Chapter Nine
Roadkill locked up Savage Iron at the end of the day and went straight to his bike. He needed to think. To get his head on straight. What he needed was a good ride.
Swinging one leg over the machine, he started the engine and headed for the clubhouse. If he needed a ride, then it was likely one of his brothers did too, and it was safer when you had a buddy to ride with.
He walked into the clubhouse and looked around. Several of his brothers were scattered around the common room, but rather than stop and ask any of them to ride with him, he headed back to the room Cypher called his command center to see what the hacker had found.
“Yo,” Roadkill said, knocking on the open door. “You find anything for me?”
“I’ve got the basics. Name, address, basic financials, both personal and for the bar.” Cypher shook his head. “Did you know he’s paying your woman half of what he’s paying any other waitress?”
“My woman? Who the fuck told you something like that?” Roadkill immediately clamped his mouth shut as he realized the hacker was goading him, trying to get him to give something away. And he’d succeeded.
Cypher smirked. “Thought so.”
“First, is he really paying one waitress less, and second, what makes you think she’s mine?”
“Yes, he’s really paying one waitress half. And because she’s the only one I’ve found who has any connection to him who also recently joined Savage Iron.”
Roadkill rolled his eyes. He should have known Cypher would figure out why he wanted to know and who he was looking out for.
“What else you find?”
“Not much, at least not yet. I’ve got a couple of stories about how he’s a horndog who won’t back down until he gets what he’s after, then when he’s done, he walks away without a second thought.”
“He’s an asshole as well as a horny fucker.”
“From what I’m finding, I’d say that’s accurate.”
“And clearly, he’s not above making women suffer for not giving him the attention he thinks he deserves.” He fell silent, remembering the messages he’d exchanged with Papa Smurf earlier.
“I know Papa Smurf’s been wanting to hire someone for the front counter and to do the billing and such. Any clue what they’ve got budgeted for that?”
Cypher shook his head. “Intelligence and research I handle. Money is Slide’s domain.”
“Any clue where he is?”
Cypher smirked again. “I suggested he go hang out at the Driftwood. See if there’s anything happening there we should know about.”
“When?” Roadkill tried to remember if he’d seen the club treasurer in the other room when he’d come through. He wasn’t sure.
“Hours ago. He may be back now, I don’t know.” Cypher shrugged then turned back to his computer, effectively dismissing Roadkill.
Knowing he wouldn’t be getting more out of the hacker, at least right now, Roadkill headed back to the common room. He wanted to see if Slide was back and what he’d seen.
He didn’t find Slide in the common room, so he wandered outside and over to the service shop where Papa Smurf was still working, not on customer cars but on the club’s vehicles.
Even when he wasn’t working, Papa Smurf liked to keep busy.
He said it kept him out of bigger trouble.
Roadkill had heard stories of the trouble Papa Smurf used to get into.
He figured keeping busy wasn’t a bad thing.
Maybe Slide was there, maybe not. But it would give him a chance to see if Papa Smurf was open to bringing in someone who would have to be trained in every aspect, and what the budget might be, if one had been set.
At the shop, he found the lights out and the door locked.
Where the hell was Papa Smurf? Pulling out his phone he sent the old mechanic a text asking if he had time to talk for a few.
While he waited for a response he headed back to the clubhouse.
Before he arrived, he received a reply saying sure, and that he would be in the common room in a few minutes.
Roadkill headed inside, found an out of the way table and waved down one of the prospects to fetch him a drink.
Before Ryan brought his drink, Papa Smurf came down the main stairs, paused as he scanned the room then headed his direction. He took a seat.
“What you need?” the older man said as he got comfortable.
“Just wanted to follow up on that text earlier. Would you be open to training someone who has no clue what they’re doing? Then either letting her off in time to pick up someone at school or let her pick them up and bring them back to the shop?”
Papa Smurf cringed. “Kids? Around the shop? That’s asking for trouble, man.”
“Not a kid. She’s fourteen. Big enough to enlist in small chores, maybe have her put tools away and pay her something small as an afterschool job?” Roadkill was just throwing out ideas for now. He would need to talk to Jenna and see how she felt about switching jobs.
Papa Smurf bobbed his head from side to side as he thought about it.
“I can make it work. How come you looking for a job for her? And why not put her to work at the gym?”
“I’ve already got all my positions filled,” he said with a shrug. “Besides, I’m not sure I want her hanging around Phantom all day.”
Papa Smurf snorted. “And you think a bunch of mechanics is going to be better?”
“You and those mechanics won’t mess with her just because you think I’ve got a thing for her. Phantom will and unless she’s prepared, he’ll scare her off. I want to help her out, not put her in an even worse position.”
“What makes you think she’ll take it?”
“She’s struggling. She came in to get in better shape because that’s what her fuckwad boss told her she needed to do to make better tips.
” Roadkill paused and forced himself to take three deep slow breaths.
“I just found out he’s paying her half the wage he’s paying his other employees, even the ones doing the same job.
” He shook his head. He spotted Slide as he came in the front door, lifted one hand, and waved the man over.
Slide waved in his direction, letting Roadkill know he’d seen him, but he turned and headed toward the command center. He was likely checking in with Cypher since that was who had sent him to the Driftwood to start with.
“Your girl know anything about computers? Cypher’s been trying to convince me that if we computerize, things will be easier all the way around, but I don’t have time to learn a new system, much less do all the set up and shit.”
“I’m not sure, but she strikes me as intelligent. She should be able to figure it out, especially if I can talk Cypher into going in and showing her at least once.”
“What’s up?” Slide said as he grabbed a chair, spun it around and sat, straddling the back.
Ryan showed up with Roadkill’s drink, checked with Slide and Papa Smurf then disappeared to fetch their drinks.
“Cypher said you spent the afternoon at the Driftwood?” Roadkill asked, turning to Slide.
Slide nodded but didn’t say anything.
“Tell me what you saw.”
“What do you mean?”
Roadkill just lifted a brow.
Slide sighed. “The bartender is an ass. He spends his day chatting with the regulars and making snarky, cutting remarks to his waitress.”
“Did he touch her?” Roadkill asked.
“Not that I saw. He stayed behind the bar, she stayed in front of it,” Slide said. “But that didn’t keep him from constantly cutting her down.”
“Was there reason?” Papa Smurf asked before Roadkill could breathe past his rage that someone would treat Jenna like that. He didn’t care if she’d done anything wrong, no one deserved to be constantly belittled like that.
Well, he might treat this Mason to some of it as he taught him a lesson, but first he wanted to get Jenna out of there so he couldn’t retaliate.
“How did everyone else treat her?” Roadkill asked.
Slide waggled his head from side to side.
“The other patrons either mostly ignored her or were cautiously friendly. It was as if they didn’t want to piss off the bartender and as far as I saw, she’d done nothing to trigger the shithead, though it could have happened before I arrived, if there was anything.
I got the feeling this happened all the time.
If it wasn’t a normal occurrence, then why would people either be careful of how nice they were to her or totally ignore her? They know what’s expected of them.”
“What else did you notice?”
“She’s a cute little thing. Seemed a bit timid, you sure you can convince her this is the life for her?”
Roadkill ignored him. There would be plenty of questions and more than a little ribbing, but he didn’t care.
There was something about the woman that drew him and even if she had no interest in him, he’d make sure she could take care of her sister, without being forced to deal with that fucker Mason if he could manage it.
“How about, if I can talk her into it, I bring her by to meet you tomorrow,” Roadkill said, looking at Papa Smurf. “She should have her sister with her too, so you can meet them both, see if you think it will work out.”
“Sounds good. You know how things work. I close at noon on Saturday if there’s nothing in the shop. If the doors are locked, come in the back. If I’m not around, then send me a message. Unless something comes up, I won’t be far.”
Roadkill nodded. He didn’t know if he could talk her into going, but he’d do his best. He had no doubt she’d be far better off at the shop. But would she accept the offer?