Free Slay (Storm MC #4) by Nina Levine

cousin, Annie, also dropped out at the same time.”
    “Where does Annie fit into all this?”
    “Their fathers are brothers.  They inherited the company together from their father.”
    “Something happened that concerned both of them, yeah?”
    “That’s my guess.  It must have been bad, because Layla walked away from it all, both the family and the money.  You ever hear of someone walking away from that kind of money?”
    No one walked away from millions unless they had a damn good reason.
    “Never.”
    “I’ll keep digging, see what we can come up with,” he promised.
    “How the hell did you know I’d want this information?” 
    “Blade, you’ve been frequenting her bar for over a year, and now you’ve involved yourself with her problems, putting yourself out for her.  You need me to go on?”
    Fucker knew me better than I knew myself sometimes .
    “No,” I snapped. 
    “Where are you going now?”
    “I’m gonna check in with my mother and then head over to see Madison.  Call me if you need me or have anything else to report about Layla.”
    “Will do,” he said, and we ended the call.
    The more I learnt about Layla, the more I wanted to get to know her and spend time with her.  At the same time, it confused the fuck out of me.  Ashley still haunted me, and I knew in my gut I hadn’t dealt with that fully yet. To even consider opening up to someone new was madness.

Chapter Seven
    Layla
    Midnight.
    Friday night.
    I stood at the bar and surveyed the room. 
    Where the fuck was all our customers ?
    “You want a drink, boss?”
    I turned to Jess.  She held vodka in her hand: my usual drink.  Not tonight, I decided.  Tonight was a tequila night.  I shook my head and pointed at the tequila.  “Pour me a shot of that.  And you’re having one with me.  Damian can run the bar by himself with the amount of fucking people in here tonight.”
    She grinned.  “Hell, yeah.”  She swapped the vodka for tequila and poured two shots.
    After she passed me one, she raised her shot.  “To good friends and good men.” 
    I raised my shot as well, and we drank them down together.  When I was done, I lined my shot glass up for another and asked, “What’s with that toast?  Good men?”
    She poured more drinks and explained, “You need to get laid, and it’s been over a week since your man has been in here.  Now, I’m not sure what happened there, so I’m toasting to good men in the hopes that either he comes back or someone else walks in.”
    I didn’t wait for her this time; I threw the shot back, placed the glass on the bar and slid it her way for more.  Eyeing her, I said, “Nothing happened with him, that’s the weird thing.  He was all about helping me, and then he just disappeared.”
    She shrugged and poured more drinks.  “So odd.  I would have bet money he was gonna make a move on you.”
    Damian finished with his customer and joined us.  “You ladies getting trashed tonight?”
    Jess grinned at him, held her shot up and drank it.  “Sure are.  Boss lady is in the mood.  I can’t say no to that.”
    He rolled his eyes.  “Jess, when have you ever said no to alcohol?  Seriously, some days I worry you’re working in the wrong place.  I often wonder how long until we’ll have to check you into rehab.”
    She poked her tongue at him.  “Very funny.”
    I drank my shot and slammed the empty glass down.  “He’s got a point, Jess.”
    “Oh my god!  I hate it when you two gang up on me.”
    I clicked my fingers to indicate I needed more tequila.  “Quick, get some more alcohol in you. It makes it all better.”
    Damian muttered something under his breath and left us to take care of the customer now waiting at the other end of the bar.
    Jess poured another shot.  As she handed it to me, she asked, “Is Annie okay?”
    “As far as I know.  Why?”
    “She just seemed a little quiet today.”
    “It’s been a big week for her.  She hasn’t had a job for