CHAPTER SIX

-:- ROCK -:-

It’s mid-morning and today has been running smoothly so far. Splash turned up, on time, and looked eager to do whatever he was told. I’m impressed because he’s been a first-class gofer without a sign of getting pissed when Dice and Clay had him fetching shit they didn’t even need.

Walking around the bay now that the vehicle has been completed, I’m more than a little impressed with Fist’s spray job. Another one is done, and we can get the payment completed in two days. If not, the fucker won’t be getting his vehicle back until he has made the full payment.

“Good job, Fist.” I slap him on the back and he gives me a grin.

“I’m on time, so we shouldn’t get any backlash from this client, or the next who is bringing their vehicle in on Saturday morning. It’ll give this one time to stand for 48-hours.” Fist wipes his hands on a rag he had hanging out of the back pocket of his coveralls, dropping his mask and gloves first onto the bench on the side of his work bay.

“We have a lot of work to cover, but I wanted to ask if you’ve put your name forward to go on the road trip Beer is organizing?” If Fist is going, then I won’t, because someone needs to hang back in case work needs finishing.

“I put my name down, but so did Clay, Dice and Krylon. We discussed it, and were going to speak to you about closing shop for a week. We’ve not had any vacation time from the business in over two years, and we’re all ready for a break.”

“I’ll speak to Axel and if he’s okay with us closing, then I’ll come with you on the trip. I’m ready for some wind in my face.”

Fist grins, “Okay, then.”

AHHHHHHHHH!

Both of us run over to where we heard the scream, and come to a grinding halt. Standing in front of all of us is Splash, covered head to toe in purple paint. I cover my mouth with my hand because I’m ready to fall to pieces with laughter. He looks like a fucking purple raccoon, with paint dripping thicker in places and thinner in others.

Krylon has his hands on his knees, head down and laughing so hard he’s struggling to breathe. I look at Dice, who is nearly as bad, but Clay is looking as shocked as Splash.

“What happened?” Fist asks from where he’s standing next to me.

“Well, you know that shelf we’ve kept saying needs fixed as it was wobbling? It wobbled right off the fucking wall and that paint came down, smacked Splash on the head as the lid flew off and covered him with purple paint,” Clay informs us, still with a straight face.

“I think we need to get Stitch here, ‘cause I think I see a gash and blood mixing with the paint,” Dice states from where he’s standing behind Splash while getting a hold of his laughter.

“Go clean up,” I tell Splash, then turn to Krylon. “He’s your responsibility, so make sure he’s okay, and get Stitch here to look at his head.”

“Okay, will do Rock.” Krylon chuckles as he follows Splash through to the restroom where thankfully we have a small shower.

I’m not sure Bren is going to be impressed when she sees purple paint in her clean shower. She worked hard to get the grime out of the restroom, and it was thick with grime, I have to admit.

“DON’T LEAVE THE SHOWER DIRTY OR I’LL ALLOW brEN TO GET REVENGE.” I grin at the thought, because I’ve heard a few things Bren has pulled at the garage house when they’ve messed up her cleaning.

“The paint supplier Splash knows came through with a good quality paint. I think we should give her a go.” Dice points at a can of paint on the workbench next to him.

Stepping over, I take the can lid off and see the color matches the coding on our order. I nod more to myself than Dice, but if this woman delivers paint to this standard, we can use her.

“Get me the details when Splash has been looked at and we’ll use the woman for now. See how it goes before we commit long term.”

Walking away from Dice and Clay, who are still chuckling about Splash and purple paint, I give Bren a smile as she walks in through the front door. “Morning, Bren. You’re early.”

“Yeah, I finished at the garage so thought I’d come right here because it’s pointless going home for thirty minutes.” Throwing her purse under the reception desk, she quickly starts working.

“Okay, then,” I shrug as I walk back to my office.

Fifteen minutes later, I look up and give a chin lift to Stitch. “Have you seen Splash?”

“Yeah, I came in the back and have put three stitches in his head. He’ll be okay. I gave him some antibiotics too because there had been paint in the wound." Stepping inside the office, Stitch throws himself down in the easy chair near the window. “All these bars on windows, honest Rock. We never used to have to make places like prisons.”

“Yeah, when I was a kid we never locked the door and no one would think to steal from you. They’d get fuckin’ beaten to a pulp if they did.” Chuckling when I remember Darwin Barstow getting taught a lesson by old Mr. Jones for breaking into his shed and stealing a screwdriver. But to be fair, Jones would have allowed him to use it if he’d asked.

“Okay, I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you later, Rock.”

“Yeah, later.” Looking back at the invoice for the paint received from Splash. It’s signed by Sigourney Grimsworth. Interesting!

Picking up my phone from where I’d placed it on my desk, I quickly answer as it’s TwoCents.

“Yeah, Rock here.”

TwoCents responds, “I’ve spoken with the realtor. I spun her a fuck of a story and she’s taking our offer to the owner. She thinks she’ll agree to it, as she just wants rid of the place.”

“That’s good to hear, but we’ll have a lot of work in front of us to sort the place out.”

“Yeah, but there are plenty of us to get it done. Did you look under the covers to see what the vehicles were?”

Now I’ve got to admit I’m as inquisitive as TwoCents on the vehicle issue. “No, never been back inside as yet. I’ll look next time if the realtor isn't around.”

“Well, it seems odd to me the old guy wouldn’t sell the place yet, two vehicles left sitting in it. Maybe they are classics he was nursing?”

“We’ll know soon enough, I’m sure,” I answer.

“OK. I’ll be hearing from her today, so I’ll give you a buzz later unless I see you at the clubhouse.”

“I’ll be at the clubhouse later. I need to speak to Axel if he’s around.”

“OK, I’ll tell him as I’m passing his office. See you later.” Hearing silence, I know he’s left the conversation and I grin as none of us actually say goodbye.

Looking up when I hear a soft knock on the office door, I smile at Bren. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, the computer system is up-to-date now. I’ve checked that the hog you wanted squeezed in for Mikala is correct, and I’ve made sure all clients know they may have to wait a few days.” Bren turns to walk away, then turns back. “I’m going to clean up the rest area. Do you need a drink before I wet mop the floor?”

“No. I’m okay for now, thanks.”

Fist walks past the office with his phone at his ear and hearing the name Destiny, I can’t help the reaction of wanting to know what’s going on. I step out of the office and follow Fist to the front door where I see Red waiting, wringing her hands together.

“What’s wrong?” Fist asks as he pushes his phone into the back pocket of his coveralls.

“I wonder if I can speak to you about something important?” I don't shy away from the situation when Red asks Fist, I'm more than eager to find out what's going on.

“Yeah, come on and we can speak in Rock’s office.” Fist gives me a questioning look, and I flick my fingers in a ‘come on’ sign before walking back to my office, too.

Fist settles Red in the seat near the window and we both wait for her to speak. Taking a deep breath, she looks at me, then Fist before commencing.

“Fist, you know my brother-in-law Garrett is in prison for beating up that man?”

Fist chuckles, “Yeah, I know, and I know he deserved it, too. We ran that fucker out of town, but I made sure he got another beat down for getting Garrett sent down.”

“I didn’t know that. I don’t think Garrett knows that either.” Red looks more than a little shocked. “Did you know that Stone Wilson is the leader of that gang causing trouble? He’s forcing young women to be prostitutes and having their men beat up if they complain or try to have it stopped. He came back to town within weeks of Garrett being sent to prison.”

Fist jumps to his feet from where he’s been sitting on the chair arm next to Red. “What…The…Everloving… We need to speak to Pres.”

“Is there more?” I ask, because Red still looks upset.

“My sister is missing. When Garrett went to prison Jerica gave me Jessica to look after, and she went into hiding because Stone was still following her around. She ran and was to contact me each month, which she did for three months. Now, I’ve not heard from her in eight months. I have been sending messages to her cell phone, to her social media and nothing. I’m worried sick. I went to see Garrett, and he told me to come ask you if your club had anyone that could help track Jerica down? He said he would owe you anything if you could find her and make sure she’s okay.”

“I’ll speak to our Pres. He’ll want to speak to Garrett, so we’ll need to go through you to make that happen.” Fist takes Red’s hand and I’m not happy about him touching her, but not sure why I have these protective feelings!

“Okay, I’m good with that. Garrett’s a good man. He and Jerica were working hard to build a family. They were saving to buy a house.” Red is close to tears, and it’s not leaving me feeling good. My fists are clenched because if she cries I know I’m going to grab a hold of her and pull her tight to me. Wanting to comfort someone is an unfamiliar feeling to me, and I’m not sure I like it.

“You still living in the same place in town?” Fist asks.

“Yeah. We moved here away from Stone and his gang. I wanted nothing happening to Jessica.”

“Okay, Destiny. I’m going to speak to Pres, then I’ll come and see you. Be careful, stay alert. Give me your phone and I’ll put the clubhouse contact details in, then if you need anything just contact us.” Fist takes her phone and adds the number. I take the phone out of his hand and add my digits, calling my phone from her phone to make sure I have her number too, much to Fist’s amusement.

“Now you have two of us and the clubhouse to contact if you need someone,” I state, and Red blushes a gorgeous shade of pink.

“Thank you. I’m going to see Garrett again early next week, but I’ll book a phone call for the weekend. Keeping him up-do-date will stop him from throwing a fit and getting time added. He is hoping to get out early for good behavior, and I want nothing stopping that from happening.”

“I’ll get back to you quickly, Dest. Don’t worry, I’m sure Pres will do something because he’ll want to check out this fucker and the prostitution. Although it’s not in our town, it’s not too far away, and that may just be too close for Axel’s comfort,” Fist grins.

“Send me your address, then if I need to get to you fast or any of the brothers, I can give it to them without delay,” I add, and give a small smile when she does that. My phone vibrates alerting a message has come through to me, but I ignore it for the moment.

“Okay, let’s get you out of here, and I’ll speak to you soon.” Fist kisses the top of Red’s head and leads her out of the building. I follow behind, watching and thinking something happened to the sister, but hope it’s not something bad.

Fist comes back to the office with me and leans against the door frame. “I’m going to leave early so I can speak with Pres. I’ll let you know what’s going on, Rock.”

“It’s not sounding good that the sister hasn’t got in contact.”

“No, and Jerica used to value family. She’d not want Destiny or Jessica to worry I’m sure. She’s either deep under, to stay off the radar, or something happened. I’m sure Specs will dig deep enough to get an idea of what the hell is going on.” Fist taps the door frame with his knuckles, then gives me a chin lift before leaving the office and the shop.

I pick up my phone and check the message that arrived seeing it is from TwoCents.

TwoCents: Deal done. We got the place.

I grin while replying to the message.

Rock: Great. When do we get any other keys?

TwoCents: She said it would be fast as we were doing a straight-out purchase, whatever the fuck that means. She’ll hand over any other keys, plus anything else relevant once the sale is completed.

Rock: OK.

Now we know we’ve got the place we need to make some plans because it needs new everything if it’s going to look like a high-end vehicle business.