CHAPTER TEN

-:- JIG -:-

Having eaten at the clubhouse, I’m just enjoying a beer before I head home. Home… Only a week ago, I would have thought of the clubhouse as home. Seeing Forest and Heather reminds me about asking if Bren is free to clean the cabin.

Walking over, I join them at their table. Forest looks a little disgusted, so I’m guessing he was going to whisk Heather away.

“What can we do for you, Jig? And make it quick, eh?” Forest spits it out and I just ignore him.

“Heather, I was wondering if I could get Bren to clean my cabin twice a week?”

“Surely you can keep on top of that little itty-bitty place, Jig? You’ve only had it a few days,” Forest pipes up.

“I wasn’t asking you, asshole.”

“Play nicely, boys,” Heather throws into the conversation. “Why Bren specifically, Jig? You want to tap into her culinary delights too?”

“You’re too quick-witted for me, Heather. Guilty as charged.” I hold my hands up in mock surrender.

“Nope. Can’t have her. She’s stretched as it is. What with the garage house, the sheriff's department, Hot Hogs cleaning, and now doing their computer stuff in her own time, you have no chance. I have people that can do it, but not Bren, I’m afraid,” Heather shakes her head at me and I can see that’s a final no.

“Who else can cook besides Bren? It’s not a deal breaker, but it would save me from eating here every day or starting to cook when I get home at night.” I look at her, hoping that she has someone who can throw something into the stove.

“Ellie can cook, but she’s got too much on, and she has to be back for her kids after school. Corinne and Cherry-Lee can’t cook a boiled egg between them with a recipe book. Dee, I don’t know. Maria, I think can. Lina definitely can, especially pizza.”

“Not Lina. No.” It’s out before I can stop myself.

“Whoa. That’s a pretty solid no there buddy,” says Forest. “I thought you’d jump at the chance of getting Lina in the cabin alone!”

Heather sits up straight at this point and gets her serious head on. “Okay, Jig. Spit it out. What’s the problem?”

“No big deal. I just don’t like pizza that much. That’s all.” Hoping that this will be an end to it, I pick up my beer and take a drink.

“Oh, no… I want the lowdown on this,” Heather says and turns to her man. “Forest, go away. Find somewhere else to be. I need to speak to Jig in private, please.” Forest shakes his head, gives me another dirty look, then heads to the bar.

“Okay, Jig. What’s the deal with Lina? No bullshit. This is one of my employees we’re talking about.”

“Hell. It’s no big deal, Heather. I just overreacted is all.”

“I’m not buying it. Spit it out.”

Heather has moved closer and I can see I’m not getting out of this hole I’ve dug myself.

“You know I was interested in Lina, right? I thought we could be something good for each other.”

“Hell, everybody saw it and thought it, Jig. You were all over her like poison ivy. Well, like a rash anyway.”

“Just as I thought she was warming to the idea, we got caught kissing in the corridor by Axel. He wasn’t in the best of moods and so gave us a talking to. I got told to leave her alone while she was at work, and Lina got told to get on with her work.”

“Oh. I wasn’t aware of that.” Heather looks annoyed at finding this out.

“Axel was in a bad mood and we caught the short end of that. However, Lina dropped me like a hot rock. Suddenly that was us over. I tried to keep up the relationship, but she told me in no uncertain terms that we were done. I respected her decision, as you’d expect me to. I’m not going to keep after a woman when she says no.”

“This is harsh then, Jig. Don’t you think? She says no and you’re sulking?” Heather looks at me like I’m a spoiled brat.

“Hold up there, Heather. That’s only half the story. Let me finish before you’re my judge, jury, and executioner. She changed her mind after a few weeks and now she wants us to take up where she left off. I’ve told her, no, not happening. I’ve moved on and she needs to as well. Twice now she’s forced the issue. Once here and once at my place. Both times she has kissed me, and although I responded to the kiss - I’m a man, after all - I told her no. If a woman says no and means no, then it goes both ways.” I can see that Heather isn’t happy about this. It’s not a work-related issue, as such, though it could have a negative impact on her business if it’s not resolved.

“Okay, Jig. I can see you’re not taking this lightly. Many people thought you two would make a good match, and we were surprised when it was suddenly over between you two. I’ll have a respectful woman-to-woman talk with her. If that doesn’t work, I’ll transfer her to another contract as I can’t allow things like this to affect one of my customers. You’re also both my friends, and I don’t want to see either of you hurt.”

“Hell, too late for that. It hurt when she dumped me so fast.”

Heather touches my arm and then goes away to join Forest. I hope I haven’t just killed the night of passion that he was building up to. Watching them at the bar, I doubt it as she squeezes his ass.

Getting up to leave, I almost knock Fist on his ass. Grabbing his arm to steady him, I quickly apologize. Then, remembering my project, I keep hold of him.

“Fist! Just the man. What are you doing for the next hour or so?”

“I was just heading home, Jig. Why?” He looks at me with a certain amount of suspicion.

“Oh great. If you are heading home, can you stop in at my place as you go? I want to pick your creative brain for a project I’m working on.”

“I don’t know the first thing about construction, homes, decorating, any of that shit. I’m not your man, Jig. You need Hammer or Ruger.”

“Not that type of project, Fist. Believe me, this is right up your alley. You’re gonna love it. See you at mine in a few.” Letting his arm go, I make it to the door, grab my helmet, and race home.

I want to have pencils, pads, and photos ready for when he arrives. I’m damn sure he’ll be just what I need as a partner in this enterprise, seeing as though Meat is thinking with his dick at the moment.

Fist arrives and I get him seated at the kitchen table. “Okay, brother. This is a project for Mia. She wants a buggy for Summer, but it can’t be just any buggy. This is what she’s asking for,” and I show him a sketch based on what Eden told me. “This is what I’m going to deliver,” showing him my rendering based on the stroller I bought.

“Are you fucking serious? This is nothing like what she’s asked for. She’s gonna love it, man. You’ll be another woman's hero,” Fist smirks, and I slap the back of his head.

“Fucking Chaos. He’s got a mouth so big he could swallow a pickup sideways.” Watching Fist study the photos of the stroller and then compare them with my rendering, I can almost see the cogs turning in his head.

“Okay, so, you think it’s possible to turn this into that, then? And are you okay to take on the paint job? I might need help with some fabrication, too.”

“Hell, yeah! Count me in,” Fist declares, but then frowns slightly. “Are we doing it at my workshop? It’s not going to be much of a secret if we do, though. Everyone will want to be involved, and they’d never keep it quiet.”

“I’ve got a small workshop set up at Star’s father’s place. It’s not huge, but it’s plenty big enough for this project. Plus, it’s out of the way as far as prying eyes go.”

Fist looks doubtful. “You think Meat will keep quiet if he knows what’s going on? You know how protective he is of Mia. He might see it as a betrayal if he keeps a secret from her.”

“Meat was supposed to be helping me, but I’m pretty sure he’s trying to get Star knocked up, so he hasn’t done a damn thing. If he lets the cat out of the bag, I’ll tell Mia he refused to be a part of her project.”

“Oooh, nice. He wouldn’t want that known around the clubhouse. Does Star know he’s trying to knock her up?”

“Seriously, Fist? How the fuck would she NOT know?” I stare him down until he realizes what he’s saying.

“Okay, that came out wrong. You know what I meant, though… right?”

“Yeah, I get it. If I get started on it this week, in the evenings, are you good to help over the weekend? Between us, we could almost have this thing ready for paint by early next week.”

“No time on Saturday, Jig. I’m working in the morning and resting up in the afternoon ready for TJs theme night.”

“Theme night? I didn’t know Meat was throwing another of those damn things. What the hell is it this time?” Dreading the answer, I wait for Fist to drop the bombshell.

“Pirates. More exactly, Pirates of the Caribbean. There’ll be so many ‘Captain Jack Sparrows’, it’ll be painful. I’m on the doors so I’ll just have a plain, cheap, ordinary seaman-style pirate costume.”

“Yeah. Your mom and pop should have left you as semen. Saved us all a lot of trouble.” I burst out laughing and watch as he gets the joke. He can be slow at times.

“Hilarious, Jig. How good is your spraying?”

Two days fly past, what with working during the day, and then Mia’s project in the evenings. Heather has sent Dee to clean the cabin and she can cook, so that’s a bonus. She left me a lasagna in the oven today and I ate it before going to work on the stroller. It hit the spot dead center. I loved it.

The project is coming on well, but I keep thinking of improvements along the way. I need to stop this soon or it will go on for far too long and she’ll be drawing her pension by the time it’s ready.

I rang Lily and booked a pirate costume for theme night. Seems I was lucky she had any left at all, as I’d left it so late. While we sorted that out, she told me about her new vehicle. Web found her a luxury executive SUV. A Lincoln Navigator. That would dwarf her Jeep Wrangler. More importantly, however, is the fact that it is white. It was high mileage and had a couple of warning lights on the dashboard, but when Web checked it over, it just needed new sensors. He practically stole it because the seller had been told by his local garage that it was going to cost the earth to get it repaired.