Chapter Fourteen
~Nikolai~
Nikolai threw the last tire of the shipment up onto the rack where Rex caught it.
Rex gave him a thumbs up before disappearing into the metal contraption they used for organizing all of them.
While Rex could have used the lift or any of the other devices they had specifically for getting tires up to the second floor of the rack, it was just faster to chuck them.
Plus, Nikolai was pretty sure the young Bonesaw needed some time just to vent.
Rex Bonesaw was the baby in a family of strong-willed minotaurs with no idea of who or what he wanted to be.
So, while he idolized his older brothers, he also didn’t like to burden them with his problems. Which didn’t get rid of the problems. Part of being Jessie’s right hand was knowing when the crew needed help.
If someone was trying to pull a fast one over on them, if a customer was getting too rowdy for the desk staff, or if someone was being less than understanding with one of the techs, that was Nik’s job.
So, when he saw Rex needing a moment, he asked the younger Bonesaw if he could catch the tires. It didn’t take long for him to spill his guts. It started with some dame named Melrose. In the span of thirty minutes, they had put away the last hundred or so tires while Rex let it all go.
“You need me to talk to that Edwin guy?” Nikolai asked with a raised brow.
“Nah, he knows where to find me if he wants to do something about it. I think I’m done with men, Nik.
I’m serious this time. I’m only dating dames, but like sensible dames.
The kind who goes to class, worry about grades, and are majoring in like ergonomics.
” Rex stomped down the steps in quick succession.
Nikolai stopped, face scrunched up in disgust. “Ergonomics? You made that up.”
“Nu-uh! It’s a real major! It’s like the study of money and how it works, you know?
” Rex wiped his hands on the cloth hung over his shoulder.
Nikolai stared at Rex blankly. Nah, that’s not the word.
He searched under every rock in his skull, scrambling for ‘e’ words that were definitely not whatever the fuck Rex said.
Then, like someone slapped the back of his head, Nikolai spat, “Economics, you dumbass.”
“Potato, tomato!” Rex snorted, waving him off.
“Those aren’t the same!” Nikolai roared as he threw his hands up.
See if I ever help you unwind after a rough night, little shit.
The fluffy mechanic ripped his towel off his shoulder and tried to whip Rex with it, who went hooting and hollering deeper into the shop to avoid the rampage.
Nikolai scowled deeply but returned to his actual job of fixing the taillights on a tiny four door that rolled in that morning.
The family of kattos, cat-folk, who dropped it off were begrudgingly forking over the money for a job they could do at home if they had the patience.
Nikolai gave them a tiny chunk off, having told Penny to give them a ‘that sucks, buddy’ discount, when he saw they’d been fined by the council.
Pencil pushers didn’t give a shit about the normal people in the city who did their best. Yeah, sure, taillights are important. Could cause a crash. But fines for something they could have just asked them to fix?
Then again, Nikolai tended to be less kind to the council. Part of being the orphaned child of two people the council chased out of town for ‘crimes’. Chased also might be a bit of an exaggeration. His parents ran instead of letting the Enforcers get close.
Nikolai stopped, midway through unhooking all the tiny little wires, to think about his parents.
He’d lost all contact with them early. His aunt said it was the only way to keep him safe from the council.
So long as the council didn’t know they had a kid, his folks were just two people who got away.
Can’t be a target if they don’t know you exist.
“Hey, uh…Nik?”
“Yeah!” he called out, unplugging the light finally and pulling it out with him as he stood up.
He turned from his project to the two full-plate mail wearing Enforcers walking across the parking lot.
Ah, my other job. Nikolai glanced at Oats, the skinny tech who alerted him. “Let Jessie know; I’ll handle this.”
Nikolai dropped the dead lightbulbs in the trash on his way out of his bay.
The Enforcers stared him down. An elf with long, minty ears to go with his dark green hair.
He was tall and bulky in the shoulders but wasn’t as thick as the orc beside him.
Both of them walked as casually as one could in heavily plated armor, both sporting the King’s Fall crest of a magic dragon over a skyscraper.
Nikolai was more interested in the massive broadswords attached to their backs. Sent the big boys, huh?
“Can I help you?” Nikolai raised a fuzzy brow. He stood as nonchalantly as he could, wiping his fingers off on a rag.
“Yeah, the owner around?” The orc crossed his arms as politely as one can, when they’ve come for a shake down, over his chest. He arched a perfectly sculpted brow that told Nikolai the man spent too much time looking in the mirror. It made the mechanic set his jaw hard.
“He might be, depends on what you need?”
“You a manager of the establishment?” The elf put his hands on his hips, spreading his legs out like he was meant to be some sort of wall. A wall Nikolai could knock over with little effort. But Jessie and he agreed, fucking with the Enforcers was a bad idea.
“I am,” Nikolai added with the same, uninterested, monotone.
“My names Enforcer Johnson, this is Curtson,” the elf motioned to himself then to the other enforcer at his side, “we were tipped off that something contraband might have been slipped into your latest shipment. Just want to take a look.”
Now, who fucking snitched? Nikolai’s fingers tightened around the rag covered in oil as he eyed the two down. “We got tires this morning. Unless heavy rubber is contraband, ain’t nothing out of the regular.”
“A different shipment then. Your business is pretty busy. Bet you get all kind of things dropped off.” Curtson gave him a smug little smirk.
“’S’not possible, we inventory everything that comes in. Everything’s accounted for.” Nikolai shook his head, taking a full step back from them. He draped the long, soiled rag over his shoulder. “Might want to tell your source to rethink where they sent their dirty laundry.”
“We’ll do that. But while we’re here,” Johnson cocked his head playfully, smirking just as equally as sleazily as his parter. “You wouldn’t mind showing us the dockets of you last few shipments?”
“You got a fucking warrant?” Nikolai raised his brows.
“Don’t need one if you’ve got nothing to hide,” Curtson’s tone dropped to a low warning.
“We don’t,” Nikolai countered with a flare of his nostrils, “but you’re gonna need a warrant to dig through my trash. Let alone my paperwork.”
Johnson and Curtson’s faces fell and it was the most vindicating feeling in the world to see two smug motherfuckers turned down. They glanced at each other, sharing a knowing huff, before they turned from him slightly. Johnson spoke with a huff, “Well then, you have a good day, mister…?”
“Nikolai, shop manager.”
“Good day, Nikolai the shop manager. I’m sure we’ll be back for another chat,” Curtson added as he stalked back up the driveway.
Nikolai stood in the center of the asphalt, watching them till they were gone around the fence of the property.
Once he was certain they were beyond the sidewalk, he stomped back to the bay.
Jessie emerged from the backyard moments after Nik plucked the new light out of its package in the trunk where he’d left it.
“What happened?” Jessie leaned against the side of the car as Nikolai worked to plug everything back in with precision.
“Someone told the enforcers there was something wrong in that last shipment.” Nikolai stood up, wiping the sweat off his hands so he could get dry fingers on the other side.
He glanced at Jessie who furrowed his brows, studying the tires.
When he looked back, Nik shook his head.
He nodded toward the back right corner, the lower bay storage under Bay 1 where things that didn’t see the light of day went.
Jessie’s eyebrows shot up on his face. Nikolai leaned into the trunk again, plucking at the other wires while Jessie slipped in beside him.
Nik whispered hoarsely, “Either we got a rat, or the Devil does.”
“It ain’t us.” Jessie glared at the dusty trunk liner. He plucked at it mindlessly as he worked the puzzle over in his head. “Well, not us in the shop.”
“You think someone else got upset about Bobby?” Nikolai peeked at his boss, crammed with him in the trunk.
His heart skipped a beat. They were too bulky for to be in there together.
Their shoulders bumped and the lid could fall down on them at any moment if they so much as jostled the car.
And yet, Nik’s only focus was on Jessie’s mouth as the other man worried it.
Jessie’s gaze drifted far away as he thought through something.
Focus looked good on him and it made Nik’s stomach clench up.
He replayed last night and his fingers flexed unconsciously. Katarina pressed between them, the heat of kisses, touches, her body grinding against him. He was lost to the sensation. To the desire.
And maybe he wondered if they’d let her stay the night in the bed…
if that morning would have been different.
If he’d wake up to a bed full of bodies that were all jumbled together like a slutty puzzle.
Would he have woken to Jessie’s muzzle in his face and Katarina’s face in his chest, their arms loops and tangled?
Would Katarina have yawned cutely and scratched his back?
Would Jessie have murmured good morning to him with funky breath and sweet kisses?
Instead of waking up alone in Jessie’s bed feeling somewhat used and abandoned?
Nikolai hadn’t let himself feel that fully that since the initial sting of it that morning.
Because those kind of feelings only created longing.
Katarina wasn’t meant to stay. She deserved a life free of them.
And Jessie? Well…Jessie had a lot to deal with other than Nikolai’s silly feelings. The Enforcers being one.
Right. Patience. Right. Nik looked away and returned to fiddling with the damn wires.
“Bobby made it known his feelings were hurt about how we handled it. That’s why Pops showed up this morning. So, it’s safe to say, someone else is none too pleased with me. Maybe you ought to go out tonight?”
“And go where?” Nikolai snorted, not bothering to look at his boss as he finished his work. Jessie left the trunk.
“The casino?” Jessie said it more as a question.
Nik extracted himself from the trunk. The mechanic arched a brow at his boss who smirked, “I’ll let the Devil know you’re coming, make sure you get star treatment.
Maybe you and his head of security can figure out where the security risk is coming with? ”
Nikolai nodded. “I’ll wear my best pants.”
Jessie chucked, winking at Nik. It shouldn’t have, as Jessie winked at him all the time. But for some reason, as Nik closed the trunk and cleaned up the last bits of his mess…he felt a creeping blush under all his fur.