14
I hadn’t moved in with her. But, after she gave me a key to her house, I spent more time at her house than my own apartment. I would get a text here and there from her asking me to stay the night with her. It was maybe a night a week that I’d spend the night at my own place. I didn’t ask her to stay the night at my place, though if she were to ask I wouldn’t protest it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that her place was definitely better than mine.
That said, things at the bar were pretty much the same; though it was clear that I had rubbed Teddy raw. I made sure to give him space and paid attention to the shit I had to get done. And I kept an eye on Jimmy, though he hadn’t made himself scarce. If anything he hung out around me more, flaunting his patched cut and bringing his friend, Anthony, around more frequently. They also brought me another bike to work on, this one in better shape than the first. They overpaid me for the work again, but who was I to complain?
On the second day of work on the damn thing I heard them talking lowly. “Greg’s got an order cooking. How quickly do you think you can move it?”
Anthony hadn’t made an effort to lower his voice in the least. I think, maybe, he thought he could win me over in the same fashion that he did Jimmy. Thinking that I’d be another jackass to sell his shit. I made an effort to keep my face blank as I worked on putting the carburetor back into place.
Jimmy hissed low at his friend, “Just let me know when and I’ll be there.”
I watched them out of the corner of my eye, the work I was doing was so ingrained I could probably do it in my sleep. I saw Anthony nod towards me, and the other shook his head. I had to wonder if Teddy had said something to him. It was probable, depending on how much I had pissed him off. But, if that were the case I probably wouldn’t be sitting here working on this bike and getting overpaid. I was determined to keep an ear on them though.
I finished up sooner than I expected and I looked back at them, they still looked like were talking shit.
“You want to come crank it for me?” I called out.
“You can’t crank it yourself?” Jimmy asked with a glare.
That patch had turned him into less like the guy eager to help and more into an ass trying to swing his dick around.
“Well, motherfucker, sitting on my ass on tore up asphalt for the last two hours has kinda got me stuck down here,” I was definitely going to need a hand up to do anything. I’d have to walk off the aches before I could get on my bike to ride home.
“Quit being a dick,” Anthony said, giving Jimmy a sour look. He came over and helped me to my feet. “You never dick over the guy that’s working on your bike. There’s not a lot separating you from the road, so you definitely don’t want to piss off the guy that knows just what bolts to loosen that will make your bike fall to pieces while you’re riding it.”
Sound advice. I hobbled around to get feeling to get back into my good foot.
“Sid’s got morals,” I heard Jimmy say like it was an insult, like morals were an STD or some shit. “He wouldn’t do anything like that.” He came to stand beside me as I was shaking out my left leg. “Would ya?”
“Sorry, dude,” I shrugged my shoulders. “Not going to implicate myself in anything.”
It wasn’t something I would do, but I wasn’t going to deny it though. I felt suspicious looks from the younger man, but I didn’t meet his gaze. Right now I didn’t really care what he thought. Jimmy shook his head at me and sat on the bike. With little effort, he kicked it to life, and the engine growled lowly just as it was supposed to. Anthony whistled and offered me a hand, I took it and was pulled into another one armed hug.
“You are like a magician, my friend,” he said before he stepped away. “I didn’t think that would be something that you could manage.”
“Unless it’s completely rusted out it’s not hard to get something like this purring again. I’m sure you’re smart enough to see a complete loss when you see one,” I shrugged not know what more to say.
“If you did body work we could probably make more money,” Jimmy said as he shut off the bike. “I hear there’s a lot of money that can be made in custom bikes.”
“I think you watch too much tv,” I grimaced at him. “Those shows only catered to rich assholes. I seriously doubt there’d be anyone around here that would be able to afford a custom bike, much less want one.”
“I don’t know,” Anthony said beside me. “I might.”
“I don’t do body work,” I looked between the two of them. “I spent about eight to nine years working on engines and being trained on the changes that they made to the various trucks they commissioned. Body work wasn’t something I was involved with.”
“I can respect that,” Anthony nodded. “I have a friend that dabbles in it, kind of a learning as he goes thing. So far he says it’s a pain in the ass. Remember the first bike you worked on for me? He’d trying to get that one cleaned up to the point where we could sell it. So far, it’s giving him hell.”
I nodded as I listened, “What’s the issue?”
“The frame is good as it’s not rusted like we first thought. We’re just trying to avoid replacing all the exhaust. It had a unique look to it that I liked,” he shrugged then sighed. “But it looks like I may not be getting my way with that.”
“So it’s more along the lines that you’re giving him hell about having to replace the exhaust,” Jimmy chuckled. “And not the bike.”
“Whatever,” the other man waved it off, and they started to load up the bike. “I’ll see you Wednesday night. Sid, it was a pleasure doing business with you.”
I gave him a wave and went to hobble inside. My phone buzzed at me, and I didn’t resist looking at it. I grinned when I saw the request from my girl about coming over for the night. That was enough to distract me. Jimmy bumped into me.
“Thanks for helping Tony with his bikes,” he started, nudging me as he stepped around me. “Dude seems to like you. If you want to do more business with him, let me know. He’s got a couple of different ventures that he’s into.”
“I appreciate it,” though my gut told me that the other ventures were less than legal. “I think I’ll just stick to shit that I do around here though. Keep my ass out of trouble, yanno?”
“If you get tired of just getting by day to day, let me know,” he said lightly as he made his way to the bar. “You know, in case you ever want to give your girl anything nice.”
I frowned; that was low. I’d have to ignore it though. I decided I wasn’t going to start anything, and I would just keep my cool. I went towards the office, giving the door a knock until I heard Wilson growl out a ‘come in.’
“I’m about to git,” I just stuck my head in. Predictably, Teddy was in there, too. Both of them usually took up the office, if that weren’t obvious by now. “Do you need anything from me before you go?”
“Nah, kid,” Wilson answered, sounding pleasant which was unlike him.
“You been taking off and blowing us off quite a bit,” Teddy piped up before I could duck out.
I stood in the doorway for a second, my phone in hand before I decided how to answer to that.
“Well, I didn’t have a regular broad for the last four years,” I could only offer him a shrug because it should be obvious. “The chick that served you seemed interested and has kept me distracted. Is that going to be a problem?”
“Cindy says he has it hard for her, too,” seeing Wilson speak up for me was something. He was a man that didn’t seem to be overly cozy with anyone. This was the first time I ever saw him stand up for anyone. “Give him a break. Just because Doris left you doesn’t mean the kid can’t find an old lady.”
“Cindy’s a rat? Remind me not to tell her anything else private,” I grumbled.
“Why do you think I keep her around, kid?” Wilson grinned at me, and I got a mental picture of the two I would rather not have. I pinched the bridge of my nose in an attempt to clear the image of the two fucking from my head.
“Do you need me for anything?” I asked again, because I didn’t want to leave and have something come up while I was gone. I didn’t want my ear to be chewed on tomorrow.
Teddy grumbled but shook his head. It was apparent that he was holding a grudge.
“Fuck off for a bit, Tillman,” Wilson said before looking at me and waving me to enter the room.
Teddy rolled his eyes and stood, edging past me with a growl. I closed the door behind him and looked back at Wilson curiously. “Did you need something?”
“You got anything on Jimmy since we last talked?”
I hesitated, but remained standing in the office. I wasn’t sure where to go with it. I was pretty sure Wilson was a man to trust. He held everyone with a critical look in his eyes and didn’t take bullshit. I grimaced and nodded.
“His friend brought me another bike. He seems to think whatever they’re running I’ll get in on, too.” I shrugged and rubbed the back of my neck, “There was something about a guy named Greg cooking something and Jimmy moving it, they’re going to meet Wednesday night.”
I watched as Wilson scratched at his beard, seeming to think on what I told him.
“Can you follow him?” The older man finally asked.
“I’d be pretty obvious on my bike,” I didn’t like where this was going.
“Your old lady got a car? Take that,” he sniffed as if it were no big deal. “If Jimmy is getting into meth, like this suggests, then he isn’t the right fit for us, and he needs to be taken care of.”
“I can’t mess up my chances with this girl,” I argued. “It’s still too new to be asking favors like that. I don’t want to fuck things up.”
He raised a hand as if he sensed I could keep going. He waved around my worries and went back to petting the beast of a beard that hung from his chin.
“I’ll get you a car, I’ll put the key in your saddle bag, and you’ll find it parked across the street. If you’re willing to back up your word with proof, I’ll handle it from there. And I’ll handle Tillman, too.”
I stared at him for a moment, trying to decide whether or not I wanted to threaten my chances with Madi. She was important to me. But if Jimmy got too careless with what he was doing it could threaten everything I held dear. I nodded.
“I’ll keep tabs on him.”