Chapter 13
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
Mongrel
“This sucks,” I tell Doc as I rub at my shoulder. Thankfully, I didn’t tear my labrum again, but I definitely strained the hell out of the muscles, which is going to set me back. Still, I saved Gretchen, so any pain I’m dealing with now is negligible in the grand scheme of things.
“You should’ve waited, Mongrel,” Doc retorts.
“There was no fucking way that prick was getting his hands on Gretchen again. I don’t think she would’ve survived, Doc.”
I saw how hard it was for her to go through detox.
I wasn’t around when she was a teenager, obviously, but whatever nasty concoction Donnelly shot his victims up with had Gretchen going through hell until she was on the other side.
While she never took her sobriety for granted before, she’s always on guard now since that poison was so damn toxic to her.
It’s one of the reasons I had such a hard time accepting pain meds after my surgery.
Not like I would wave the bottle around or anything, but I didn’t want what she refers to as the monkey on her back to cause her to relapse.
“That’s twice now that you’ve been hurt because of my ol’ lady.”
“Fucking worth it, and hopefully, now that the cops have Donnelly in custody, his little foray into trafficking is done and dusted. I don’t think Nerd has found any other locations and since we already got the other two assholes, he didn’t really have a crew any longer,” I say.
“Not only that, Doc, but she didn’t hit my bike, it was one of those assholes of Donnelly’s, and even on Saturday, it wasn’t her yelling for me to help.
So, as far as I’m concerned, she’s completely blameless in both situations. ”
“This is setting your healing back,” he replies.
“Still worth it, Doc,” I state. “We may dabble in the gray areas of life from time to time, but nobody fucks with the Kings. While I wish we could’ve handled Donnelly ourselves, since he already had a warrant out for him, I suspect he’s going away for a long time.”
“Will you talk to her? She’s really upset that you got hurt, especially when she was trying to keep you from guarding her until I got there,” he asks.
“Where’s she at?” I question.
“In her room figuring out what to make for the next farmer’s market based on her sales from the weekend,” he says.
“I think she should double her inventory,” I tell him. “So, while I may have to wait to return to physical therapy for a few weeks, I’ll give her a hand. I can’t do all the fancy drizzling shit she does with the strawberries, but I can get them dipped at least. Same with the cake pops.”
“How long did Dr. Albertson say you had to wait before you went back?” he asks.
“At least two weeks. I’ve already scheduled my next session for the day after I go back to him for a recheck. In the meantime, I’m going to do the ‘easy’ exercises they gave me,” I reply.
“Go talk to my woman,” he instructs.
“On it, Doc. How she’s reacting kind of reminds me of some of the shit I went through while in foster care. But she’s a strong woman and has you as well as the club behind her.”
“Yeah, she is. I’m shocked that she hasn’t had any nightmares,” he confesses. “But when I asked her, she said there was no reason for her to stress and not sleep because the Kings, especially you, always had her back.”
“Well, hopefully after I talk to her, any guilt she feels will go away. At least I’ll have time to get caught up on the books and shit,” I tease. “I’ll be a fat and happy brother with current ledgers and plenty of sweets to soothe my soul.”
Standing. I head back to the room Gretchen uses for her business, leaving a chuckling Doc behind.
Walking into her craft room, I see her sitting in her chair, a notebook in front of her and a pen in her hands. “Whatcha doing?” I ask as I grab another chair and sit down next to her.
“Trying to figure out how much inventory to get ready for next weekend’s farmer’s market,” she says. “Mongrel, I wanna say I’m —”
I cut her off before she can finish. “Gretchen, like I just told Doc, you weren’t driving the vehicle that hit me and you didn’t stand in the middle of the farmer’s market and yell out for someone to abduct you! The fault and blame falls squarely on Donnelly and his crew, plain and simple.”
“But you got hurt again,” she whispers, tears filling her eyes.
Most of the time, when people get emotional around me, I’ll disassociate a little bit, but none of the ol’ ladies are running around crying at the drop of a hat.
So, at least for them, tears are my kryptonite and I’ll do whatever it takes to make them stop crying.
I was like that with my sisters, too. Granted, they were toddlers the last time I saw them, but both me and Jonah would bend over backwards to get them to stop.
“And?” I retort. “Gretchen, it could’ve just been a regular old civilian that hit me that day, instead of some assholes who were trying to get you back.
And like I told Doc, since you sold out of your inventory so quickly, and Donnelly was still out there, I was not leaving you to your own devices.
I didn’t damage what Dr. Albertson repaired, the shoulder and arm are merely strained.
It’ll heal, honey, I promise. In the meantime, let’s see if we can figure this out.
Personally, I think you should double what you made to sell.
Maybe add six dozen extra of the dipped strawberries, too.
I can dip shit for you, and you can decorate.
Also, what do you think of doing some of the strawberries in a milk chocolate flavor?
And maybe do the white chocolate ones in different colors? You could theme color them.”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“So, if it’s close to Halloween as an example, you could dip the strawberries in orange and turn them into pumpkins. At Christmas, maybe do green and red and add some of that flavored silver or gold?”
“Oh, I love those ideas! I think you’re right about doubling the order, but we won’t be able to do the strawberries until the Friday before.”
“Again, I can dip and you can drizzle and decorate,” I reply. “Call your guy where you get the strawberries and let’s get two bushels.”
“What if that’s too many?” she questions.
“The brothers will eat whatever’s left. Now, let’s talk about the flavors for the cake pops,” I say.
By the time we’re done, she’s no longer upset and we’re gathering the supplies needed to start baking. She’s going to freeze the pops until Wednesday and we’ll have a dipping and decorating party, then on Friday, we’ll do the strawberries.
“Thank you for helping me, Mongrel. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. I’m gonna go to my office and see what paperwork is waiting for me to get caught up on. Unless you want me to help you bake.”
“Nah, Connie and Maria will give me a hand if I need one. But if I do need you, I know where to find you.”
As I walk out to head to my office, I hear her calling her strawberry supplier and grin.
“How’s it going, brother?” Rio asks as he pops his head in my office door.
“Well, all the paperwork is caught up, and I just printed out the reports for you,” I reply. “I know you usually have the treasurer go over the financials during church, but Nerd told me he always gives you a copy ahead of time in case there are any surprises.”
“Rumor has it that you’re going to help Gretchen get her stuff sorted for next weekend,” he says.
“Rumor is correct and just saying, the brothers are a bunch of gossips.”
He chuckles then asks, “Do you think Jonah would like to come work for the ranch? He can still do his other work, but I got the impression from some of the things he said that he can work anywhere as long as he’s got a WiFi connection.
Because he’s cut from the same cloth as you and would make a great addition to the Kings.
Plus, he’s got a background that Nerd is drooling over, and it never hurts to have someone with the knowledge and experience who could give him a hand if needed. ”
“You asking if I think he’d like to become a brother?
” I press. “Other than the fact he rides a crotch rocket, which I will be rectifying, I think he’d like that.
Uncle Leroy is looking for a salon to work at once they finish moving here.
Apparently, he’s in hot demand for extensions or some shit.
He’s also a master at color. Not that it would necessarily benefit the club per se, but it would be awesome to have them so close. ”
“Issy mentioned that the salon owner in town is looking to sell her business. Think he’d be okay with the Kings being a silent partner? We’d discuss in church what percentage of profits he’d pay into our general pot, but the rest would be his for supplies and all that bullshit,” Rio states.
“Only one way to find out is to ask him,” I reply. “I can call him and feel him out then let you know. He’s already got a loyal clientele since a lot of them will drive for hours for their appointment.”
“Well… I’m sure Jonah could get his marketing and shit set up for him. Go ahead and call him and let me know what he says during church,” he says.
“I can do that.”