Better when He's Bold (Welcome to the Point #2)(15)

I was in the back room of Spanky’s, the strip club to end all strip clubs in the District. The girls who danced here were no run-of-the-mill strippers. They were gorgeous, professional, and served dual roles as dancers and hostesses when the stage lights were off and the club turned into an illegal casino. Spanky’s had been a cash cow for Novak. Now Nassir and I both had our hands in the pot and we were currently watching Chuck, the giant African American man who was the head of security for the joint, beat the living hell out of a client who didn’t know how to keep his hands to himself.

I had my arms crossed and was leaning against the wall while the guy, who could very easily be anyone’s dad, got the shit kicked out of him. He had already spit out teeth, and his face looked like hamburger, but Chuck didn’t seem like he was in a hurry to stop the beating, and Nassir wasn’t calling him off. Nassir had eyes the color of burned caramel and they were focused intently on the scene in front of him. He took the security of the girls who worked for him seriously, regardless if they were turning tricks or not—and Honor, not her real name of course, wasn’t a girl you were going to put your hands on and get away with it.

She was as much a part of the District as Bax was of the Point. We had a sordid history, and in all honesty, I was surprised she wasn’t back here kicking the shit out of Grabby Hands McGee because that’s the kind of chick she was. The victim grunted, his puffy and swollen eyes rolled back in his head as he listed over onto his side in an unconscious heap. Chuck gave him one more kick with the toe of his shoe and leaned down to wipe his bloody hands on the guy’s torn and ripped shirt.

Nassir lifted a black eyebrow. “Feel better?”

Chuck grunted and looked back and forth between the two of us. “Something in the air. Don’t know what it is, but people keep showing up and pushing limits. Had to make a point and make it clear.”

Nassir and I shared a look and he shrugged his shoulders. He always looked like he was off to some kind of high-powered business meeting. His suits cost more than my car, and his exotic looks and lethal way of carrying himself made him intimidating and domineering without any effort. I already treated him like he was going to shove a knife in my back at any second, but just being in his dark presence made me keen to make sure I was always on my toes.

“What’s going on?”

He rubbed his thumb along the edge of his jaw and considered me thoughtfully. “Some of the girls have come back complaining that clients aren’t wanting to pay. They said that the word going around is that you and I, we’re too new. The city is in flux, no one is in charge, and no one is in line to answer to, so people are getting ballsy and pushing their luck.”

I gritted my back teeth and frowned. “What are you doing about it?”

“We, Race. What are we doing about it?”

He seriously was the last person on the planet I wanted to be in business with, but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice.

“What are we doing about it, Nassir?”

“Putting a f*cking stop to it right f*cking now.” He motioned to the guy on the floor. “I got names, I got addresses, and a whole world of hurt is coming anyone’s way who wants to question who is or isn’t in charge. I suggest you do the exact same if someone doesn’t come through on what they owe you.”

I hadn’t run into that problem yet, but my time as a bookie was still pretty new.

“Yeah. I guess there can’t be any perceived weakness.”

Nassir’s eyes flashed. “There won’t be any weakness period. I waited far too long for someone else to handle Novak and all his madness. I should’ve done something about him long ago, but I waited, and his poison spread. You and I might not see eye to eye, Race, but we both agree that someone has to feed the monster, and that as long as honorable men are doing it, the city doesn’t have to be sacrificed to keep it fed.”

Honorable wasn’t a word I would equate with Nassir, but that wasn’t a point I wanted to push right now.

“Is Honor all right?”

Something crossed his face that was beyond frightening. I didn’t know much about his past, or where he came from, but I never mistook Nassir for just some guy in a suit afraid of getting his hands in the dirt and muck. He was a man who could kill if he felt it necessary, the kind of man who would take on an entire army if he thought the battle needed to be fought.

“She’s pissed.”

I sighed heavily. “I have a deposit I want to hand over. College football started.”

He nodded and we left Chuck alone to clean up the mess on the floor. It was cold, it was inhumane, and a tiny piece of me knew it was wrong, but it was just the way it had to be. We went into the office that the guy who used to run the club used, and I handed over the bundled-up stacks of cash. When I was younger, throwing around hundreds of thousands of dollars had meant nothing to me. Now I watched Nassir take it and put it in the safe behind the desk with all kinds of trepidation. One thing about being a criminal that really sucked was that you had to rely on other criminals to make a living. As a whole, we weren’t really a trustworthy lot, and we were all inherently looking out for number one.

My apprehension must have shown on my face, because Nassir lifted a dark eyebrow and gave me a grin that was anything but reassuring.

“I need you, Race. I’m not going to rip you off.”