Page 16 of The Devil's Revelation
EIGHT
TORQUE
Why is everyone so interested in my love life? They need to find a new hobby.
“Yeah, so are there, like, benefits to working here?” the guy sitting across from me asks. The very one that looks like he spent his morning getting high. I should have turned his ass away at the door, but nope, I was a dumbass and decided to interview him anyway.
Maybe the second hand fumes are getting to me.
“We have health benefits along with vision and dental, yes,” I answer patiently.
“No, I mean, like, are there anybenefits?You know, like access to free parts and labor, stuff like that.”
I stare at the guy for a moment. Yeah, okay, this guy is probably a tweaker looking for a quick score. He’s wearing a pair of dark jeans, an ACDC t-shirt that’s worn, with long brown hair that is hanging limply over his shoulders. His beard is scraggly, but it’s his eyes that tell me all I need to know. “No,” I tell him simply. “This isn’t a free for all.”
“Damn,” he says, obviously disappointed. “Okay, well, when do you want me to start?’
When hell freezes over. “We’re still interviewing people, but I’ll let you know in a week or so if you have the job.”
He nods, stands, and walks out. I sigh, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my hand as he leaves. “Another keeper, huh?” Mom says as she comes in.
“Fucker is probably going to come back and try to rob the place,” I sigh. “I’ll have to mention to Cryos about beefing up security.”
Mom nods. “Yeah, I got that vibe. He left pretty easily, and didn’t look like he was casing the place, but that was probably all an act. You have one more guy out there waiting. You want me to send him back?”
I nod. “Hopefully he’s better than that guy.”
A wasteful wish I find out as soon as the guy walks in, tells me how perfect he is for the job, and that he’ll probably be running the place on his own. The asshole spent more time talking about how great he was and all the things he’ll do around here to make it better, while I just sat and listened. By the time I manage to get rid of him, I’m tired, pissed off, and ready to throw in the towel.
“You look like you’ve been through the ringer,” my father says as he comes into the office, taking the seat across from me.
I groan. “I’ve interviewed ten people this week, and not one of them knows what the hell they’re doing. Half of them just want to work in a spot where they can try and fix their shit for free, three came in high and or drunk, and the last one sat here and told me how much of a shit hole this place is and how he’ll fix it right up and run it a hell of a lot better.”
Dad sighs. “Definitely doesn’t make this shit any easier. How’s the prospect making out?”
“Carson’s actually doing alright. Takes direction well, doesn’t bitch if I give him a shit oil change or ask him to do a rush tire job.”
Dad hums a bit. “You think he’s trainable?”
I nod. “If I had him full time, I think that he would work out well.”
“We’re working on getting the prospects set up in places they will do the most good. If he’s useful here, I have no problem suggesting to the club at Church that he stays here until you find a replacement for him. He sticks around and proves himself, and if he becomes a fully patched brother, then we know he can work here in future.”
I nod slowly, mulling it over. “As long as no one has a problem with that. He’s been working at the clubhouse after he’s done here, and Mom said he never once mentions how tired he is. Hell, she sent him out for ice cream at damn near midnight the other night, and he came back, cleaned the bar, and then went to bed for a few hours before showing up here at seven-thirty.”
“Kid’s got a damn good work ethic. Him and Kaleb seem to be the only two out of the five we have now that seem to want it.”
I have to agree with him. We’ve added four new prospects after we got rid of the others after Matthew’s betrayal. Kaleb was the only one we kept, and the kid hasn’t made us regret it. The other three, Tyler, Norris, and Pierce are turning out to be pussies.Whining about having to do anything that doesn’t involve partying or having fun. “Maybe we should see if Kaleb knows anything about this kind of job and we can switch them out if we need to,” I suggest.
Dad nods. “We can bring it up at Church. Not a bad idea. Would be handy to have some prospects that can do multiple jobs. Those other three, they still have some proving to do, but I have a feeling they’ll be out soon once they realize just how unfun it is to be a prospect.” I agree. He gives me a quick narrowed eyed look. “I heard you talked to that Izzy girl again. You two patched shit up, but she didn’t apply?”
I shake my head. “I didn’t figure she would, but I gave it one more shot. She strikes me as the loyal type, so wherever she’s working, she either likes it there or she’s too damn stubborn to leave. Based on how tired she looked, I’d say it was the latter.”
Dad frowns. “There’s a lot of other shops around town, so it’s kind of hard to pin down where she is. You want Cryos to do a run on her?”
I shake my head. “At this point, everyone needs to just forget about her. She’s where she is and that’s the end of it. If she changes her mind, great, but otherwise I’m going to work on either training the prospects or finding someone else.”
Dad nods. “Glad to see you’re thinking reasonably about this.”
