Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CRASH
Crushing the plastic bottle in my hand, I toss it in the trash.
Today is a fully booked day at the garage.
We have bookings coming out of our ears, and not enough hours in the day to fix everything. The flyers that we handing out at the festival brought us a fucking ton of business.
I take a breath and look around the space: cars are lined up along the side of the building waiting their turn. Thankfully, most customers left to come back later in the day, but some are waiting around.
‘Enjoying the view’ as a few women have commented. It does not help that today is so fucking hot that some of my brothers have taken off their shirts, so they look like those men out of a chick porn magazine— all sweaty and covered in grease.
Shaking my head, I laugh at Savage, who is making a show out of being watched. He keeps stretching in a dramatic way, or flexing his muscles, like a fucking porn star. The thing is, there are only women here, who have zero chance of getting sex out of him.
Fucking tease.
“Is it lunch time yet?” Rogue bitches next to me.
“You just ate like an hour ago.”
He shrugs, rubbing his flat stomach. “I am a growing man, brother and I fuck a lot, so I need the calories.” He grins.
“So, greedy and a whore. Got it.” I laugh.
“Hey, nothing wrong with that. I am single and ready to mingle.”
I bark out a laugh. “You did not just say that. Man, how old are you?”
“Fuck you. I am not that old. Thirty-eight is not old.” He looks offended that I suggested such a thing.
“Wow. Thirty-eight. Damn,” I joke, looking away to hide my smile.
“You are a dick.”
“A big one,” I joke back.
“Oh, fuck you.” There is no heat to his words, as he smiles at me.
“Sorry, brother, you are not my type.”
Now that makes him scoff and definitely offended.
“Bitch, I am everyone’s type.”
“Of course you are.”
I step way from being punched in the face, laughing as I walk over to the Bronco I have to work on today. It reminds me of Stevie.
It has been a few days since I last saw her, and managed to have our first kiss and make her angry at me all in one swoop. That kiss has been on my mind since it happened; I could feel her for hours after, taste her, and I wanted more.
Shame she hates me right now, and I do not blame her.
When I saw her, Racer was with me and so was Forge, and he told me to work my charm to find out if Stevie had been in contact with Val. Even though we witnessed what went down between them, Pres thought that girls being girls, they would get over it and start chatting again.
I fucking regretted agreeing to it as soon as I did. The way Stevie looked hurt plays like a loop in my head.
I wanted to talk to her, to see how she’d been. We had such a good time at the festival, and having her close for those few hours felt…right. It was nice to stop being “Crash” for a bit and just be Logan—with Stevie.
Back in high school, she was always around our group but kept a little distance. She never joined in the stupid stuff we got up to, but somehow she was always there on the edges, watching, laughing, part of it in her own quiet way.
Every now and then we’d end up talking, and that’s when her nerdy side came out. Her obsession with Transformers and car movies, which I loved, too. And yeah, of course I noticed how pretty she was. Hard not to.
Looking back, it’s clear how jealous Val was of Stevie. Bitching about how Stevie had an aunt to support her, albeit, a weird hippy type woman but someone there, or how Stevie had the new technology that she needed for something.
The difference between them was that Stevie had a part-time job and was happy to work for her money to buy things she needed, unlike, Val, Vinnie and me.
Then there was the other girls thing. Valarie hated me talking to other girls, even if it was in a friendly manner.
She would bark or growl at them, making them scared and run away.
Now thinking about it, Val was a fucking bully.
Damn, I was such a fucking idiot.
One time that sticks out to me is when we were at the beach, chilling and Stevie and I got into a friendly heated argument about the best Formula one team.
Val walked over to us, and made a comment about Stevie trying to steal her boyfriend from her, when she had no tits to back it up.
Stevie was hurt and when I defended her, Val was in a mood for the rest of the day.
Now thinking about how Stevie looks today, her tits look damn good— hell, all of her looks good.
“Crash, you good, brother?”
I blink, the noise from the garage suddenly loud. Looking at Rogue, I dip my chin.
“Yeah, man. Spaced out there for a second.”
“Maybe you need some lunch.” I laugh, as he wiggles his eyebrows.
“Fucking hell, fine. Let’s go gets something to eat before I tackle this beast and you start wasting away.”
He rubs his hands together like a child who was just told he can have a piece of cake before lunch. Walking into the clubhouse, we both sigh as our bodies are hit with the air-conditioning. I shiver as my heated skin cools.
The brothers are chilling around the table, relaxing in the coolness of the room.
Business has been great lately, picking up and keeping us all busy, and let’s not forget filling up the bank.
This is exactly what we wanted: the hard work finally paying off and giving us a little breathing room to enjoy the good times together.
Stepping into the kitchen, Tracie and Louise are making lunch.
“Ladies, what are we having today?” Rogue steps over, looking over Tracie’s shoulder at what she is stirring in the pot.
Louise laughs at how eager he is to eat.
“Boy, do you ever stop eating?” she asks him.
“Nope. Life is too short to not enjoy the good things.” He winks, and she shakes her head.
Like me, these women do not blush at what is said around here; we have heard it all.
Fuck, living with Slide, Maverick, Luna, and Calder would desensitize anyone to sexual topics, because they talk about sex like it’s grocery shopping.
“It is a chicken curry that I saw on one of those British cooking shows. It looked nice, and I know that you boys will eat anything we make, so I thought about giving it a try.”
“It smells fucking delicious.” He sighs.
“Can’t wait. I am starving. Rookie makes a mean curry, and something they call a stew in the UK. It is meat, and vegetables in a broth. So good.” I reminisce about what I would eat as a prospect in Fort Lauderdale.
Fuck, I miss those guys.
It was hard to say goodbye to them when they left after their last visit, but I know it was the better choice for me to come back here.
“CHURCH,” is bellowed.
“Oh, come on. I am fucking hungry,” Rogue whines.
“Here.” Louise hands him a small packet.
“You are a legend.” He kisses her cheek and then repeats the same with Tracie.
Once we enter and take our seats, Pres bangs the gavel, starting the meeting.
Racer begins. “Just got a call from old man Kirby, and he saw some thugs hanging around by the high school— looked like they were selling drugs. He saw baggies and a wad of cash.” Pres looks to me. “Valarie is with them, Crash.”
My fists clench on the table. When is she going to fucking learn that staying with this crew will get her hurt or worse?
“I have made my position clear on this, Pres. I tried talking to her, but she laughs and refuses to listen.” I sigh, not wanting this to be the final say but I have to. “I can’t help her, so what happens, happens.”
He studies me for a moment and nods, his eyes showing respect for my effort. Dropping my chin to my chest, I let out a breath. I realize I can't help someone who rejects assistance and pushes away those who care, time and time again. She clearly does not heed our warnings.
“Also, I want to say this. I am pissed that I had to hurt Stevie on the instruction of the club. I won’t be doing it again.”
You can hear a pin drop, but I had to say my piece. I fucking hated hurting her, but it was an order from my pres. Finally lifting my head, I look at Racer and see he is still watching me.
“You made a great prospect, Crash, and fuck, you have been a great brother. The club comes first and always.” I nod, knowing what he means.
“It was wrong of me to ask you to try and get information out of that girl for the sake of the club. Even if we did need to find out, because right now we need all the help we can get to get those cunts out of my territory.”
“I get it.” I sigh.
“Good. Now let’s mount up and see what we can do with the fucker at the school. Target, Flame, Crash, you are with me. The rest of you try and catch up on the garage work; we need happy customers to keep coming back.”
We file out of the room as soon as the gavel hits the wood.
“People always want to come back and see this, Pres,” Savage calls, rubbing his hands over his front, dipping one hand into his pants.
“Well, I have seen enough of that. Put ya dick away,” Pres calls and we laugh.
“I am offended, Pres.” His hand goes to his chest and he gasps.
“Okay,” Pres offers but Savage doesn’t say anything else. “Fuck me, everyone gets offended by everything these days.”
Bikes fire up and we head out. I keep picturing Valarie selling to young kids and it turns my stomach. I fucking hate that this is who she is now. A far cry from the girl I once knew.
By the time we get to the high school, they are nowhere to be seen. Not even students are hanging around, almost like they were tipped off that we were coming.
My anger boils in my veins knowing that people are happy to help ruin young lives for a quick buck. Where is the sense in that? It is all about power and money— greed is a powerful thing, and I have seen that over the years.
I just hope that we can sort this shit out before anyone dies.