Chapter 25
TRUCK
Isuppose we all look, as Rory calls it, batshit crazy. It doesn’t stop the fact that we really see things move, hear noises where there should be none, and are told things by Cilla that she could never have known or foretold.
Grady is staying with Jill tomorrow night, and that’s the night I’m gonna make my move. I know I’ve only been on one date with Rory, but you know, come on…I’m a biker we don’t usually do dates.
I head to the tattoo studio this morning because I’ve an appointment to get my panther finished.
It’s something I’ve wanted to have for a long time and never found an artist who could create what I wanted while keeping it lifelike.
Jethro is fuckin’ amazing at animal tats and the portfolio I flicked through showed how good he is and how successful he’s going to be when his name gets out.
Four hours later and the tattoo is finished. “That is truly a work of art, Jethro. Once you are a full brother and people talk, you are going to have more clients than you can cope with. What do you say, Scribe?”
Scribe nods as he checks out the finished Panther.
“I agree. Your artwork is first-class, Jethro, and people will pay a lot of cash to have you design what they want. I want a roaring lion on my shoulder, wrapping around back and front. I don’t care how big it is because with your skill I want you to design it and put it on my skin. ”
“I can do that, Scribe. I’ll work on a design that fits in with your other work. Let me take some photographs of what you have in that area, and then I can see if what I have in mind will gel.” Jethro finishes wrapping me up and gives me a nod.
“I am more than happy with the result, Jethro.” I throw him cash, which he tries to give me back, but the stern look I give him shuts him up.
The next job of the day is taking Rory’s car and getting it filled with gas.
I’m going to do it on the free scheme we have going on at the station for the first week.
All we are doing is taking the vehicle plates as a log to show how much free gas we’ve given, and where that gas went.
It’ll go down as promotional shit according to Coin and Rum.
I have to get updated on all this stuff if I’m going to remain as manager of the place.
Once I’ve filled Rory’s car I head inside the station and give Collins a chin lift as I pass the counter. “Everything good, Collins?”
“Yeah, everything is smooth. I’m surprised how many people are using the place.
We may need to replenish stock in the store area during the night shift because it’s so busy during the day we hardly get chance to leave the counter for more than a minute,” Collins chuckles.
“Xero said he was sick of looking through glass and felt like a goldfish.”
“I’m going to be in the office for a few minutes, then I’ll take Rory’s car back. Once I’ve done that, I’ll be here for the rest of the day. I can cover the counter for a while if you need a break.”
“Okay, that’s cool. Xero is mowing and checking the front. I’ll clean the gas pumps and make sure everything is clean. It’ll do us good to use up some energy,” Collins smirks, and I know what he means. None of us enjoys sitting around doing nothing physical for long.
After leaving the car with Rory and getting back to the gas station, I take a turn behind the counter. It’s not exactly exciting work, but it is interesting to see how many people from town are using the gas station, and how many passing through are stopping.
I’m going to ask during church what everyone thinks about having a truck area for truck drivers to pull in and rest, overnight if needed. I’ve seen a lot during the week pull in, fill up and look like they need to have a pit stop.
We already have the shower building and Rum found the tokens that are for use on the shower area doors.
It would bring in extra income, and we can employ someone to keep them hygienic.
We would have to calculate what to charge per token to make a profit.
Not a huge profit, but a profit, nonetheless.
I’m about ready to text Xero to do a handover at the counter when three guys walk in.
I don’t make it obvious that I’m watching them, but they are giving me a nasty feeling.
I quickly text Xero to get his ass in here because trouble is brewing, then put my phone down and get ready for whatever is going to happen next.
I can see Xero through the window heading to the main door when one of the guys takes out a gun and heads toward me. I stay calm because you know I’m behind bulletproof glass. Yeah, there are openings in the glass, but as long as I keep glass between us I’m safe enough.
I lean down and hit the button Keys had installed. That alerts Keys that we have a serious issue at the gas station. He’ll get brothers here, and here fast.
“Hand over the cash,” the idiot with the gun snarls. I shrug my shoulders and roll my eyes. My body language is stating, Fuck you.
I’m ready to grab the shotgun under the counter when the door is thrown open hard enough to rattle the frame and gain everyone’s attention.
The gun went off as the idiot whirled around to face Xero. Xero however throws himself into a forward roll. I grab the shotgun and point it at the two who are frozen in shock that their buddy shot at someone.
“Stay where you are or I’ll shoot your ass and bury you where your momma won’t find you,” I growl, which has the two buddies looking at me with eyes so wide it’s a wonder their eyeballs don’t fall out.
Xero launches himself at the first idiot who had the stupidity to shoot at him and gets a direct hit with his first punch. I watch as he throws a combination of punches, causing the idiot to drop his weapon and hold his hands up while trying to shield his face.
Rum walks into the store area after hearing the ruckus, and he’s standing with a shocked look on his face while watching Xero punch shit out of this guy.
“I think that’s enough now, Xero,” Rum says as he steps closer. That’s when I notice he has a baseball bat in his hand. Where the fuck did that come from?
Xero steps back from the idiot who is crying like a baby at this point. But when one of the others lunges to pick up the gun, we all freeze when a fireball appears in front of his face.
“Oh, look at that,” Rum chuckles, “It seems Pyro is here.”
Now the fireball is hovering in front of the idiot who tried to grab the gun. It’s actually expanding as we watch. It’s fascinating actually, and I’m grinning so hard my cheeks hurt.
The sound of bikes arriving tells me the cavalry has arrived, and when Tracker, along with Cap, Finger, Rides and Hot Rod burst through the door I can’t wait to see what happens next. It’s better than watching some shit on Netflix.
“Well, well, what have we here?” Tracker asks as he takes in the three morons and the fireball that is still hovering in front of the man…oh, no, we have three fireballs now and they are hovering in front of all of them.
“Wow, Pres, it looks like Pyro has gained more skills. Look at that! He has three fireballs going at once. That’s fuckin’ smart that is,” Hot Rod announces, like it’s a normal day occurrence to see fireballs floating in the air.
“Let’s…” Tracker starts to say, but one of the three makes a break for it and is able to get through the door before we realize what’s happening.
Pyro must realize it’s not a good idea to throw fire around near the gas pumps so that fireball disappears.
But as I look through the window I gape because something, or some invisible someone is causing our runaway friend to trip and fall.
As soon as he gets on his feet, he is pushed or something because he flies to the side and lands on the forecourt, and lands hard. Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.
“That’s gotta be Tank,” Cap suggests, sounding fairly certain, too.
“Nah, that has to be Bono. He always was a sneaky shit,” Rides states confidently.
“Let us go, mister,” one of the idiots mutters, and turning to look at him again he’s pissed his pants.
Tracker steps forward, and as he does, he holds his hand out.
Now, that fuckin’ fireball floats near his hand.
Not onto it, but near it, giving the illusion Pres is going to hold it.
I think the sight is too much for the idiots, and they both scream and make a run for it.
What none of us expected was the stench that followed them as they bolted out the door.
One of them had shit their pants. “What the fuck kind of robbers were they?”
I must have mumbled that without thinking because Tracker chortles, “Not very good ones, Truck.”
“Are we letting them get away, Pres?” Cap asks, looking like he wants to sprint after them.
“Yeah, they’ll not be back. They’ll probably be having nightmares for years to come,” Tracker laughs, and we to be fair, all laugh along with him.
Weapons are put back where they belong, and the gun from the floor is taken away with the brothers and will be disposed of. Tracker was disappointed more didn’t happen as he was ready for a good fight. Seems Pres is getting bored with all the peace we are having right now.
“That was damn cool, Pyro,” Pres says as if it’s natural to talk to a dead man. “When I die, I want to learn all the tricks, and I’ll come back and help the brothers. I don’t wanna die yet, mind you, but it’s not going to be shit like I thought it was going to be.”
I’m looking at Pres like he’s lost his freaking mind, and I can see the others have a mixture of my expression and amusement on theirs. We would have one fucking crazy ass ghost if anything happened to Tracker that’s for sure.
Arriving at the clubhouse later in the day with Grady, who runs through to Coin to do his homework.
I listen to Cilla talking to Cap about Pyro helping at the gas station.
“It seems Pyro gets a little fed up with waiting around for things to happen, so he and Tank, by the way, are experimenting with materializing when needed and moving things. Using their energy to make things happen. Apparently, Tank and Bono joined forces today to use their energy to push a person over…”
“I saw that,” I say as I join the conversation. “The idiot went down hard, too.”
“Oh, Truck. Terrence has left a message that you look after Rory because he’s heard her saying she wants him to move on.
It seems you are the one who should always have been her man, so he’s happy to move along and come back again to live another life,” Cilla tells me this with a smile on her face.
It’s the weirdest shit, yet everyone sees this as the new normal.
We all live with spooks, and we are all okay with it!
“Well, I suppose that’s good to know. Are you going to speak to Rory about it?”
Cilla giggles, “Oh, no, Truck. That’s your job.”
I gape at Cilla as she walks away, giggling to herself I might add. Cap chuckles and slaps my shoulder before he walks away. Fuck me, more shit I’ve got to get past with Rory.
Taking a deep breath, I head to Coin’s room and check how Grady is getting along with his homework. It might be safer to stick with him because he seems to stay out of trouble.