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decisions.”
    “They’re gettin’ in deep.”
    Mack sighed. “Yeah they are, and
now that shit’s bleeding into club business.”
    That shit was mob shit and
although the club dealt with folks of all legal standing, mob shit wasn’t
something they were willing to get into bed with. Nika Kozlov had a pride
problem and he’d made connections with people in an effort to win a pissing
contest. Now those people were messin’ with the Dogs and they would have to be
dealt with.
    Mack squeezed the bridge of his
nose. “I’ll bring this up at Church. Gather the receiving documents, by
Tuesday, yeah?”
    Knight nodded. “No problem.”
    Knight headed to Eliza’s office
and Mack headed to his. He wanted to find Darien again, he missed her, but he
had too much to do and she’d be a distraction, albeit a welcome one at the
moment.
    * * *
    “Are you insane?”
Pauley bellowed.
    I rolled my eyes. “Pauley.”
    “No, just stop.” She waved her
hand as she paced the living room.
    It was just past midnight and
Pauley had walked in less than half an hour before. I was sitting cross-legged
on our sofa, Barney in my lap, watching Pauley put on an impressively dramatic
show.
    “You cannot date Mack,” Pauley
continued. “He’s a player, Darien. Next to the word ‘man-whore’ in the
dictionary, there is a photo of him. I don’t think there’s a woman in Portland
he hasn’t screwed.”
    “You?”
    That brought her up short. “What?
No. Ew!”
    I smiled. “Well, there’s one and
I know for a fact Kim’s another one, so that’s two. Pretty sure he didn’t
“screw” Dani, so that’s three.”
    “Ohmigod, Darien, shut up!”
    My phone rang in between her
yelling episode, so I answered it without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”
    “Hey, you okay?” Mack asked.
    “I’m kind of in the middle of an
argument with Pauley, can I call you back?”
    “Is that him?” Pauley snapped.
    “Yeah, you can call me back,”
Mack said.
    “Give me the phone,” Pauley
demanded.
    “No,” I snapped.
    “Darien,” she said in her mother
voice.
    “I’ll talk to you soon,” I said
to Mack, and hung up before Pauley could get my phone.
    “You can not date him,” she
said.
    “I know you forget this a lot,
sissy,” I said firmly, trying not to let my irritation and fatigue overwhelm
me, “but I am not a child and you are not my mother!”
    Pauley stared at me for a few
seconds. “You know he’s a lawyer.”
    I shook my head, wondering where
the hell my sister was going with this. “So?”
    “You hate lawyers.”
    “No, you hate lawyers.”
    “Oh, right.”
    I smiled. This was Pauley coming
down off the ledge. I just had to let her rage for a little bit. We were both
verbal processors, I just processed a little quieter than she did. I patted the
seat next to me and Pauley flopped onto it.
    “Pauley, I like him. A lot. A
lot, a lot. We’re getting to know each other. He hasn’t made any grand
promises... just that he won’t see anyone else while we’re getting to know each
other. I feel I can trust him at his word.”
    She crossed her arms and dropped
her head back to the ceiling. “I’m gonna grill Kim.”
    “Grill away, sissy,” I said. “But
if she’s his real friend, then she won’t tell you anything he’s not willing to
tell me himself.”
    Pauley rolled her head to me. “I
can’t handle the thought of you being hurt.”
    I shrugged. “I know, but I have
to grow up in your mind sometime, and is there a better looking guy to hurt me
than him?”
    Pauley chuckled. “In my mind?”
    “Yeah, you’re the one who still sees
me as a little girl.”
    She sighed. “You’re crazy.”
    “I’m crazy with a super hot
man... sort of.”
    “You got me there.”
    “I’m going to call him back.” I
smiled and slid off the couch. “You good?”
    “I’m going to get a beer and take
a bath.”
    I giggled. “You’re good.”
    Heading to my bedroom with Barney
following, I redialed Mack.
    He answered