CHAPTER TWO

-:- ROCK -:-

Just as I would have expected Bren arrived at 8:30 am on the dot. She’s never been late when we have arranged a business meeting. In fact, she’s never been late for any reason when working for Hot Hogs and Cages.

“Good morning, Bren. How are you this beautiful morning?” I give her a huge smile. My response to that is a scowl, and that tells me I’m not going to be able to sugarcoat what I need her to do.

“What is it you want, Rock?” Bren sighs as she walks into the rest area and pours herself a coffee from the machine.

“I need you to look at the client list we have booked in because we’ve had a high-class client contact us to do a job, but with urgency. If I tell you who it is, I’ll have to kill you afterwards,” I joke.

“Yeah, yeah, who is it?”

“Mikala Mitchell of Silk Sisters Rock.” I wait to see if Bren recognizes the name of the band.

“Gee, that is a huge name, and I can understand why you want her fitted in. How long will the work take? I’ll need to know to move clients around and not leave you with an overlap of work.”

Bren walks with her coffee still in hand to the reception area and switches on the computer system, where she’ll perform her magic in the appointments area. Now she’s not showing the excitement I expected, but I don’t really care either, as long as we get this client.

“I guess three days for the mechanical work because she’s taking the hog around Europe. We’ll make sure it’s in peak condition. The spray work I think three days because Krylon, I’m sure, will do his best work on it. It’s not only his name that will be thrown around, but the MC’s too.”

I was going to run this past Axel, but I’ll report tomorrow in church that we have a high-class client and we’ll be getting a large payday from it. I can’t see anyone complaining.

“Leave it with me, Rock. I’ll organize this and I’ll give it fourteen days in case of any hiccups. You don’t want to put a time limit on that you can’t meet.” Bren is already zipping around on the computer system and I think to hell with it, and walk back to my office, where I need to complete the paperwork I was working on yesterday.

Twenty minutes later, I walk out of the office, and hearing louder than normal voices, I head to the reception where Bren is speaking on the telephone. Stepping closer, I see the computer open for appointments, and my ears pick up when I hear Mr. Collins' name.

“I told you we are not going to complete on time due to unexpected problems with a vehicle. You will still be in the order of work. That hasn’t changed. It’s just going to be put back for two weeks.”

Bren is agitated, and I’m interested to see how she deals with this asshole. He’s a self-entitled prick and if it wasn’t that he can pay the exorbitant price I quoted, I would have kicked him to the curb.

Bren is listening to whatever the asshole is saying and noticing me. She gives me a weak smile before giving her attention back to the phone conversation.

“Leave it with me and I’ll see what I can do, but know that if I cannot juggle this, you will be two weeks later getting your vehicle's spray job.”

“Everything okay, Bren?”

“Yeah, I know how to deal with him. He’ll be fine.”

I watch as she works on the computer before she gives me her attention once more. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“It’ll take more than Colin Collins to upset me. You know his parents have a lot to answer for, but maybe they knew he’d have only one brain cell, so if they gave him the same name as his surname, he’d remember it, and how to spell it.”

Chuckling because Colin Collins is fucking ridiculous, and especially for an asshole that comes from an upper-crust family.

“Col-Col, that’s what his mother calls him.” Snickering and rolling her eyes as she tells me this.

I can’t stop the chuckle that escapes, but she continues. “Oh, Col-Col, harder, yeah Col-Col, just like that. Can you imagine it…have you met his wife? Honestly, she’s as dead-brained as he is, and imagine the little brainless Col-Col’s that could end up running around!” Giggling to herself at the image she has in her head. No, I don’t want to have that image in mine, so I quickly turn and walk away.

Throughout the next hour, I get the paperwork finished, check the brothers have everything they need, place an order for equipment replacements, and look at the list of cleaning gear Bren wants me to order. I have no issue with ordering a few things as we do it through Heather’s company, anyway. I call the order in and speak with Alf a few minutes before heading back to the reception where Bren is still working.

“I thought you’d be done by now, Bren.”

“Sheesh, you scared me Rock. Don’t sneak up on a girl like that.” Bren points at the computer monitor and I step up to the side of her to take a look. “Someone has placed things in the wrong places. I told you all to make sure you logged things where they should be. Now I’ve spent an hour cleaning up the system again. I’m going to come in once a month and check on it, because it should only take a minute or two and not an hour.”

I have earned a raised eyebrow and one of those looks that mothers give kids when they are slightly disappointed with them. “Sorry, Bren, we do our best, but we are not really tech savvy.”

Fist walks into the reception and gives Bren a broad smile. “Still here? I thought you’d have been gone a while back. Did you sort out the clients for fitting in Mikala’s hog?”

Bren gives him a sour look, which he ignores. I’m never sure if Fist doesn’t notice, or he just ignores them? But he continues as if she hasn’t. “I can’t wait to see what it looks like before, and then after we’ve worked on it. Gonna be an enormous deal for the Hot Hogs, and could lead to more celebrity work.”

“I have one more client to deal with, but he’s not answering his phone at the moment. He could be at work, but I think he’s going to be the one who causes a problem,” Bren grimaces.

“Who the fuck is that?” Fist asks before I can.

“Mr. McPherson…”

Before Bren can say more, Fist snorts, “Oh, tell him to fuck off somewhere else to get his hog sprayed. He’s a total asshole, and I’d love to show him why I got my name.”

“Why’s that?” I ask.

“Well, he came in here to book his hog in for a respray and fuck, he was an arrogant asshole. He spoke to Dice like he was beneath him and I could see Dice was getting fucked off with it. Now we all know Dice is a cool one, but even he was ready to swing at the fucker before Clay stepped in.” Fist looks like he’d quickly and eagerly show him how his fist worked.

“Bren, if this fucker causes you trouble, get rid of him. We don’t need his green that badly we put up with shit. The MC brothers would allow none of us to be disrespected, and that means you, too. So, if he starts shit, tell him you’ve canceled on him, and he can speak to me if he has a problem with that.” I sling my arm around Bren, kiss the top of her head and step back, winking at Fist, who looks delighted at the prospect of McPherson not getting his hog sprayed.

Watching Bren as she places the dreaded call, I grin at the look on her face. Waiting for the call to go through, she looks like she’s walking the Green Mile.

Seeing her flinch, I guess that the asshole has finally taken the call. I can only hear Bren’s side of the conversation, so it’s going to be more than a little difficult to know how bad the call is going to run.

“Hello, Mr. McPherson. It’s Bren from Hot…”

“Yes, I realize it tells you who’s calling on your mobile. I was just being professional.”

“Well, despite what you may think of us, we do endeavor to be professional. The reason I’m calling…”

I can’t hear a damn thing the man is saying to Bren even though I’ve moved a little closer to her, but my imagination tells me he is being a complete asshole. Bren is doing well to keep her voice calm when her body language shows that she wants to reach down the phone and strangle him, slowly.

“Mr. McPherson! Please allow me to speak. The reason I’m calling is to advise you that our schedule for our current workload is running slightly behind. We are experiencing a two-week delay. This may improve, but we need to make all our clients aware of the issue and also that we are doing everything in our power to reduce the waiting time.

“All our contracts for work undertaken have a stipulation that we may have to extend deadlines for circumstances beyond our control. Unfortunately, this is one of those occasions.

“If you’d read the contract at the time, and listened when the contract was verbally explained, instead of arguing with Dice all the time, you would have been aware of…” She sighs when the asshole has obviously interrupted her once again.

“No, sir. You are not the only client to be affected. I have had to make this call to several clients today…”

“No, sir. I will not give you the names of other clients affected. That is not your concern and I would not dream of giving out clients' information either.”

Bren's voice has risen slightly, and she is visibly angry. “Oh yeah? And if I gave your information to another client, how exactly would you feel?”

Watching Bren take a deep breath, I can see how much of a struggle it is becoming for her to stay professional.

“You are at liberty to speak to your lawyer. As I said earlier, the contract is quite clear on any delays…”

“Mr. McPherson. There is no need to use such language. I have not been rude to you, nor raised my voice. I will not be spoken to in that way or shouted at.”

Okay. I’m done listening to this. Snatching the phone from Bren has her squealing in surprise.

“McPherson? Listen to me, you fucking arsehole! You speak to my people with respect. You’ve got 24 hours to collect your piece of shit from the secured parking lot. After that, it will be out on the street for any dumb fucker stupid enough to want to be seen with it. If I have to speak to you again, it will only be when you’re regaining consciousness.” Slamming the phone down, I take a deep, calming breath. “Fuck me, that felt good.”

Bren looks at me questioningly. “Arsehole? What the hell?”

“Star! And don’t be telling everyone I said it, you hear me?” Grinning at her to show I’m kidding, has her raising her eyebrows at me.

“Anything you say, boss.”

“Bren, I don’t want you to think I’m being nosey, but why are you working so many hours? Is everything okay with Ellie? Are you still the assistant for Alf?” I know Bren and Ellie are sisters, but I also know that they don’t live together or spend much time in each other's company.

“I’m saving for a house. I want to put as much cash down on it as I can, so any mortgage I have will be small. I’ve been leasing my apartment for a long time, and I’ve spent money making it nice, but it will never be mine and it’s wasting my hard-earned money.”

“Yeah, I’ve kept my savings for a house to be built on the compound eventually. But you gotta get yourself a woman first, and I’ve not gotten myself one of those.” Yet, I think to myself.

“I’m nearly at that point, thanks to getting a salary increase when Alf took part ownership of the business. It’s not an enormous increase, but it’s nice to put that extra portion in my savings. I’m going to say bye to the others, then I’ve got to get to the Sheriff’s Department.” Bren walks quickly away from the reception area and heads for the workshop where I know that within two minutes, Dice, Clay and Fist will all know I said ‘arsehole,’ and it will quickly become the word of the day around here.