Read Online Have Gun, Will Travel (The Bare Bones MC Book 5) by Layla Wolfe - Free Book Online Page B

licensing and tax-wise.
    Half of the hangar was strictly business. This was where Ford had his office and where he met now with Sax. Then you had to walk down a flight of stairs and through the actual hangar, full of the clanging din of backup alarms, power tools, and the dispatcher barking through a loudspeaker. Going up an identical set of stairs put you into a mirror image set of rooms and offices, only these couldn’t have been more different. Here was darkness, windows covered with blankets, little cubicles for sweetbutts to service patch holders. A sort of Wild West brothel, saloon, and church all rolled into one.
    In the game room, Madison was an expert pool player. She had to be, to be married to Ford and practically living in this old hangar, the times she wasn’t at home with her daughter, or doing her part-time cardiology nurse’s work in town. I had nothing but respect for the hardass, tough chick, so I was surprised when she let on that things might not be picture-perfect in her world.
    Sinking another hole in one, Maddy sighed as if it were everyday work. She leaned on her stick, the ultimate vision of the cool as a cucumber old lady. “How’s that guy of yours, that…what do you call them again?”
    I had to giggle. “Dom? That’s short for Dominant.”
    “Right. My sister June knows all that. Ford’s half-brother Lytton is a Dom, I guess. What’s that guy’s name again? Something funny.”
    I didn’t think his name was funny. “Roscoe Flantz. He’s all right, I guess. I left a message that I’d be coming down here and he never called back. I’ve got a feeling things might be on the outs with us. Then last night, driving down here in my cage with Sax following me, the buckle on my collar broke. Is that a sign from above or what? It just slipped off my neck, I kid you not!” It surprised me that June and Lytton would be into the lifestyle. Now that it occurred to me, the sister of Madison did wear a collar, too. I’d always just assumed it was a decorative choker.
    Madison smiled wryly. “You’d know about signs from above, Sister Colette. Well, that’s just typical of men, not to call back. I learned a long time ago not to bother leaving a voicemail for Ford. The few times he does listen to them, he doesn’t bother calling back. He’s much too busy. I guess that’s the price I pay being married to such a high authority figure.”
    I took my shot with my cue, predictably missing. It struck me that Madison was trying to tell me something. Being a former novitiate, people seem to feel compelled to confess things to me. It’s all part of a day’s work. “Are you afraid you’re coming to some sort of a crisis with Ford?”
    Madison set her mouth into a thin line. “That’s about the size of it, Beatrix.” We were alone in the room, so she could talk this way. I was sure the old lady of a Prez wouldn’t normally be caught dead speaking so frankly. But like I said, people seem compelled to confide in me. “I mean, we ‘do it’ a lot still, but that’s only because he always wants to ‘do it’ the few times we’re alone together. So if we’re alone twice a week, we ‘do it’ twice a week. But that’s all we do. Wham bam thank you ma’am. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate all he’s done for me, and between the club and my job, there’s never a dull moment. But I’d just like…more. More alone time with him.”
    I made another bad shot. “Sounds like you two need a real vacation, two weeks in Hawaii, like Roman and Gudrun in Barbados. How long are they going to be gone? Two whole weeks?”
    “Three,” said Maddy with disgust. “That’s how it starts, doesn’t it? Everything all romantic. Then people start taking each other for granted. Ford acts like I’ll always be here for him. And the sad part is…I will. I’ll just be…bored.”
    I asked the obvious. “Have you told him that? That you’d like more alone time?”
    “Of course. It’s always ‘oh, sounds