Chapter 2 #3
“No need to apologize. You gave me something. I’ll start working on seeing if I can pick up a trail.
You know I need to investigate everyone close to the club, as well as anyone who wants to join.
I did it on Braelyn. I’ll go back to what I know about her and work outward to see if I can find a lead.
It may take a while, so Rage, try to be patient.
Don’t make Betty have to drug you,” I teased.
“If I’m to be patient, then she’ll have to do more than drug me. I guess that means you and I will be in bed twenty-four seven.” He leered at her.
“Good. I can always use more sleep,” she shot back.
“Damn it, don’t pretend that’s all we do in bed or that you don’t want it as often as you can get it. Don’t expect to see her much, if at all, until you find out who that person is,” he warned, smirking.
I laughed. A few minutes later, as I led them to the door, they were still at it.
However, at the open door, they paused to thank me and wish me a good night’s sleep.
Closing the door behind them, I checked my watch.
It was ten thirty. I could go to bed, work on this new assignment, or try my hand at tracing my elusive one.
Although the last option was what I wanted, I opted for the one that was least likely to keep me up all night.
I’d do a cursory review of what I found on Brae before, then see if anything caught my attention as a starting point.
If not, I’d figure it out. Many times, when I had no starting point, I’d get online and, as if by magic, something would jump out at me and take me down the rabbit hole and to where I needed to go.
If things weren’t terribly busy at the yard tomorrow, I could get some sleuthing time in then.
As long as the work was done there, Crusher, who was the actual manager of Sacred Souls Scrap, didn’t mind me doing other work.
With my mind made up, I headed back to my office.
???
It was Thursday, and I was busier than usual at the yard.
We had a full-time employee who handled a significant amount of physical labor, including operating the crushing and compacting machines, and also assisted customers in locating what they needed.
Unfortunately, he called off. Raeshon was sicker than a dog with a respiratory infection.
Crusher said he hacked and coughed so much on the phone, and his voice was so hoarse that he barely recognized him.
As a result, I was filling in, with help from Crusher, on fulfilling Raeshon’s duties.
Neither of us minded. It was good to have a physically demanding day.
I’d done all these jobs before and often helped wherever I was needed.
Hell, I even manned the desk when our receptionist, April Ann, was on break or was off.
April Ann was capable of more than answering phones and ringing up sales.
You wouldn’t think it to see her, but she had grown up working on vehicles.
She learned how to determine where things were screwed up or broken.
She enjoyed the work, but had to stop due to health issues.
It had relegated her to spending most of her time at a desk.
April Ann was originally from Wyoming. She had a comfortable manner that made people feel at ease around her. She wasn’t someone who came into work all dolled up wearing short, tight skirts and heels and tons of makeup and jewelry. Our prior receptionist had been like that.
That woman looked ridiculous and had no idea how to assist customers.
She hadn’t lasted long, and I couldn’t even recall her name.
If it weren’t winter, April Ann was dressed in jeans, flip-flops, and a tank top.
She had several piercings in her ears, in addition to the ones in her left lower lip and nose.
Her visible tattoos were on her ring finger, wrists, and foot.
She loved tattoos and went to Fury for all her ink. It was through him that we found her.
April Ann was easy to talk to, and when things weren’t busy, we’d all hang out and chat.
She was in her early thirties, married, and had a houseful.
Besides her stepdaughter, son, and daughter, she had several pets.
She’d talked about the antics of her pets so much that we knew their names.
Her four dogs were Moose, Ruger, Zorro, and Mr. Piglet.
The cats were Mr. Meow-Meow and Bax. Their antics, along with her kids, made us laugh.
April Ann volunteered to help out in the yard while Raeshon was off, but we told her to hold down the inside, and we’d take care of the outside.
We didn’t want to flare any of her health issues.
And wouldn’t you know it? People needing scrap surged today, and we had them coming and going constantly.
It was all we could do to get a break to eat a bit of lunch.
Suffice it to say, I had no time to work on Brae’s investigator or to search for my mystery person.
I worked on and off yesterday and last night on both of them when I got home. I was following different avenues on Brae to see if I stumbled across anything. As for the other, I caught two minor glimpses, then nothing. My frustration grew.
When the day ended, we saw April Ann off, and then we planned to head home.
Crusher suggested we stop in town and grab dinner before heading back to the compound.
I wasn’t in the mood to cook, so I agreed.
After a short debate, we decided there was only one place we wanted to eat.
Emiliano’s Mesa was a higher-end Spanish restaurant.
It was one that everyone in the club frequented.
Not only was Emiliano’s food great, but he was a wonderful, kind, and caring person.
He helped to feed the homeless and others in need.
We did a joint endeavor at an annual car show with him.
Behind the scenes, we helped fund his efforts to feed more people throughout the year.
We didn’t do it for recognition. We were always welcome at the Mesa, even if we came in dressed in our dirty work clothes like we would tonight.
It was six o’clock when we strolled into Emiliano’s. As expected, it was packed. It looked like we’d be waiting a while to be seated. I went up to the hostess stand to add my name to the waitlist and ask about the wait time.
“Hello, sir. How many?” the teen girl asked.
“Two. How long is the wait?”
“About twenty minutes.”
“Okay, we can do that.”
“What name should I put it under?”
“Shadow.”
That was when she focused on me, and my cut seemed to register. Her eyes widened. “Okay, Shadow, I’ll call your name when your table is ready,” she said after a brief pause.
I smiled, hoping it would put her at ease, then I returned to Crusher, who was holding up the wall by the door. I leaned back to help.
“How long?” he asked.
“Twenty.”
“I saw the look she gave you at the end. What was up with that?”
“I told her my name, and I guess it finally clicked that I was wearing a cut and was a biker.”
“Man, that happens so often. Sometimes it gets old.”
“Yes, it does. However, we do look worse than usual, so that might have scared her more.”
“Yeah, she probably thinks we’ve come from burying a body,” Crusher joked.
I was shaking my head and grinning at his remark when the young hostess came hurrying over to us.
“Gentlemen, if you’ll come with me, I have a table for you.”
“You do? I thought the wait was twenty minutes,” I exclaimed, as I glanced around us. Several people were standing there who had been here before us. They were trying to hear what she said.
“Not for you. Forgive me. I’m new and didn’t know that anyone in your club is to be seated right away. One of the other girls told me.”
This was news to us, but I wasn’t about to say no.
As we allowed her to lead us past the hostess stand, I saw the looks cast at us from those still waiting.
They weren’t happy. We were shown to a two-person table, set toward the back.
Precisely the kind of table I liked. It was where I could see almost everyone, with my back to the wall, in the darker area of the room.
Crusher moved his chair so we were both angled toward the others in the room.
The girl handed us our menus and promised someone would be there shortly to take our drink orders.
“What was that all about? We’re to be seated right away?” Crush asked after she left.
“Hell if I know. We’ll have to ask the others at home if they’ve run into this. Can’t say I hate it. I’m starved,” I answered as I opened my menu.
It wasn’t long before our waiter came and took our drink and appetizer orders.
After he left, we talked about the day and how things were doing at Sacred.
That carried us through the arrival of our drinks and appetizers and the placing of our entrée orders.
When our waiter left this time, Crusher changed the topic.
“Shadow, I’ve wanted to ask you something.”
“Sure, go for it.”
“I’ve noticed you don’t spend as much time in the clubhouse. And when the bunnies and hangers come, you tend to disappear. I don’t want to stick my nose in your business, but I’ve got to ask. Is everything alright?”
“If I’m honest, Crush, there are a couple of things.
One, I’m tired of the bullshit with the women.
They come in. They prowl, and then they start competing for who gets with whom if one of us doesn’t immediately speak up.
And while sex is great and all, afterward, I don’t know. It doesn’t seem the same.”
“You feel like something is missing,” he stated.
“Exactly. Do you feel that way? Or is it me?”
“I don’t know about everyone else, but I do. I’m forty, Shadow. I want someone of my own. While I’m happy for Rage and Wrath, they make me want it more. Do you want to settle down?”