Page 36 of Savior
“Not too bad.” Derek says, standing back up and brushing his hands off against his coveralls.
“Well, you’re done. You just converted a motorcycle into a trike.” I say, giving him a slap on the back. “Now’s the fun part. The test ride.”
Before we get into who gets to ride first, my cell phone rings. I immediately glance at the big screen above my work bench, checking on the security cameras at Vanna’s job as I walk across the shop to grab my phone. She’s sitting behind Laura’s desk, the shop phone wedged between her ear and her shoulder as she types something on a laptop. Probably placing an inventory order. She’s fine.
Diesel is calling. I tell Derek to take a fifteen-minute break while I see what’s up with my MC brother.
“Mr. Treasurer, how may I be of assistance to you?” I answer.
“Decided to stop in and check on shit at Ink Slingers. I get there this morning and Bucky’s knocked the fuck out, taped to the fucking vinyl chair, and the whole fuckin’ place is trashed. Of course, the register was busted open, and most of the equipment was jacked.”
“Fuck, bro. You call it in?”
“Yeah, Jason came and took the report himself.” Diesel sighs. “Insurance agent will be here soon to take pics for the claim I have to submit. This is going to shut me down for a few days, bare minimum.”
“Fuck, Diesel. Anything I can do?”
“Nah… but there’s something else. As if this fuckery wasn’t enough to deal with… Ruger’s here with me now. He just got a call, not two minutes before I called you, from Annabelle over at Stogies.”
Annabelle is Ruger’s niece, and I immediately feel the tension hit me, bracing for the bad news and hoping the girl is alright. I’ve known her a long time, since she was in middle school. A pretty little brunette slip of a girl. She’s been working at the Cigar Shop since she turned eighteen a few months ago, to save for college books.
“Don’t tell me she got hurt…” If some fuck laid a Goddamned hand on that girl, every brother in this MC will hunt them down and take a fuckin’ piece of him. Keep him alive just long enough to watch the hogs on Diesel’s father’s farm, make him disappear. Cops around those parts don’t check pig shit for human DNA.
“No, but she told Ruger there’s some guy hangin’ outside the shop across the street. Some dirt bag looking piece of shit, swapping little white baggies for cash.”
“Are you shitting me? It’s in our fuckin’ town now?”
“He even blew her a little kiss when he noticed her watching him.”
I imagine Ruger is just about ready to crack his skull on the sidewalk, and I can hear the deadly tone in Diesel’s voice as well.
I agree. Fuck that. Nobody threatens our girls.“He still there?”
“Far as we know. Ruger’s about to rush over there.”
“Does Jason know?”
“Haven’t told the cops yet, so no.”
“Don’t. I’m headed there now.”
“We’ll meet you.”
“Ten-four.” I hang up the phone and let Derek know the test ride is all him, I’m leaving early. With a stern warning that he better not wrap up this bike, I head over to Stogies on the other side of town.
Pulling my side-chick into the back parking lot of Stogies beside Diesel and Ruger’s bikes, I realize Axel and Viking’s bikes are here as well. So is Viper’s. I dismount and enter through the back door. Annabelle is standing behind the register, refilling jars of loose pipe tobacco, while my MC brothers are sitting in the leather chairs of the seating area in the center of the shop, puffing on cigars.
I reach over the counter to give Annabelle a quick, one-armed hug. “You alright, sweetheart?”
“I’m fine.” she says. “Now that you guys are all here.”
She gives me the run-down of what happened and what she saw. How it made her feel afraid when he blew her that kiss, and apparently, grabbed his junk while doing so.
If my blood’s boiling, I can only imagine what Ruger’s feeling. “We’re gonna handle this, darlin’.”
“Thank you.”
Ruger nods at me. “I’m gonna take her home. Got two prospects coming to finish the day for her. Let me know if you need me to do anything.”
