A Leap in the Dark (Assassins of Youth MC Book 2) by Layla Wolfe

this Prospect suddenly became a Twilight Zone tour guide. He went all kinds of apeshit, shooting up the entire room with his M-16. Those poor beaners looked like Swiss cheese. You could literally see daylight through them.”
    “Not good. You need people who can keep their cool.”
    “Yeah. Needless to say, that guy never earned his top rocker. Do you have any indication of how Deloy is under pressure?”
    Again I harrumphed. “He works for me. Need I say more?”
    Gideon chuckled. “True. I figured that. He’s had to keep his cool under lots of demands, things that might change from minute to minute. But never any…actual violence.”
    “Oh, you’d be surprised. I pat down every client who enters for drugs and weapons, and I’m the only one who goes out on house calls. But sometimes guys smuggle things through in their cavities. Deloy got a guy once who had a urethral sounding already shoved up his wang and he wanted Deloy to suck on it. When he did, though, the guy cropped his bare ass so heavily he drew blood, and Deloy wound up choking on the sound that popped out of his urethra. Uncool. Deloy had to stand his ground and tell the guy he was out of there. Guy didn’t want to go.”
    “How’d he eventually get rid of him?”
    “Well, he pushed the button that called me. I came with my Glock.”
    Gideon said, “Right. See what I mean? He still needs to be saved by someone. Prospects need to save themselves, and then some. We’ll see. Time will tell. Dingo didn’t look like anyone who’d succeed in the club, either. He was more suited for Dr. Who marathons, helpful if you need to plant a bug or tracker on someone. But he’s proven his mettle in a few situations. He’s a hell of a shot, actually. I’m about ready to give him his top rocker. Let me ask you. If you open this martial arts studio, would you be living down here? It’s too far to commute.”
    I folded my arms and sighed heavily. “I’ve thought of it. At least until the studio gets on its feet and I find someone I trust to take over. To be honest, I’m getting burnt out on the escort biz. I’m thirty. That’s the upper limit of old in that biz. Course, I’m not going to put anyone out on the street. My assistant Brody can easily take over. He knows the ropes.”
    Gideon folded his arms too, facing me head on. “I’ll be blunt. We need men. We don’t have enough guys to make a quorum. I had to recruit one of the riding club guys, and he’s like sixty-five and ready to retire. I had to rope in a longtime hang-around who’s got a PhD from Stanford. He’s running my mine and he’s the club secretary, and he went to the mat for me when that warped fundy Allred Chiles kidnapped my old lady and went fruit on everyone. But in a serious shoot-out situation? Let’s just say these guys have yet to prove their starch.”
    I nodded. “Send ’em all to my studio,” I said, half-serious and half-joking.
    “For sure. But sometimes, no amount of martial arts or shooting lessons will make a good outlaw. And I need one tomorrow. Someone with proven grit using firearms in a stressful situation. Like you, coming to the aid of your men. And I heard you used to be proficient as a stickup man.”
    “It’s not my favorite thing in the world. I only use it if I feel someone’s safety is being threatened.”
    “Exactly. I don’t expect that’ll happen tomorrow. I just need someone to deliver a load inside Cornucopia. We had a deal with Allred Chiles and we’re continuing it with Parley Pipkin and the new heir apparent to the throne, a guy named Verlan Turley. You know him?”
    “Pipkin was always Chiles’ right-hand man, but this Turley must’ve been after my time.”
    “There’s been a huge power play up there since Chiles left a void, as you can imagine.”
    “And the void was left by…” I trailed off, waiting for Gideon to finish my sentence.
    His reply was sharp and swift. “An ATF agent who saved the asses of myself and my old lady.