Chapter 35
TRACKER
“Pres!” Rides sticks his head around the office door. Looking up, he has a huge smile on his face. “Jeremy is here to speak to you.”
“Send him in,” I respond while placing the pen down and closing my laptop. It’s a natural instinct to close it when anyone enters the office, that is not an officer of the club. I wait for Jeremy to enter and point for him to take a seat.
After sitting, Jeremy leans forward. “Your house is finished. I thought we would be at least three more weeks, but it seems the team working here split the finishing touches to both yours and Truck’s houses, so they were done around the same time.
” Leaning forward, Jeremy places a set of keys on the desk in front of me.
“We are finishing the front of the plot you chose. The borders are going in tomorrow. Once they are done, we will resin the area as you asked us to. We wanted to do that as the last thing so it would be the last time we needed to be on the plot.”
“Okay, that’s good. I’ll take a look around when it’s completed. Have you been paid?” I ask, but know if he had invoiced us, Coin would pay at once. I had made sure I gave the money to Coin, so it was on hand when the job was finished.
“Yes, I invoiced Coin, and he transferred the payment at once. I have to say both you and Truck have paid quickly, which has helped my business. I don’t like leaving my suppliers waiting for payment, but sometimes I can’t always pay up front when the job is a large one.
” Jeremy stands and makes his way to the door.
“There is going to be plenty of work if the brothers decide to build on the compound, Jeremy. Have you taken the six crew members on permanently?” I have a thought, and I’m hoping he says no to this question.
“No, I have not. Trouble is, for me at least, if the work dries up, they’ll be the first to be off my payroll.
So, I’m paying them as casual workers,” Jeremy replies.
Now, I like Jeremy well enough, but in this case, he’s not being fair to the six men who are working their asses off for his firm to get our houses built on the compound.
I can remedy that for my own satisfaction. It will, however, put Jeremy’s nose out of joint. I just nod casually and look down, effectively letting him know I’m done with the conversation.
Walking out of my office, I peek into Cap’s. “Do you want to come for a ride?”
“Sure, I’m always up for riding my girl.”
I laugh. “You know that could be taken out of context don’t you.”
“Yeah, yeah, come on smart ass,” Cap chuckles as he follows me out of the clubhouse.
Before we leave the compound, Rides, and Hot Rod slide into position behind Cap and I. I’m not surprised as it’s rare that I get out of the compound with only one brother with me, and I cannot ever remember the last time I went for a ride alone.
I rode around town for a while, enjoying the sight of the town at peace. After cleaning the club of the brothers that needed to be got rid of, it was noticeable how the town breathed more easily and vindicated, for me at least, the decision I made.
I turn and head for the gas station. I want to look at the now-finished vehicle recovery office. Bull seems stoked about it, so he must have it set up to his satisfaction.
Pulling into parking spaces, we quickly climb off our hogs. I give a nod to Dice who is sitting behind the counter looking damn smug for some reason.
Stepping inside, I give another nod to Dice who gives me a two-finger salute to his temple.
I shake my head at him and walk through the store area into the back of the building.
Popping my head through the door of the office, I speak to Rum who is behind his desk and watching something on the monitor.
Grunting to get his attention, Rum looks up, and seeing who it is, turns in his seat. “Hi, Tracker. How are you today?”
“I’m okay. I was sick of being inside, so I went for a ride and blew off some cobwebs. I’m going to check out the office since Bull is bragging about it so much,” I respond.
“It’s a pleasant office. They have it set up efficiently, and I’m sure the way the garage area is working they’ll have trucks in and out before anyone notices there was anything wrong with them,” Rum chuckles at his own comment.
Hot Rod, who is behind me, mutters that it is the best way. I roll my eyes at him, which has him shrugging and heading out the back. “I’m gonna check it out, Pres,” Hot Rod mumbles as he goes.
“Truck tells me your house is ready too, is that right?” Rum asks, and I’ve a feeling he is asking for a reason.
“It is ready, but it’s not furnished yet.
I’ve left instructions as to what I want because there is no way I am tramping around shops buying furniture and stuff.
Cilla rubbed her hands and said she’d do it.
I’m not sure if I should be worried or not?
” I smirk as I take a seat across from Rum’s desk while Cap and Rides stay in the hallway, leaning against the walls.
“Do you need a cleaner?” Rum took me by surprise with the question.
“I will once I get moved into it. Why do you know someone? I was thinking of getting the club women to do it,” I reply but with no real conviction. I mean, do I really want the club women messing with my stuff?
“Briony, who is cleaning the showers for the pit stop here, is employed by the gas station. She’s in a position that she needs to have more work, or she’ll be in a sticky position financially.
” I watch as Rum decides if he wants to say more, but when I don’t speak, he continues.
“She is the young woman who lost both her parents, paid what was outstanding on their medical bills. Thankfully, they both had exceptional medical insurance, but besides that, she paid all the debts and then lost her job when the jewelry store closed. She needs more than just cleaning here Tracker.”
“Okay. When I’m ready, I’ll let you know, and she can start a month's trial. We’ll pay her as though she’s employed by the club, and that way she’ll not have to be self-employed.”
Nodding with a thankful smile on his face, Rum speaks again. “Thanks, Tracker. She is solid. She’ll not steal anything. She’ll not cause you any trouble.”
“How old is she?” I ask because I don’t want a teenager in my house.
“She is twenty-eight, has no record, and her reference from her last employer is a damn good one.”
“Okay. I’ll let you know when she can start.” I give him a nod as I leave the office and walk out back of the building, passing the garage area which I’m happy to see has no recovery vehicles being fixed.
I quickly make my way to Bull’s office. The exterior of the office will be easy to keep clean.
Jet washing it will be enough, and I know Bull’s got a keep-clean fetish, or he’s OCD or whatever you want to call it about keeping his space clean.
His room at the clubhouse is spotless, and nobody is allowed inside to clean, because he does it all himself.
Walking into the vehicle recovery office, I watch as Joker and Demon are working in front of their monitor stations. Joker is talking to someone through his headset, and Demon is filling in a form on his screen. Stepping closer, I can see it’s a membership he’s completing, again via his headset.
“What can I do for you, Pres?” Bull asks from his desk in the corner of the room.
“Thought I’d check out the office. How are you getting on with it?” I ask as I take a seat next to Bull’s desk.
“It works well. The stations, as we call them, are perfect, and we can all work easily from them. We can follow the recovery trucks since we put trackers on them. The entire business is working more efficiently.”
Leaning back in my seat, I let out a relaxing breath before speaking again. “Do you have enough recovery vehicles, brothers, and equipment for the garage area?”
“Yeah, I brought everything from the old place. You know the fucker tried to stop us taking our own shit. I soon put him right. Dumbfuck!” Bull snorts, and I can’t help but think it would be a good reason he got his road name, although I know it’s not.
Truck walks into the office carrying a large bag of what smells like Chinese food. “What have got there, Truck?” I ask, sitting up straighter to see what he’s got.
“Food for the starving brothers,” Truck laughs. “They’ve been in here since God knows when this morning. The small kitchen works for drinks and throwing something in the microwave but to be in here for over twelve hours you need fuel to feed the brain.”
Bull pulls food out of the bag after slapping Truck on the back. “I’m fuckin’ starving and still have three hours of work to get through before I’m knocking off.”
I watch Bull, Joker, and Demon grab food before taking a carton of sweet and sour from the bag. Truck smirks when he sees me take it, while Hot Rod, Rides, and Cap mumble about not enough for everyone.
“Go get something and bring it back here. Bring me more too, I’m fuckin’ hungry,” I tuck in and inwardly grin when the three of them scoot off to get themselves something to eat.
Truck speaks to Bull. “I’m off now, Bull. Rum has gone, and it’s Xero on tonight if you need him. He’s going to be watching the camera feeds closely in case anything more happens with that woman.”
Bull nods, swallows what he has in his mouth, then replies. “Okay, I’ll tell Tread and Winger when they come in to cover the night shift. I have a feeling that it’s going to happen again. My neck keeps itching, and that’s a sign it’s not done.”
Two hours later, the place is cleaned from our meal, and we are all getting ready to leave when Tread and Winger arrive.
Tread gives me a nod as he takes the station that Joker had been working on. They discuss anything Tread needed to know when Cap suddenly points at one of the camera feeds. “What’s that?” He murmurs more to himself than to us, but we all take notice of the feed.
I quickly step out of the office, walk around to a position that has me hidden cleanly behind one of the recovery trucks. I’m listening to this asshole who was on the feed.
“Come out, Gay, you can’t hide from me forever.”
“Bitch, come here now!”
“I’m going to fucking kill you when I get my hands on you.”
This goes on for quite a while, fifteen minutes at a guess, then I hear Xero who must have locked up the shop. “Get the fuck out of this yard before I break your fuckin’ neck.”
“I’m here to get my woman.”
The asshole is a pig and I’m not sure he’ll survive this if I get my hands on him.
The woman crawls out from under the truck I’m standing behind.
Seeing me, she slams her back against the truck and looks like she wants to piss her pants.
I wink at her, then put my finger over my lips, showing she needs to keep quiet.
Nodding her head slightly to show she understands, I turn back to the conversation.
Oh, the conversation has gone past talking, and I hear flesh being slapped. Yeah, Xero has had enough, but hearing my brother snarling tells me this fucker is gonna run any moment.
Hearing footsteps, heavy footsteps that tell me he is running, getting closer, I position myself at the ready.
As he passes, I shoot forward to grab him by the back of his neck and spin him around, smashing his face against the side of the truck.
It takes three times before he slumps and he’s out cold.
Cap runs around the recovery truck and seeing the asshole on the ground chuckles. “I’ll get Spencer to bring the van.”
Turning to speak to the woman I’m not surprised she’s slipped away while I was dealing with this asshole. I’ll have to find out who she is and what the fuck was going on. But if this is what I think it is, the fucker is not going to be breathing much longer.
“Shed,” I state and Rides who has appeared chuckles while rubbing his hands together.
Xero along with Hot Rod step around the vehicle recovery truck too, but both looked pissed. “Fuckin’ hell, Pres. He shot off like a bullet out of a gun. He must have been a football player or some shit because he can dodge with the best of ‘em,” Xero states disgustedly.
“Let’s see what was going on, then we find the woman and make sure she is okay,” I watch as Spencer arrives and between him and Rides, they throw the asshole in the back, hogtie him, and Spencer takes off with no sign of asking why we have a man being taken to the shed.
Spencer is a good prospect, I’m thinking, and will make a brilliant brother given time.