The owner grabbed his keys and ran to his car as fast as he could.
“You think it was a scam?” Pat asked.
“Got to be. I think he’s used to causing scenes in order to get a full tank of gas that he doesn’t have to pay for. How much did you fill him up?”
“About five dollars. Enough to get him to the nearest gas station,” Pat said.
“That scam thing is an actual … thing?” Maddie asked.
“Yep. You’d be surprised how many try it,” Pat said.
“Isn’t that dangerous and stupid? He couldn’t guarantee he’d get here.”
“No one said people were intelligent, babe,” Bull said.
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t call me babe.” She made her way back behind the desk, and she noticed several of the clients had already left, clearly making their exit when Bull came inside wearing his leather cut.
“What’s the matter with you?” Bull asked.
Pat had already gone back into the shop.
“Nothing.”
“You won’t look at me.”
She put down the latest invoice for parts that Bull had asked her to put through, then looked at him. He still wore the jacket.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“Do you think you’re the expert of fine?” she asked, smiling at him.
He chuckled. “My jacket unnerves you.”
“It’s fine.”
“You did know who I was,” he said.
“I know.” She nodded. “But I guess, in the last week, I’ve kind of forgotten.”
“Speaking of it being your last week. After your shift, come and see me in my office.” He knocked on the counter. “If you need anything else, you know where to find me.”
He moved past her, and she hated how acutely aware she was of him.
“Oh, and Maddie.”
She glanced behind her.
“If my brother comes in again giving you trouble, let me know. This is a safe place for you to work. You don’t have to put up with his asshole ways.”
She nodded.
“He going to be a problem for you?” he asked.
“No, not unless he intends to pick up what he started back in high school.”
“What did he start?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to get into it. Can’t we just leave it all in the past where it is meant to be?”
“I’m happy for that, but you don’t have to be uncomfortable around here, got it?” he asked.
“Got it.” She forced a smile to her lips, but it was the last thing she felt like doing.
It looked like Bull wanted to say something else, but he eventually left.
Customers slowly came back and took a seat.
She answered the phones, dealt with customers, handled the ordering, and every now and then, she had no choice but to go out back and to take down the notes for one of the guys so she could call the people up to talk about their vehicles. Chaos and Carnage Mechanics was a busy place, and she enjoyed the work. Of course, she had no idea what a carburetor or a suspension something or other was. She kind of understood a fuel tank, brakes, and even spark plugs, but everything else just flew over her head.
Still, she was able to tell people who also didn’t have a clue what any of it meant what was wrong with their car.
By five o’clock, most of the guys had gone home.
Bull was staying behind for one other customer who didn’t finish work until gone five thirty, and had asked if they’d wait. Seeing as she handled the main reception, that was where she was when Bull came to her.
“Any sign of them?” Bull asked.
“None. It’s only five thirty-five. I’m sure they’ll be here.” The car in question was near the front gates. The keys were on the counter, along with the invoice.
Maddie filed the last piece of pricing she’d gotten for a job into a file and placed it in the tray.
“So, we may as well do this here. You’ve been with us a whole week.”
“Yes, I have.”
“And?” Bull asked.
“I … I know I’ve had a few problems, but I am trying.”
She had accidentally ordered a brake light instead of a brake fluid, and had put the job back a day. There had been a few problems along the way, but she was getting there.
“The job is yours, Maddie, if you want to take it.”
“It is? Oh, my God, are you for real?”
“Yep. The pay’s okay, but I do work Christmas Eve and New Year’s.”
“I don’t mind at all. I will be here. Thank you so much.” She wanted to hug him, but instead, she just smiled. “I promise I will get better at everything.”
“Don’t worry about it. We all make mistakes. You can head out. I’m going to take care of this bit,” he said.
“Okay, sure. Sure. No problem.” She was on cloud nine. She had a job.
If her mother was still alive, she would have been causing nothing but trouble about who she was working for. Maddie smiled. She liked working for Bull. He wasn’t a bad guy at all.
****
“This is the last shipment here,” Bull said.
“Already got the deets of where you want it next time. No problem, my man. I get it. You tell us when and where, and we handle the rest.”
Bull held his hand out to his brothers of the coastal chapter who’d run the guns straight from the port to him. This was the deal they had.
The brothers were already loading the guns onto the truck, ready to take them to a secure warehouse that he used as a front for storage. They wouldn’t stay too long in his possession.
He’d learned long ago that to keep the law off your back, you had to move shit quickly. Don’t allow anyone to get too cozy having shit lying around.
Standing back, he waved the brothers off. Their lights glowed in the distance until they disappeared.
“Sweet is ready,” Grant said.
“Then get them moved,” Bull said. “Let me know when they’ve landed.”
He stepped back into the main reception, which strangely smelled like his new employee.
Maddie had been so freaking happy to get this job.
“I had no idea you had a thing for Maddie French,” Grant said, entering the reception room.
Bud and Rip, who’d been sitting in the waiting chairs, got up and left.
Bull turned toward his brother. “What is it to you?” he asked. “I don’t recall ever asking you who you’re into.”
“That’s because I’m into all chicks. You know they want too much of me to give it away.”
“I don’t have time for this.”
“You know she’s never going to go for you, don’t you?” Grant asked.
Bull stared at his brother. The split lip clearly hadn’t affected him. After he heard what Grant was calling Maddie, he’d been so pissed. His brother should consider himself lucky that it was only one punch, not the multiple blows he wished to make. Grant was still his brother and he had promised him many years ago when they were kids that he would always protect him. There were times though that Grant didn’t need protecting. He needed his ass royally kicked.
“I don’t recall asking for your opinion.”