pretending to be.

Candy was the name of the skanky bitch I’d kicked out from Lotería a month ago. Nikki let out an irritated huff, pushing a stray lock of hair out of her face.

“That whore thought because Mario was the one who hired her she could do whatever the hell she wanted,” she seethed.

Including showing up high and doing lines in the dancers’ dressing room. All that might fly at other clubs, but not mine. The girls knew they were required to be clean, or they could pack their shit and go.

“Now. We never got to talk about why the fuck you showed up at home last night with blood spatter all over your damn self…”

She was letting me decide how much I would tell her. Nikki started as just my employee and turned into my soul sister along the way. When we decided to get a place together, I figured I’d let her in on my extracurricular activities. She knew I ran Lotería for Los Muertos, but not that I was hands on with some of the nastier parts of being in a cartel. But it would have been hard to hide the small armory I kept in my room, so I told Nikki.

My head hit the back of the chair, and I welcomed the weight of my arm over my eyes.

Maybe I could hide in my office forever.

“I had an…interview to conduct. But Sergio showed up and crashed it.” I paused for a second, peeking at Nikki from under my arm. “Something has been off lately in Tucson. The normal players I keep an eye on are waiting for something. But I don’t fucking know what.”

I chewed on my bottom lip while thinking about all the ways this could play out.

“Ugh.” Nikki pinched the bridge of her nose like she was the one who had to sort out this shit when it inevitably hit the fan. “You and your goddamned vibes, Ryan. You’re always right when it comes to bad shit.”

Her blue eyes met mine, which were still just barely peeking out from under my forearm. An accusing finger pointed my way.

“La Brujita is such a fitting fuckin’ name for you. Witch—you’re actually a witch.”

Without missing a beat, Nikki and I yelled out simultaneously.

“You’re gonna look at me, and you’re gonna tell me I’m wrong?” We fell into a fit of laughter before finally settling down. My hands rubbed my face. The exhaustion and stress were catching up to me. And my night was barely getting started.

Nikki was right. My vague feelings usually came with bad shit. Needing a change in subject, I moved on to why Sergio had been at the club.

“Anyway, Sergio wanted to meet to tell me I’m leading the new arms deal he brokered with the Skeletons of Society MC. He wants me to run it since I know the inner workings of Tucson’s underbelly,” I explained.

“No,” Nikki drew out the one-syllable word. “Sergio wants you to run it because his narcissist asshat of a son is busy running around banging whores and leaving you to handle all his shit here.” A scoff of disgust left Nikki’s mouth. “At least now you get to be the boss bitch you are and force people to acknowledge it.”

I played with a loose string on my shirt, frowning at Nikki’s words. She wasn’t going to like the texts I received last night from Mario.

“What the fuck did he do now, Ryan?”

Damn, she was good.

“Nothing,” I muttered.

Lights and movement pulled my attention toward the glass wall, looking over the club below. Hopefully, Nikki would have a harder time reading the worry in my face from the profile view. Most of all, I was hoping it would keep her from calling me on the bullshit I was sputtering.