Swerve Chapter 2 #2
“He is. Most people are scared of him due to his size and dark color. They would never risk touching him.”
“Too bad because it’s their loss. How long have you had him? He seems well-tuned to you,” she observed.
“We celebrated our first anniversary just over a month ago. He was a gift from friends.”
“Wow, some friends if they got you a service dog. Those are expensive and take time to get one, waiting for years sometimes,” she remarked.
“They are, and I have wonderful friends. I hope we’re not interfering with your day. Where were you headed?” I asked.
She glanced at her watch, then frowned. “I hate to run, but I have something to do. It was nice to meet you…”
“My name is Swerve. Yours?” I asked.
“Swerve, hmm, I bet there’s a story behind that. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Swerve, and Dozer. My name is Electra. I hope you have a great day. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll meet again.”
Electra gave Dozer a final rub, then walked off after smiling at me and saying goodbye.
She headed down the street in the opposite direction that I was headed.
I wish she weren’t. As she got farther away, I regretted not asking for her number.
If it were the old me, I would’ve done it right after meeting her.
I’d always been a confident man before the accident.
Afterward, I remained that way in all things, except when it came to women.
I’d had several disappointments in the early years of my debilitation.
It has made me more cautious and less outgoing.
Until recently, that hadn’t meant I never exchanged numbers or had sex.
I did, but it had become less and less as I found the women always had ulterior motives for being with me.
It wasn’t because they wanted Tiago or Swerve as a whole. I hadn’t had sex in the past year.
Heading up the sidewalk and into Wrath’s Recovery, I silently mourned that a woman right out of my dreams had been next to me, and I hadn’t grabbed her and run.
It wasn’t the same sailing along in a wheelchair with her on my lap as it would be running on two good legs down the sidewalk with her over my shoulder or cradled in my arms.
Entering the building, I was greeted by the front desk attendant, Annette.
She was one of the first people to receive help at Recovery and ultimately stayed on as a staff member.
She was sweet and pleasant. She was somewhat timid until she got to know you.
However, she put people at ease. We needed that when they came in looking for help.
Since she’d been in their shoes, Annette was ideal at empathizing with them and getting them to let the club help them.
“Hello, Annette, how’s it been so far?” I asked.
She shyly smiled. “It’s been good so far, Swerve. Diablo said you were coming in today. I understand you have an interview later. Your office is set up. I’ve poured Dozer’s water, and I left a treat for him on the desk. I hope you don’t mind. He’s such a teddy bear, I can’t help myself.”
Those who were around Dozer a lot were freer with touching and making over him. He lapped it up. Annette came out from behind the desk to pet him and tell him what a good boy he was. He liked it, but his expression wasn’t as blissful as it was when Electra petted him.
“You spoil him and me, but we thank you. Why don’t you come back later and give him the treat? He should know who he has to thank for it.”
“I’d love that. I’ll wait until after lunch. We don’t want to spoil his lunch.”
I laughed. “I don’t think that’s possible. You said Diablo told you I’d be in. Is he here?”
It was ten after nine, but he didn’t spend all his days here.
He rotated through the various club businesses, checking in on them, while managing Wrath’s Prep & Restore with help from Crash.
When he wasn’t at one of those locations, he worked from his offices on the compound.
Sometimes that was in the clubhouse office, and at others, the one he had in his house.
“He called five minutes before you arrived and said he’d be here at nine thirty. He got caught up in something. He wanted me to tell you that he left a stack of paperwork he wanted your second set of eyes to check over.”
“Then I’d better get to work. Again, thank you, Annette. You’re a godsend. Come on, Dozer. Time to work.” I whistled so he’d leave Annette’s side and come to mine.
We worked our way down the hall to the office space Diablo insisted I have.
It was set up to make it functional for me.
The desk I worked on was adjustable, as was the office chair.
I had to get up and shift position often to prevent the pressure sores that I developed last year from reforming.
They had landed me in the hospital. I always said it was a good thing I got them, or Scorpion would have never seen Paige again. We both would’ve lost out.
To assist me in moving around, there was a set of parallel bars off to one side.
I could get to my feet and use them to support myself.
I wasn’t able to bear enough weight on my legs to walk.
However, I could hold myself up using my strong arms, so it was a good way to relieve pressure off my ass.
Another was the leather couch, which was positioned along one wall. I could lie down if needed.
I told the guys it was too much, especially when I wasn’t here every day.
I claimed it was a waste of money to get all those things, but they ignored me.
I found that my club did what they wanted in instances like mine, and I had no say.
When I saw this was one of those occasions, I thanked them for doing it and saved my breath.
I went straight to my desk, locked my wheelchair wheels, and reached for my office chair. I pressed on the levers to lock the office chair’s wheels. Dozer eased into position. I could use him to bear my weight as I transferred, or if I were to lose balance, he would break my fall.
When I was ready to make my move, I clicked my tongue twice.
He froze in place. I used one hand on the chair’s armrest and the other to grip a sturdy bar sticking out from underneath the top of the desk.
I heaved myself up and, switching my hands around while twisting my upper body, I was able to pivot on my feet and get myself into the chair.
Once safely seated and the bar pushed out of the way underneath the desk, and the wheels unlocked, then Dozer used his head to move my legs closer to the front of the chair, then he went behind it and pushed on the back with the top of his head until I told him to stop.
I was now fully seated and sitting at the desk like any person would.
Before, I would’ve done the transfer, used my hands to reposition my legs, then tugged on the edge of the desk to bring myself closer to it.
I still could, but with Dozer, I expended less energy.
I found that if I didn’t let him do things for me often, he would become almost despondent and mope.
Dozer needed to feel useful, so I stopped doing it all myself.
And he saved me from being so damn tired by the end of the day.
“Good boy, Dozer. Go rest,” I told him as I patted his back, then ran my hand a few times over the top of his head.
He gave a contented sigh, then he went to his corner and plopped, or more like thumped down on the doggie bed, waiting for him.
Yes, my dog was included in the preparation of the space.
I swear the entire club loved the beast. His water bowl was filled with fresh water, and his favorite toys were within reach.
I saw the box with the gourmet doggie treat inside.
It was designed to resemble a delicious cake that any human would love to taste.
This treat wasn’t the first one Annette had bought him at a gourmet pet food shop she found.
Annette tried to get me to take Dozer there one day to check it out.
It was set up to resemble a bakery slash coffee shop.
They served both human and pet delicacies there.
I hadn’t made it there yet, but I planned to one day.
A knock on my open door got my attention as I was pushing my wheelchair out of the way, yet close enough to reach if I needed to. It was Annette. She smiled as I waved her inside. In her hands was a steaming cup. She set it on the desk.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I know how you love coffee. I went ahead and prepared it. Tell me if it has enough creamer,” she said, anxiously watching me.
“Annette, thank you, but you don’t have to do this,” I told her as I lifted it to my mouth. I blew on it a few times before taking a sip. I groaned.
“I know, but I do it for others, and I wanted to do it for you. How did I do? Too much creamer? Not enough?” she asked.
I took another longer drink and then smiled. “You got it spot on. It’s like I did it myself. Thank you. And this T-R-E-A-T looks delicious. I’m almost tempted to try it.”
She giggled. “I don’t think it’ll taste as good as it looks. They do make ones for humans, and I can tell you they’re wonderful. Maybe—”
She was cut off by the rap of knuckles on the door. Standing there was Diablo. “Good morning. I hope everyone is good. Hello, Annette. Swerve, have you been here long?” my president asked as he came into the office.
“I’ll leave you two alone so you can talk. Diablo, I’ll grab you a coffee. Do you want it in here or on your desk?”
“Ahh, you’re sweet. In here, if you will. I have a few things to touch base about with Swerve. Or it can wait until I’m done, and I’ll grab it.”
“No, I’ll get it. I’ll only take a few minutes,” Annette replied, before hurrying out.
“Have a seat. I heard you got held up this morning like I did. Everything alright?” Diablo asked as he sat and kicked back in a chair on the other side of my desk. He stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles. He studied me.