CHAPTER 12
Shar
Time is passing, and I still have a lot to do for the club before I start my travels. I know they are scheming to get me to stay longer. It’s so obvious it’s laughable. Trouble with the club is nobody has settled down, got an old lady or married. So, the only women are the club women, and they are basically skanks.
Grabbing my jacket as I’m going into town with Sharp this morning, I've set up a salon viewing for us, which pleased the realtor. It's clear they'll drop the price because they're so keen to sell it.
My phone rings and looking at the caller, I’m a little surprised. “Hi, Winter. How are you?”
“I’m good. What about you?”
“I’m good too. What can I do for you?”
I like Winter but I wouldn’t say we are close friends.
Winter giggles, “I’ve heard a rumor from Mia, of course, that you pulled a weapon in Sharp’s office, so I’ve come to the source to find out if it’s true or not. Oh, Target is here eavesdropping too.”
“Oh, well, it was all Target's fault…”
I start to tell the story, when I’m interrupted.
“How the fuck is it my fault?”
Target pipes up, but I can hear the amusement in his voice.
“Well, you taught me so well that when the door flew open, I whipped my Glock out and had it pointing at the stupid woman before I thought about what I was doing. You know, just like you taught us.”
Target chuckles, and I can imagine his face lit up with amusement. “Well, in that case, it is my fault, and I can live with that.”
“Wow, that is cool, Shar. I’m still slow on the draw, so to speak.”
Laughing again, Winter must turn to Target, “You need to spend more time with me on this reaction thing.”
“Oh, come on, Winter. You are just too lazy to do the practice. But you can shoot a dime without thinking about it, long range.”
Target grunts and I can image he just took a punch to the gut or an elbow. “Don’t be like that babe,”
follows which confirms my thought.
Knocking on the bedroom door gets my attention, and I shout, “Hang on, I’ll be with you in a minute.”
“Oh, are we keeping you?”
Winter asks.
“I’m just on my way out, but thank you for the call, and thanks Target for the great reaction time. Bye.”
I don’t hang around. I quickly close the call and open the door to see Trip standing with his arms folded over his chest and leaning on the wall with one shoulder.
“You ready now?”
He drawls, and I give him my best sarcastic smile before nodding as I pass him, after locking my bedroom door, of course.
Trip follows me down to the front door where I meet Sharp, who is giving orders to Pen and Gunner. I take no notice of their conversation and head to the truck, which is standing in front of the clubhouse with the doors open at the ready. I wave to Joel, who is now on the gate, and get a cheeky wave and wink in return.
Eventually, Sharp and Trip get into the truck and we head into town. Sharp looks over his shoulder at me in the back seat. “You okay there, Shar?”
“Yeah, I’m good. I hope this realtor is ready when we get to the salon, and I think the owner will accept a cut on the price of the place. It’s been standing empty for far too long. The other salon I’ve heard isn’t to everyone’s taste, and the owner likes to gossip far too much.”
Biting my lip as I think of ways I can mess with the realtor if needed. Mia always told me to be prepared, and that’s what I’ll try to be.
Arriving at the salon, I can’t help but smile to myself as the realtor is a different one from who I’d seen previously. But what is amusing me, and I mean highly amusing me, is the man keeps hitting on Trip. Now, Trip is a big man, who is giving Sharp a look that is asking if he can smack this idiot down. Sharp is as amused as I am and is not helping the situation at all.
“The salon has been vacant for quite some time, and I’ll be honest and say that if you offered lower than the asking price I think the owner would be happy to get this place off her hands,”
Thomas, the flirting realtor states, blinking his eyelashes at Trip.
Trip now seems to catch on to the fact he could use this flirting to our advantage and replies, which has both myself and Sharp struggling to not bust out laughing, “Well, little man, how much do you think this owner would drop financially for this place?”
Now, Thomas blushes like a teen, flutters his hands and gives the sweetest smile I’ve ever witnessed on a man. “I think if you push, you could get forty percent off the cost.”
But it’s the hum sound he makes after he finished speaking that has me spluttering with laughter.
“Oh, I’ll push alright,”
Trip responds, and he has a suggestive sound to his voice, which again has Thomas blush, but he giggles like a teenage girl.
Sharp is fed up with it all now and turns to Trip. “Okay, we’ve seen enough. The place has what would be needed. It needs cleaning, and it needs everything checked to verify it’s in working order. If it is, then we will put in an offer. Thomas, thanks for your time. Now I need my VP to come with me, as we have other business to conduct.”
Walking behind Sharp, I nearly slam into the back of him as he stops and speaks to someone. Looking around him I see it’s the mayor, and I only know that, as Snore had pointed him out while we were in town previously.
“I need a word with you, Grant,”
Sharp states, and it sounds like he’s not going to accept anything but that.
“Oh, okay, follow me and we’ll have coffee. Sabrina always keeps me a table in a corner so I can drink in peace.”
Mr. Stonewall walks toward the coffee place, and I give Sharp a questioning look.
“He’ll know if there are any businesses that are needed in town. That way, we’ll not mess with something that could easily fail. Come on, let’s get this done with. Trip, I hope you are not going to be bringing men back to the clubhouse, ‘cause you know the club women are not going to be happy about that.”
Sharp smirks at me as he turns, then whistles as he walks away. I hear Trip cursing under his breath and can’t hold back the laughter, much to Trip’s disgust.
Sitting with a coffee in front of me, I remain quiet as I listen to Sharp speaking with the mayor. They cover the formalities of politeness before Sharp gets fed up with that.
“What businesses does the town need that we at the club could cover? Nothing stupid either, not a fancy ass thing that nobody would want to spend money on. But something my boys could get their teeth into.”
Sharp is leaning forward and waiting for the mayor’s reply.
“Hm, that’s a good question. I saw you were coming out of the closed salon. Do you have eyes on that?”
The mayor now also leans forward, placing his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together.
“Yes, Gunner’s daughter is going to be training as a stylist and she’s going to own the place with the club as partners. We’ve had a good look at it and all seems as it should. We’ll put in a low offer and see what happens,”
Sharp replies.
“If you say it’s for a young woman to start out, and she has sponsors to help her, or even a plan you can share with the owner, I’m positive she would let you have it for a low price. She’s a good person, and she’ll be happy to help a young person get a start.”
“We can do that. I’ll get Trip to take a plan to Thomas.”
Sharp chuckles as Trip growls. Me, I remain silent but would love to have a good belly laugh.
“Apart from that, I’m thinking how much time are you willing to spend on a place? I have an idea, but it would mean someone probably living on the property.”
“Spit it out, Grant,”
Sharp snaps.
“Well, there is the junkyard on the edge of town. At the moment, it’s like a dumping ground. It needs cleaning up and organizing, but it is a business that is necessary, and would be profitable if run right.”
“That’s a good idea, and one I think RedLight may like,”
Trip adds to the conversation.
“What about the two that left? Would they like something like this? It could bring them back to the fold, and they’d not be at the clubhouse, so would feel less under the club’s control, but still answerable?”
I add to the conversation.
Sharp studies my face as he’s thinking, then winks at me. “That is a good idea, but I don’t know if they’d go for it. Let’s think about it, and I’ll speak to the officers for their thoughts. But Grant, that is something we can seriously think about.”
Grant must seize the opportunity as he quickly speaks again. “Think about a butcher shop, a tech store, and a hardware store. All these we have lost due to owners moving away from town. Now people in town have to travel to other towns or order it online, which takes time to arrive. You know the mail is crap at the best of times.”
“You know we don’t do illegal shit and need to expand because the bank isn’t going to hold up long if we don’t get some businesses bringing in the dollars.”
“I know you have cleaned up your club, and it’s been a good thing for the town. It’s surprising how many of the townsfolk think of you all as security for them, keeping out the bad that we hear about in other places. I’m sure the Sheriff is happier these days, as he’s gotten fat of late. I told him to get out more and stop eating all the cookies his wife makes him.”
Grant laughs at his own comment, and I’m not sure if the sheriff is fat or not, so I’m keeping quiet.
“Okay, I’ll get back to you on some of these ideas. Thanks Grant.”
Sharp stands and shakes hands with the mayor, and both myself and Trip follow suit before we all head back to the SUV.
Riding back to the clubhouse, I state my thoughts, “If the two men you had go nomad want to step back from the club some, but still want to be brothers, then they could take a look at that junkyard and maybe have a large trailer or build something if there is space. I don’t know what is there so my thoughts are random ones.”
“I reckon they’ll go for it, especially if they are given free license to do what is needed. They are good brothers, but I think going fully legit worried them as to how they were going to make enough cash,”
Trip states as he turns into the compound.
“We’ll have a discussion about it, but bring Croc into it, as he’s been a tight brother with them for years. He may be the deciding factor for them having a go.”
Sharp opens the passenger door, grabs his cut and opens the back door for me to climb out.
Once inside, I am met with Snore, who is looking to see if I have any bags to carry. “No, I have nothing for you to carry, Snore, but thanks for taking the time to check.”
“No problem. Anytime I can help, I’m up for it.”
Snore starts to walk away, then steps back to me. “I’m going to work at the garage, so I may not be around as much, but you know if you need me to give me a call.”
“I have you on my phone, and thanks for being a great friend, Snore,”
which I’ve said with great sincerity. He has shown he’s a friend and I more than like him as such. He’s like having a young brother who is yet to start the pranks.
Gunner passes me in the corridor as I head to my room, giving me a head nod as he passes, but then I remember something. “Oh, Gunner, have you got a minute?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
Stepping back towards me as he replies.
“You know that woman, Clarice?”
“Yeah, I know who she is.”
I cringe a little at the way he replies. “Well, can you watch out and warn her to stay away from Zara? I’ve told her she’s not welcome here or around anyone. Which, by the way, nearly got me in trouble with Sharp. But, if I catch her bullying Zara again, I’m going to beat her butt.”
“No problem. I’ll sure give her my thoughts on her bullying my girl, I’m doing my best to be a good father to Zara, and I’ve had to make a lot of changes to my life to do just that. I’ll not let someone like Clarice put a wrench in the works,”
Gunner snarls at the thought of Clarice causing drama.
“I also had a word with Zara about her dress code. She was going too far trying to look grown-up. But she has her head straight now.”
“I was going to speak to her about her dresses, but I didn’t want to piss her off. Being a dad on your own isn’t easy. If she’d been a boy, I’d a clipped him one, but I would never do that to Zara,”
Gunner sighs, and I can see cogs turning in his brain.
I squeeze his arm and smile. “You are doing a great job, Gunner. You know Zara told Mia you were a fantastic dad now, and that she wouldn’t leave you alone ever. That is a huge difference to when Mia got out of prison. Keep it up, Gunner, your daughter loves you.”
“Thanks, Shar. I am sorry about everything that happened with Mia. I’m ashamed of myself, but I’m doing everything I can to be a better person. Women, I have to admit, are not my priority, and my right hand has become my best friend.”
Gunner grins at me while wiggling his eyebrows. I burst out laughing because I can tell he is trying to lighten the conversation. I slap his chest with the back of my hand and laugh as I pass him to go into my room.
Three hours later, I’m standing in the kitchen talking with Lira. She’s made chili, which goes down a treat with the brothers. I wonder if she’s going to do garlic bread? Before I can ask Crack walks into the kitchen. “Hi, Shar, how are you doing?”
“I’m good. I want to organize going to look at the tattoo place, and the diner in a few days. You up for that?”
Crack leans on the back door frame and nods. “Yeah, I can do that. You got a minute?”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
Giving me a flick of his head to follow, I give Lira a what the heck look before stepping out the back door. As I clear the doorway, Crack grabs my waist, lifts me and pulls me around the corner of the clubhouse. “What!”
I exclaim right before he turns me around, places my back against the wall and slams his mouth down on mine.
Crack explores my mouth, slowly tasting me and savoring that taste, I’m sure. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me to his chest. I return the kiss, slowly sliding my tongue over his before sucking it gently. He tastes a little of peppermint, and it’s not unpleasant. I pull away and Crack places his forehead on mine as we look into each other's eyes.
Taking a moment, before I grin up at him. “That was like kissing my brother.”
Crack looks at me a moment before he also laughs. “Yeah, it was a bit flat, wasn’t it? Sorry to say, Shar, we have no spark.”
“No, we don’t. But what we do have is a great friendship, and if I had a brother like you, I’d be a very happy sister.”
Throwing his arm around my shoulders and kissing the top of my head, he chuckles, “Come on, sis, let’s go get a beer.”
That’s exactly what we do. We sit in the bar, drinking beer and talking about any kind of bullshit we can think of.