Chapter 6
CHAPTER
SIX
Abyss
“I was pregnant with a little girl, Amberlea, and my boyfriend and I were on the way home from the baby shower our friends and family threw for us. We were hit head-on by an impaired driver, and it caused our vehicle to flip multiple times. James was killed on impact and I was seriously injured. Unfortunately, the injuries I sustained meant that Amberlea was born sleeping. I was able to spend some time with Amberlea since they put her in a Cuddle Cot, but it wasn’t the way I had anticipated. ”
I quietly leave the shop, her words ringing in my head.
My heart breaks for what she went through, and I realize that it may take longer for me to break through her walls.
Still, even though it won’t be today, I decide to go to the little coffee shop and pick up some pastries as well as her favorite drink.
I know Mack’s not there yet; there’s no way she’d be spilling her guts unless she thought she was by herself, but I’ll grab him one as well.
Twenty minutes later, I’m coming through the back door, making enough noise to wake the dead as I try to keep from dropping the drink carrier along with the bag full of sugary goodness. “Anyone here?” I call out, even though I saw Shelly’s Jeep parked in the back.
“Coming!” Shelly replies, her voice getting closer just as I reach the table and set everything down.
“Oh, you went next door,” she murmurs, opening the box.
“Are you buttering me up to stay late or something?” she asks when she sees the apple fritters in the box.
I’ve also got bear claws, several old-fashioned cake donuts, and two chocolate eclairs.
“Nope, just figured I’d try and start our week out right,” I reply. “Here,” I say, handing her the passion fruit iced drink I’ve seen her enjoy. “Melba says this is your favorite.”
“Thank you,” she says.
I look at her closely and can see the redness around her eyes, but don’t comment since she has no clue I heard just about everything she said to Beth.
Thinking about a little girl with her pretty green eyes and curly hair nearly undoes me, but I shove that down deep so I can focus on helping her learn to live again.
I’m no stranger to PTSD; several of the brothers in other chapters have been in the military, so I’ve been exposed, but what Shelly went through is something I have no experience with whatsoever.
I think I need to ensure that she meets Marge, whose own history is somewhat tragic, because if anyone can help outside of Beth, it might be Marge.
“You’re welcome. What’s on the books for today?” I question, grabbing my coffee and a bear claw.
“Oh! I forgot to start the computer, silly me,” she replies before practically running to the front of the shop.
I take my time, checking that the coffee pot is on since we’ll all be sucking it down to find that Shelly has it going, and she’s already got the refrigerator primed and ready for the week.
I make a mental note to call in an order for Mongrel to pick up since I keep the fridge full of our favorite drinks, as well as waters for our clients.
By the time I get to the front counter, Shelly has the computer booted up and running and she’s opening the program we use for booking clients.
“Uncle Mack has one at ten and you’ve got one at eleven,” she says, scanning the calendar. “You’ve also got time blocked out for later this afternoon, it looks like a bachelor party or something.”
I groan because I forgot about that. “Fuck, maybe they’ll cancel,” I grumble, causing her to laugh.
“Thought the idea was to bring customers into the shop, not keep them away,” she replies.
“The problem is, while they wait, they’ll destroy the fucking reception area and that pisses off our cleaners,” I admit.
“I mean, they’re getting paid to clean the shop so what’s the big deal?
We do our own rooms so all they have to really do is mop the floors and take out the trash for the most part.
Hell, we clean the kitchen as well and while I know they do the bathrooms, the three of us make sure they’re still good to go. ”
I scoff because she’s not wrong. We clean our rooms between clients then at the end of the day, we do a deeper dive into the areas so it’s ready to go when we’re next open.
The cleaning crew is responsible for the bathrooms, mopping the floors, making sure the windows are free of fingerprints, that kind of shit.
But whenever we have a party like what’s coming tonight, they ‘forget’ to clean and straighten it out.
Since we’re under the purview of the Texas Department of State Health Services, we have standards we have to keep up with in order not to get fined or even be temporarily shut down.
While we have regular inspections, it’s not unheard of for them to pop in unannounced, so it’s imperative that we keep things on the up and up.
“We may need to find another service,” I reply. “Because if their lack of attention causes us to get fined, they’ll find out what we mean when we say nobody fucks with the Kings.”
I watch her eyes grow wide at my words, then she says, “Regardless, you pay a lot of money for them to do shitty work.”
“You’re right. Looks like you’ve got something to do while you wait for potential walk-ins, then. I’ll go call our current service, tell them they’re fired, and until we hire another one, we’ll take care of it ourselves.”
“I’d rather do that than have the shop temporarily closed or fined,” she says. “Do you want me to set up interviews or what?”
“Find out what they offer and the cost, then explain what our needs are and see if it’s something they can do,” I reply. “We can do one of two things, we can bring them in and interview them once you have a list, or we can have them come in on different nights to do a trial clean.”
“Do you really want to let complete strangers in like that?” she asks.
“Fuck, no, I don’t. Okay, new plan, feel them out and set up interviews. They’ll need to understand that Nerd is going to run background checks on anyone who comes into our business.”
“Makes sense. I know we don’t really keep cash on hand, but the inventory and tools we have would definitely sell on the street for a pretty penny,” she murmurs.
“While I’m researching companies, I’ll also read their ratings and reviews.
It says a lot about someone’s reputation when you see what past and current clients have to say about them. ”
“You’re right. Okay, I’ll leave you to it, Shelly,” I say, glad that she’s taking on that task.
“I’ll start the search now and may even see what kind of recommendations I get on the local discussion page.”
If I was a woman, I’d roll my eyes, but instead I just grunt.
Since she hit town, she’s set up a social media page for the business, uploading countless pictures of tattoos all three of us have done, and she’s posted on all the local pages about openings since she and Mack are now here.
Granted, it’s bringing in more business, but as a biker who lives life wild and free for the most part, the last thing I want is to be chained to my chair for countless hours at a time.
“Well, that went well,” I say as I approach Shelly in the kitchen.
“Firing the old company?” she asks as she pops a container into the microwave.
“Yeah, they weren’t happy at all, but when I sent over pictures of their shoddy work, they changed their tune. Did you have any luck?” I question.
“I found three that seem like they would work,” she replies. “I even went as far as to call some of their existing clients to find out if there were things they did or didn’t do. That’s why I was able to narrow it down to three, because I started out with ten.”
“Check our books and see if I’ve got a block of time to do any interviewing over the next few days,” I instruct. “I don’t mind us doing it, but I’d rather have a service. Hell, I’ll get Mongrel down here and see if he’ll give us a hand until we get someone in.”
The more I think about it, the better I like that idea. Gotta keep the prospects busy and it may as well be working on something at a club business. Mongrel’s close to patching in, too, so it would be good to see how he interacts with someone I plan to make my ol’ lady.
The microwave beeps and she pulls out her lunch and sets it on the table. “I’ll get to that after I eat if that’s okay,” she replies.
“Hell yeah, it’s fine, babe,” I tell her.
I don’t miss the slight flush on her cheeks and bite the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning at her. I may have a huge mountain to climb where she’s concerned but I’ll take any sign of interest I can get.