Chapter Four
M y chin rests in my palm as I push cereal around in the bowl, too nauseous to eat.
I don’t want to go to work.
I knew they were into some shady shit, but knowing and hearing are two different things. The guys they were talking to screamed danger, and the amount of money they were talking about? Unbelievable. You only get cash like that for doing something really messed up or from a dead relative that you didn’t know existed that left it to you in a will.
Do I really want to be tied up with a club like that? Surely whatever they do will rub off onto me, intentionally or not, right?
My brother Lee comes stumbling out of his room, blurry-eyed.
“Morning,” I say, earning a grunt from him as he rifles through the fridge.
“Where’s Mom?” he asks.
“Work.”
He nods as he frowns down at his bowl. “I fuckin hate cereal.”
“Watch your mouth,” I scold with no heat, making him roll his eyes.
“You have to admit this shit sucks,” he says as he eats a spoonful.
“Food is food,” I mumble as I put a spoonful into my mouth.
He’s right, though, it sucks. It tastes like what I imagine saw dust tastes like. At least the kind we can afford. Maybe one of those expensive brands tastes better.
If you quit, you won’t even be able to afford cereal, let alone anything else.
Standing, I quickly dump my cereal into his bowl, my appetite completely gone.
“Hey!” he grumbles.
“Sorry, I’m late to work.” I rinse out my bowl and set it on the rack next to the sink before picking up my backpack.
“Why don’t you carry a purse like a real girl?” Lee asks.
I roll my eyes. “I hate to break it to you, but what kind of bag you carry doesn’t determine your sex.”
“Are you sure? You do work on cars and always have grease under your fingernails,” he teases.
“Positive. Gotta go, see you tonight,” I say as I slam the door behind me.
I make my way down to my car and get in.
“Come on, baby, don’t let me down,” I mumble to myself as I turn the key. I pump my fist in the air when it catches on the first try, starting right up.
With the radio playing, I make the drive to work. Part of me wants to quit, yet I know I can’t. Smoke went out on a limb hiring me, and I probably wouldn’t find a shop as nice as his if I left.
When I pull up into the parking spot I’ve deemed mine, I groan when I see who’s waiting for me.
Shit.
Would it have been asking too much to sneak in without him seeing me?
Reluctantly, I get out of the car and head his way.
“Okay, lay it on me,” I say, rolling my hand through the air, putting on a brave face.
Gunner’s eye twitches.
I point to his face. “You know, I’ve noticed that your face does that a lot, you should probably get that checked out.”
Way to go, Sloane. Insult the man to put off getting yelled at and/or fired.
“What the fuck were you thinking snooping around last night when I told you to leave? Do you not realize what could have happened if anyone else had noticed you?” he says harshly, ignoring my previous statement.
“Trust me, walking in on your little powwow wasn’t exactly on my bingo card,” I snap. “My car wouldn’t start, and then I heard raised voices, so I got curious.”
“Yeah, well curiosity killed the cat,” he says as he pushes off the wall. “We warned you when you started that you needed to keep your nose out of club business, and you defied that direct order last night. Why shouldn’t I tell Smoke that I caught you?”
“Well, if you weren’t doing shady shit with even shadier shit, me walking into my place of employment wouldn’t be that big of a deal, now would it?” I throw back despite my racing heart.
I know I thought about quitting for two seconds, but the thought of losing my job makes me sick. It’s one thing if it’s my choice, but it’s another if I’m let go.
“I see it’s hitting you now, isn’t it?” Gunner says smugly as he crosses his arms over his chest. Those big fucking arms that I can’t help but glance at.
I’m an arm girl, so sue me.
Huffing, I roll my eyes. “It won’t happen again. The next time my car won’t start, I just won’t walk back inside if you have guests. Happy?”
“Thrilled,” he deadpans.
“Great.” I look at my wrist that doesn’t have a watch on it since I don’t own one. “Now if that’s all, I’m going to go clock in…before I’m late and really lose my job.”
I brush by him, my skin tingling where it meets his as I head inside.
It really is a shame that he looks as good as he does and he’s as big of a raging asshole as he is.
You could always put a gag in his mouth…that’s one way to shut him up.
I shake my head and sigh.
“Hey shorty, you good?” Jagger calls out.
“I’m peachy, you?”
“Stop your chatter and get to work,” Gunner snaps as he comes in behind me.
Jagger’s eyebrows wing up as he sends me a questioning look. I shrug my shoulders, silently saying who the fuck knows what’s wrong with him now .
“What crawled up your ass?” Tank asks out loud.
“None of your business. Sloane, there’s an oil change waiting in the lobby, get on it.”
“I can do more than a simple oil change, you know.” I say lightly as I shrug on my overalls.
“Yeah, well, maybe I’ll think about giving you something else once you’ve proved yourself,” Gunner throws back.
A gag. The guy definitely needs a gag. I wonder if I can get one on same-day delivery off the internet.
His eyes narrow as if he knows where my mind has gone. “What are you thinking about?”
“Oil. Now if you’ll excuse me…” I say sweetly.
Laying under the car, I should be working, but I’m not. Instead, I’m watching her.
The mouthy little thing who doesn’t know to quit when she’s ahead.
All day she’s kept her head down and worked, but I still don’t trust it. She came back into the shop and eavesdropped after I told her to leave.
She said her car wouldn’t turn over.
While I am inclined to believe her based on what her car looks like, it’s mighty convenient that it started right up after she ran out of here with valuable information.
I don’t trust her.
You don’t trust any woman.
Sighing, I look back at the underbelly of the car, willing myself to get to work so we can close out another ticket.
“Gunner, I need you,” Smoke hollers.
I don’t respond and wheel myself out from under the car. Grunting, I get up off the creeper.
“You okay there, old man?” the brat calls out without looking away from what she’s working on.
“Worried about me now, Trouble?” The name slips out without my permission.
She scoffs. “You wish.”
“Man, I can’t tell if you two really hate each other or if this is a form of foreplay,” Jagger quips.
“Ew…” Sloane says, her nose scrunching.
“Don’t be a dick,” I warn him, making him raise his hands in surrender. “I’m easily a decade older than her. Maybe more.”
Neither respond, thankfully. I’m not quite sure why I felt a small pang of hurt when she said ew. I don’t even like her, yet it bothers me that she doesn’t find me attractive.
Shaking my head, I walk toward Smoke and follow him inside the front area and into his office.
“You good?” he asks as he takes a seat.
“Fine. Why?” I ask as I sit.
My best friend leans back and studies me. “You seem off today.”
I shrug my shoulders. “Just tired is all. What’s up?”
“Two things. I heard from the president of Crossbones.”
“What did that fucker want?”
“He wanted to apologize for his VP showing up early and wants to rediscuss business after I told him we weren’t interested,” he says, making me scoff.
“That apology is bullshit,” I spit out.
“I know, trust me, I know.”
“We’re going to have to do something about them, aren’t we?” I lean against the doorjamb.
Smoke sighs as he rubs a hand along his jaw. “I have a feeling we will. I was hoping for a little more time to gather brothers before we go to war with another club.”
“If it comes down to it, we’ll be fine. Worst-case scenario, we call one of the other chapters to come in and help.”
Smoke shakes his head. “I don’t think it will come to that, but it is nice knowing that they are there if we need to.”
“There’s a chapter in New Orleans, right? Maybe they’ve had a run-in with these idiots.”
“They are only a couple of hours away. I’ll call their president and ask.”
“Smart. Is that all?”
“You trying to get away from me? I didn’t realize I was such bad company,” he teases.
I roll my eyes. “No, we just have a garage full of shit that needs done.”
“Business has been decent.”
I scoff. “Business has been fucking nuts. You and I both know we’re already in the black.”
“Coming here was the right call,” he muses before getting serious again. “Question.”
“Answer.”
“How’s Sloane doing?” he asks, making me bristle.
“Why, we get a complaint?”
This should be a good thing, but for some reason I don’t like the idea that someone might have made a complaint about her.
“No, but you spend the most time with her in the shop. As far as I can tell, she keeps her head down and gets shit done.”
“She does.” I cringe. “She’s faster at oil changes than some of the other guys.”
Smoke laughs. “Did you just compliment her?”
“Fuck off.”
He just laughs harder.
“If that’s it, I’m going to get back to work,” I say, slapping my thighs before standing. “You going to get a little grease on your hands today or are you going to keep being an office bitch?”
Smoke groans. “I’m so fucking sick of interviewing people, it’s not even funny. I hate having to deal with paperwork.”
“If only your old lady would quit the real estate game and come work for us.”
Before I’m even finished speaking, Smoke is shaking his head.
“She would do it, but I won’t let her. The woman lights up every time she gets a new client and sells a place. I won’t take that from her. I just need one of these guys to get an old lady that enjoys this shit. I hate hiring outsiders.”
“You hired Sloane. She’s an outsider.” I quirk my eyebrow at him.
He nods. “I did, but I have a good feeling about her. She might not be club, but she is club adjacent, and I think she’d have our backs if it came down to it.”
“I get it,” I say, even though I don’t.
Then again, it’s something I don’t have to understand. He makes the rules, I enforce and follow them.
I start walking toward the door and pause. “We have a bit before our next run, yeah?”
Smoke nods. “Yeah, it’s after the rally. Why do you ask?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know what made me think about it, but I just realized it’s been a minute since we did one.”
“Yeah, I meant to bring it up in the last meeting but forgot because of the Crossbones shit. Apparently, there was a supply train issue, so we’ve been told to hold tight. Savage isn’t thrilled,” he says, mentioning the president of the Lotus MC out of San Antonio.
They are another middleman. The Medina Cartel has a vast network to get their product into the right hands.
“You think he would be happy about it while he cleans house,” I say, remembering why Savage is the leader now.
We made the deal with his predecessor, Rogue, but when things went sideways, a new leader emerged. We don’t exactly know what happened, but from the whispers, it sounds like they had some members who planned a coup and failed.
“One would think, then again, not my business,” Smoke says as he begins to shuffle papers on the desk.
I slap the doorframe. “All right, I’ll be out on the floor if you need me.”
“Sounds good. If everyone finishes two projects each before eleven, I’ll order lunch in.”
“I’ll let the guys know.”
“And girl.”
I roll my eyes. “And girl.”
Leaving the office, I head back to the bays and see everyone busy at work.
I whistle, making everyone look my way. Sloane has a smear of oil on her cheek. She raises a brow when she realizes I’m studying her.
I shake my head, pushing thoughts of her out of my mind. “Bossman said if everyone finishes up two jobs each before ten thirty, he will order lunch in, so let’s get to work.”
Smoke might have said by eleven, but I rather lie and light a fire under their asses and make them speed up.
A little incentive never hurt anyone, right?