Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Mercury
Taking care of Finley’s lease at both her apartment and the shop she worked at before those jackasses got their hands on her, allowed me to release my pent-up anger.
They thought they were gonna spew some bullshit at me and I’d cower, but if my cut didn’t prove that theory to be inaccurate, my fist to their faces did.
I can take a lot before I lash out, but those two fuckers spouted off some crap and I lost my temper.
“Are we gonna be sued, Merc?” Gemini asks with a grin on his face. “I really hope we are because I’d love nothing more than to watch them cower before a judge once all of the facts are released.”
“I dare them to take me to court,” I say, harrumphing.
“At least I got them to issue her last few paychecks, since she went missing the day they did payroll, then of course, she missed the next one as well. She’s square with them as far as that goes.
Now, her landlord is a bastard, and wouldn't give her security deposit back because, ‘her being gone so long meant a deep clean had to be done to get rid of the rotten food smell’ as if she asked to be abducted!” Stupid fuckers thinking they could try to put one over on me because Finley was a woman. Fuck that!
“Did you tell them what happened to Finley?” Midas asks, lounged back at our kitchen table munching on an apple.
“I gave them the CliffNotes version. They aren’t her family, I told them what they needed to know to release her shit,” I reply. “Still didn’t make a difference to her landlord, but I took satisfaction in getting her security deposit out of his face.”
Pisces snickers while Gemini shakes his head. “I see you’re still trying to learn how to win new friends and influence folks, huh, Merc?” he asks.
I shrug but stay silent. My cousins know how I am by now. I may not lose my temper often but when I do, it’s best to be on my side.
“Not to change the subject, but I emailed all the photos you sent me of what you were able to recover, she says nothing’s missing,” Orion inserts.
“Good to know. But, brother, you gonna be able to handle having her working in the shop with a blinged-out toolbox?” I question.
“Why not? She’s a beautiful woman, might as well have something pretty to put her tools in,” he says, shrugging.
When I step toward him, unaware that I’m even doing it, he throws his hands in the air and yells, “Not poaching, asshole, just making an observation. Who the hell cares what color her toolbox is or even her actual tools as long as she knows how to use them? I definitely don’t. ”
“Keep it that way, O,” I order. Not sure why I feel so protective over her, it’s not my norm.
It could be because I saved her from death’s door, or it could be for another reason altogether.
I’m not a psychologist, the reasons don’t matter to me.
Like my cousin, when my instincts kick into overdrive, I listen to my gut and don’t question the reason for it.
“Not interested in her in that way, Merc,” he snaps, gritting his teeth at me. “I need a good employee and she has all of the qualifications I’m looking for. As a matter of fact, she has more certifications under her belt than I do and that’s impressive as fuck.”
“Sounds like finding her is going to be beneficial to all of us,” Gemini muses.
At my glare, he adds, “In more ways than one, asshole. She’s going to help bring in money for the club once word gets around, plus, she survived those fuckers and gave you some invaluable information so you can keep digging around. ”
“You’re right,” I concede. “I’m sure her being a woman might put some people off as far as working on their rides, but honestly her reputation precedes her.
One of her former coworkers said the reason the big boss was so mad was because when some of their customers found out she wasn’t there, they took their business elsewhere. ”
“Hopefully to us once the word gets out,” Orion giddily says, rubbing his hands together. “Told you she’s not just a pretty package, Merc.”
“Wanna keep those teeth in your mouth, Orion?” I ask, my fists tightening at my sides.
“Why? You jealous that mine are pearly white and yours aren’t?” he teases.
“All you’re gonna have is gums if you keep yapping them lips of yours,” I threaten.
“Does your asshole burn talking all that shit, cousin?” Orion asks, keeping his childish comebacks coming.
“Do you see my foot, O?” I probe.
“Sure do,” he replies, glancing down at my foot.
“Know what size I wear?” I continue.
“Gigantor size,” he responds, snickering.
“I’m a fourteen, think I could fit it up your ass? Wanna keep talking and find out?”
“Not my kink, brother,” Orion remarks, scrunching up his nose.
I reach for him, intent on strangling him but Gemini jumps up from his chair and puts himself between us. “He’s egging you on, Merc, and you’re letting him. You know his love language is prankster.”
“More like professional jackass,” I mutter, stepping back and putting some distance between us. Changing topics, I ask, “How’s Skippy doing? Any change?”
“She’s still in a coma and they aren’t ready to pull her out of it yet. Her brain is still showing signs of swelling,” Orion answers, turning his head to the side so we can’t see his reaction to my question.
“She’s strong, she’ll pull herself out of it,” I say, not wanting to rile him up more than he already is.
“She is,” he agrees, nodding his head. “But she’s human and the damage she survived was substantial. They’re worried she may have some permanent delays.”
“Delays, how?” I probe.
“Developmental,” he murmurs. “They’re preparing me for her to need to relearn all of the basics again as if she’s starting from scratch.”
“Sutton’s not taking it well,” Gemini adds.
“Between Jeffries and his bullshit, and now Skippy’s situation, she’s barely talking, doesn’t sleep and I have to force food down her throat.
It’s why y’all haven’t seen much of her because she’s either holed up in her office working or at the hospital providing additional physical therapy the therapist showed her.
Something’s gotta give, brothers, because I’m beyond worried about her right now. ”
“When you’re not with her, I am,” Pisces reminds him. “I won’t let anything happen to her, Gem.”
“I know you won’t, but that doesn’t make this situation any easier for me,” Gemini acknowledges. “How often do you have to remind her to eat, to rest, to take a damn breath?”
“Not as often as I did in the beginning. She’s coming around. Slowly, but surely,” Pisces promises.
“I think when Skippy is settled, Sutton will too,” I say.
“When are they moving her to rehab?” Midas inquires.
“Not until the swelling has gone down and they’ve weaned her from the medication that’s keeping her comatose,” Orion replies.
“Wouldn’t it be better to get her someplace where she’ll have a routine?
” Midas continues asking his questions, which has me hiding a smile because I know what he’s doing.
He’s managed to diffuse my anger and redirect Orion.
All I can say is well done, because I no longer want to throttle my own flesh and blood.
“According to the professionals, she’s in the best place she could be right now. If there’s an emergency or a setback, she has a neurologist there as well as her surgeon,” Orion explains.
“Why couldn’t one of us have chosen to go into healthcare?” I ask, my head thrown back as I look at the ceiling. “That way, we’d understand a helluva lot more than we do and wouldn’t have to rely on internet searches to fill in the blanks.”
“Yeah, well, considering none of us were all that great with math or science, and I point to the time we threw the fetal pigs away before they could be dissected, I think the medical world is breathing a sigh of relief that we’re who we are,” Gemini says, chuckling.
“I mean, who the fuck thought it was funny to set up grills with those nasty, formaldehyde filled piglets on them? The whole commons area smelled for fucking months!”
“Wasn’t me,” Pisces and Orion say in unison.
Raising my brow, I look at Gemini and add, “And it wasn’t us, so… who else could it have been?”
“Nobody with a sense of smell,” Gemini counters. “But that does raise the question of who could’ve done it.”
“The only other person as appalled as we were was…” I clamp my mouth shut and turn toward Gemini, both of our eyes widen as we come to the same conclusion.
“Couldn’t be,” Gemini muses. “She was scared of her own shadow back then, remember? There’s no fucking way she would’ve done something so deliberate especially since the likelihood of getting caught was so substantial.”
“She did protest the biology lab with picket signs and caused a stink about cruelty to animals,” I remind him. “But outside of that, I have to agree with you. Maybe the Sutton we all know now would do it, but back in the day? Nope, I don’t see it.”
“All I know is I’ve never had a problem with my nose hairs since,” Orion teases. “Singed those bastards clean off.”
“Now you’re going to own up to it?” I ask, shaking my head at him.
“Hey, in my defense I didn’t do it alone,” he says, twisting in his seat and pinning Pisces with a glare. “And it wasn’t my idea either.”
“Believe it or not, we took our cues from your woman,” Pisces admits, jabbing his finger at Gemini. “She came up with the entire plan, we just followed through with it.”
“What?” Gem and I ask at the same time, our heads rearing back from the shock. Sutton was a goody two shoes back then, it’s hard to picture her being the ringleader of a revolt.
“She was our lookout, though,” Pisces adds. “We made her leave before we fired up the grills because we didn’t want her going home smelling like that poison. Bad enough that the two of us had to strip down to our boxers and throw away our clothes. Still miss that T-shirt, too.”
Looking at Gemini, I state, “Your woman has many hidden talents, brother. Wonder what other secrets she’s got?”
“The world may never know,” Sutton says, having walked into the room. Then, she glares at Pisces and Orion and starts to fuss. “Whatever happened to ‘we’ll take it to our graves’ boys? When did y’all become tattletales?”
“They forced it out of us, Sutton,” Orion whines. “It was brutal! We caved, we’re sorry.”
I shake my head at his antics. “Y’all are on your own. I’m going to see Finley and let her know what I’ve managed to accomplish on her behalf.”