Rocco “Rock” Anthony, the President of the Lords of Carnage, slams his gavel on the heavy oak table, announcing that the meeting is coming to order.

“All right, you fuckin’ savages,” he calls above the din. “Settle the fuck down. It’s payday.”

A chorus of loud cheers greets his announcement, and then Rock turns the meeting over to Geno, the club treasurer.

Geno stands, his massive, barrel-chested body barely fitting in between the chairs and the wall behind us. Picking up a stack of white envelopes, he starts to hand out our earnings. One by one, he barks our names and slides one of the envelopes into our hands, each with our names written in his recognizable chicken-scratch.

By the time he gets around to me, some of the men are already starting to grumble. “A little fuckin’ light again this month, isn’t it?” Brick, our enforcer, growls. He’s holding his slim envelope in his hand like he’s weighing it on a scale.

“No shit,” Hawk agrees. “Christ, how the fuck much are we down this month? I was expecting…” — he peers into his envelope — “Shit, at least twice this much.”

Geno hands me my pay, which barely weighs anything in my hand, then runs a thick hand over his bald pate. “Yeah, it ain’t quite what we expected, brothers. There’s a couple reasons…”

“The protection deal for the new commercial development on the west side fell through,” Rock says flatly. “The developer got spooked.”

“God damn it,” Skid explodes, his thick brows frowning in anger. “I got bills to fuckin’ pay. My kid needs goddamn braces, the old lady says. How the fuck are we supposed to make ends meet like this?”

A few other voices join him, and a low murmur of dissatisfaction reverberates through the chapel. “Look,” Rock frowns, looking around at all of us. “I get it. I got stiffed this month, too. We’re all in this together. And know that if any of you are going through some tough financial times right now, the club’s got your back. I can dig into the reserves if necessary — though I’m gonna be honest with you, there ain’t much in it right now.”

“We gotta figure out some other way of making money,” Gunner says, cutting through the grumbling. “What we got going right now isn’t working. We need something more stable. Recession-proof. What with a bunch of the local businesses closing to the larger retailers, the protection shit isn’t as lucrative as it used to be.”

“Pussy,” Horse growls. “The pussy trade’s goddamn as recession-proof as they come.” He grins. “And you can’t go to a big box store to get it.”

“Truth,” agrees Skid with a short bark of laughter.

Rock’s voice rises above the others. “You seriously want to get balls deep, no pun intended, in running a whorehouse?” he counters. “Christ, the entire town of Tanner Springs would shit themselves. We’re trying to keep an amicable relationship with the esteemed citizens of our city here, brothers.”

“The women of Tanner Springs would shit themselves,” Horse corrects him with a leer. “The men would be just goddamn fine with it, I wager. Besides, I ain’t talking about a whorehouse. I’m talking about a ‘gentlemen’s club.’” Raucous laughter and knowing jeers ensue. “What?” he says, feigning shock. “Are you implying that we don’t require our customers to wear a suit and tie? I intend to offer only the highest caliber of pussy to our esteemed clientele.”

“The women of Tanner Springs should appreciate it, too,” Skid sneers. “The hot ones, anyway. We’d be providing employment. They wouldn’t have to work retail for barely minimum wage. Dancing is good tips.”

“You know that from experience, pretty boy?” Hawk snorts.

Brick pipes up then. “You know what? I’m all for this. Shit, we could use some new blood around here, too. The club whores are gettin’ a little stale for my tastes.”

“If you guys wanna do this,” Horse says, turning to him, “I got an in. Buddy of mine down in Elk River’s got a place. Calls it Cherry Pie’s. The fucker’s making bank, too.” He shrugs. “We could open up a Cherry Pie’s, Tanner Springs branch.”

“Let’s do it,” Brick urges, looking around the table. “What do you fuckers think?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rock says, spreading his hands. “It’s a little quick to go from ‘we need some extra income’ to ‘let’s start a pussy farm’ in five minutes, brothers.”

“We gotta do something, Rock,” Tank challenges. “If this protection deal fell through, then where’s the money coming from next month? Or the month after that? Or the month after that?”

“Look. I’m not saying no way. I’m saying that we’d be stupid to rush into something without thinking it through first, just because we need cash,” Rock bites out. “We have a stable situation with the people of Tanner Springs right now. We throw something together like this, it could upset a delicate balance here.”

“Yeah,” snorts Brick. “It’s the people of Tanner Springs you’re worried about.”

Rock cuts him a look of barely concealed anger. “You got something to say, you say it, brother.”

“I said what I had to say.” Brick’s voice rises a notch. For a couple of beats, there’s complete silence in the room. To my right, I can hear Gunner’s breathing.

“I say we put it to a vote,” Angel finally says in a loud voice, cutting through the silence. Rock flicks his eyes away from Brick, but says nothing.

“Second,” Horse nods.

Rocky’s face turns dark. “Okay. We vote. All in favor of going forward with starting up a pussy business, raise your hands.”

Hands go up, and a chorus of ayes, with Brick’s voice the loudest. I’ve seen him argue with Rock before, but it’s unusual to see our Enforcer clash so openly with the President.

“All those opposed,” Rock growls, raising his hand. He looks around the room.

The rest of the hands go up, including Geno’s, Gunner’s, and mine. It’s not that I’m opposed to the idea, but I’ve never been the type to rush into a room without knowing where the exits are. Angel’s been sitting motionless, lost in thought, during the vote. Finally, he slowly raises his hand as well.

“The nays have it, by two votes,” Rock barks, a glint in his eye. A low grumble of anger is the only response. “We’ll revisit this later, brothers. I hear you that we need to find some alternative sources of income. Anyone with any good ideas that we should look into, come see me.”

Church continues, with a couple other items of business that are less charged in nature, but the mood in the room stays tense. Eventually, we’ve run through everything that needs to be dealt with, and Rock looks around the room. “Any other new business? Hearing none…”

“Move to adjourn,” Brick says, his tone flat. He barely waits until Hawk seconds him before he’s out the door and heading toward the bar.

“Well, that fuckin’ went well,” Gunner mutters next to me as we stand to leave.