CHAPTER 25
Shar
After talking to Sharp over his first coffee, and his only cigarette of the day, I’ve persuaded him to take Zara and me to the diner for breakfast. He told the MC that they had to eat there more often and hadn’t, as yet, been himself. I love Lira’s food, and the meals here now are stunning, but a change of scenery is always welcome.
Zara has a brief meeting with everyone at the salon again today, just to make sure they are all comfortable together before opening day. Sharp can attend as a representative of the club, and that way the employees will have a face to associate with it.
Meeting him at my SUV, I throw him the key fob and decide to have a lazy day of it. Looking surprised, he snatches it from the air and unlocks the SUV. Walking quickly to the passenger side, he grabs the door handles and opens the front and rear doors for myself and Zara.
“Thank you, Uncle Sharp,”
Zara says, giving him a beaming smile.
Sharp replies, bowing as he does so, “No problem, Princess.”
There seems to be a real connection between the two of them, and that surprised me. I’m more surprised by Sharp than I am by Zara. He has never given the impression of any paternal instincts that I’ve seen. Leaving the compound, we all give Joel a wave and a smile. Sharp smiles at the prospect on the gate, but it makes me shudder, as it is such a predatory smile.
The drive to the diner is relaxing, and we chat and laugh the whole way. I notice Sharp keeps grinning to himself and I wonder why. I’m not going to ask. Once at the diner, we find a booth and I watch Sharp as he gives everything the once over. The server approaches and I see her expression change as she looks Sharp over like a piece of meat and she dismisses Zara and me as mere baggage.
Making sure I read her name badge as she reaches our table, I speak first before she can address Sharp. “Annmarie, we’d like a black coffee, no sugar, for my husband, chocolate milkshake for my daughter and a tea for me, please.”
Speaking in a voice that is so sickly sweet it almost drips goo from my lips, I see Sharp and Zara give each other a look.
Before she can utter a word, I’m cutting her off again. “Can we also have an extra-large breakfast for my man, and two of the healthy breakfast specials for my daughter and I? Thank you, Annmarie.”
Seeing that she is desperate to get a word in with Sharp, I wonder how she will try. Leaning over the table and pretending to wipe it with a napkin, she bats her eyelashes at Sharp and asks if he’d like cream and sugar with his coffee.
“I tend not to have cream in my black coffee, as my wife just told you. Annmarie, is it?”
Hearing the tone of Sharp’s voice, she scurries away to the counter and places our order.
“Well, Uncle Sharp, it appears that I’ve been adopted and you’ve been, well, I’m not sure what you’ve been? Is shanghaied the word?”
Zara giggles and looks at me for an explanation, as does Sharp.
I finish laughing at their quizzical looks just as the drinks arrive, but we have a different server.
“Hi, Madison. What happened to Annmarie? I thought she was our server today?”
I ask in a pleasant voice, and immediately see a guarded expression come over her face.
“She’s just taking her break, so I’ll finish the order for this table.”
She gives me a forced smile, which is so false it could just be a damn mask.
“How can she be taking a break this early in her shift? She can’t have been here more than a couple of hours. What did she tell you about us? Don’t try to protect her, either. I own this diner and I want an answer.”
Sharp looks at Madison, and I see the realization hit her as she finally takes notice of his cut.
“I think you should take this up with her. I’m paid as a server, not a manager. I’ve seen something coming since she started with us. Perhaps you should talk to Sourdough, the cook. He’s our go-to for anything of this nature.”
Madison turns to leave, and I stop her in her tracks.
“Madison, wait a minute. You remember me? I came in with Crack a few days ago.”
She looks at me and I see recognition there. “I know you are a valuable resource for this diner, and everyone knows you as such, so what’s going on?”
“Annmarie told us you had been rude to her, and that she doesn’t get paid to be disrespected, so she wouldn’t be working until you guys left. Sourdough told her she could work in the kitchen until then, but she burst into tears and went out the back door of the diner.”
Sharp gets up from the table and heads off to the kitchen. Madison looks around the diner and I can see that she wants to get on with serving the other customers, most of who seem to be interested in what’s going on.
“You carry on, Madison. We’ll have this sorted out in no time.”
Watching as she dashes off to a waiting table, I notice Zara looking around the diner.
“Shar, there are dishes piling up everywhere. I’m going to give her a hand and get the place back to how it should be.”
Walking beside her, we start clearing tables and I grab a cloth and spray bottle from the servers' area, wiping down as we go.
Once all the tables are cleared, we return to our table and wait for Sharp to return. By the time I've finished my tea and Zara her milkshake, he is back. A few seconds later and Annmarie brings out our meals.
Looking at the state of her face, she has been doing some serious crying. Her eyes are all puffy, her makeup is a mess, and she’s sniffling as though she has the flu.
“Before you serve anyone else, go sort yourself out. You look a damn mess, woman.”
Sharp looks none too impressed with her and I can’t wait to hear what went on in that kitchen.
“I assume she told everyone some bullshit story to get out of serving us?”
I look at Sharp with raised eyebrows and Zara leans forward, elbows on the table, her food temporarily forgotten.
“Yep. She told them you spoke to her like a piece of trash and called her a skank just because she was polite and smiled at me. She should be in a drama club the way she hams it up.”
Sharp shakes his head and loads his fork with his breakfast.
Grabbing his wrist, I stop him from lifting it to his mouth. “Oh, come on. There has to be more to it than that?”
“I put them all straight as to how she behaved, then put her on notice that if she ever did something like that again, she would be history as far as working here was concerned. Can I have my breakfast now?”
Shoveling the enormous forkful into his mouth, he lets a little sigh of satisfaction slip out.
“Honestly, men! They are such goofballs when it comes to gossip and storytelling,”
Zara gasps and starts attacking her breakfast, too. “I bet if it had guns and motorbikes, we wouldn’t be able to shut him up!”
Her mumbling has me giggling, and before I can ask her how she is so knowledgeable about men, I remember she has grown up around them. The rest of the meal is uneventful and we chat throughout, though I notice Sharp monitoring Annmarie the whole time.
Before we leave, Sharp visits the kitchen again, and we hear raucous laughter erupt. He walks back to us and takes my arm and Zara’s hand as he heads back out to the SUV. Once we’re safely belted in and the engine is running, he turns and asks, “Where to next, wife and daughter? Seeing as you’ve kidnapped me from the MC and my VP has neglected to notice that fact, let’s have some fun while he works out where the hell I am.”
“How has Trip missed that you’re not in the clubhouse? He’d never miss that in a million years. What have you done, Uncle Sharp?”
Zara looks at him, and I see the humor in her eyes.
“I stuck a note on my office door stating, ‘Do Not Disturb!’ I’m waiting to see how long it takes for someone to check on me. I thought my phone would have lit up before now, to be honest. They’re not what you’d call ‘on the ball’ are they? Even the gate didn’t pick up that I was leaving the compound without an escort. I bet Trip will tear him a new one when the shit hits the fan.”
Sharp is openly laughing at his antics, and I have to say, I feel sorry for the prospect.
“Okay, Uncle Sharp. The salon next, please. If everyone has turned up early for the meeting, I can get it out of the way.”
Parking at the rear of the salon, Zara scans the lot and seems satisfied with the vehicles she sees. “I’m not sure what Taylor, the newest stylist, drives or if she even has something,”
she states.
Entering the rear door, we are greeted by laughter drifting from the room upstairs.
“Well, that’s always a good sign. Except no one has noticed the back door open and close,”
Sharp points out to Zara, who nods to the top of the stairs where August is standing, watching us.
“Welcome, ladies and gentleman. Come up and join us. We have coffee and pastries at the ready.”
Letting Zara and me go first, I can almost feel Sharp pushing us up the stairs to get at the pastries. I hope they brought plenty, though I doubt Zara and I will have more than one each.
Reaching the top of the stairs, August and the two stylists stand almost at attention. I’m impressed that all eyes are on Zara, as the boss, and that apart from quick glances, Sharp and I are ignored.
August steps forward and introduces Taylor to Zara. She looks like everyone's perception of a twenty-year-old 5’6”
librarian from a porn movie! Her hair, as you’d expect, is perfection. It is as ginger as you could imagine and has to have come from a bottle. Such a striking color can’t be natural, surely. It is hanging loose and reaches halfway down her back. She has red framed glasses encasing green eyes resting on her nose, and she is looking slightly over the top of them. There is little evidence of makeup other than a shiny lip gloss that only enhances her natural lip color.
Her white blouse and black calf length pencil skirt cover an hourglass figure and her breasts, even though I say so myself, are magnificent. A quick glance at Sharp, and I know it’s not just my opinion. Her legs are encased in nylon with black strappy heels to finish the vision that is Taylor.
Holding out her hand, she shakes Zara’s, then mine, then Sharp’s. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Zara. I‘ll endeavor to be the best I can be for your business.”
“I’m sure that if you are the best you can be for yourself, that will be enough in itself, Taylor,”
Zara responds. “Why didn’t you apply for the job when we did the first interviews? August said you knew about them.”
“I worked with Natalie previously and had no wish to work with her again, never mind have her as my boss. I wanted to tell you, but it wasn’t my place at the time. I’m just glad you saw her true nature before she could harm your business.”
Taylor looks embarrassed as she says this.
“Well, in the future, if you come across anything like that, you feel free to come and talk to me. It won’t reflect badly when you try to do the right thing.”
Zara is just such a natural leader at such a young age.
“Sierra, you’ve already met briefly when you gave her the job,”
August states.
Sierra is your stereotypical stylist. Blonde hair, makeup, jewelry. Slim but not quite skinny build. She isn’t the brash, loud character that her appearance first hints at, though. She is quiet, polite, and gives off an air of professionalism when she speaks.
“Welcome to the business, ladies. Let’s have a seat and I’ll introduce you to our business partner, Sharp, and my business consultant, Shar.”
Zara gives a brief explanation to her employees about Sharp and myself, then gives what I think is just the right amount of emphasis to the Rogue Legions MC being involved.
After thirty minutes or so, the salon team seems well suited, and I don’t see any potential character clashes within it. Sharp, I notice, has been paying a lot of visual attention to Taylor and her attributes. If Zara ever diversifies into a male barber shop, Taylor would be the ideal candidate as the manager. She would attract clients like bees to a honeypot.
Taking our leave, we are just walking across the lot to the SUV when the roar of Harleys echoes from Main Street. Oh my God, I think to myself. This is where Sharp is going to get his comeuppance.
Trip pulls up in front of Sharp, hops off his hog and goes nose-to-nose with Sharp. After shouting for a full two minutes, he stares at his Pres and waits for a response.
“It’s not my fault you’re crap at keeping track of one guy. It’s your only proper job, after all.”
Sharp leaves Trip raging and calmly climbs into the driver’s seat of the SUV. We head back to the clubhouse trailing a long line of laughing bikers and one very pissed off VP.