“Yeah? Yes?” I snap my face to his, willing away the mess my thoughts have become. Jerry. Morris. Zoey. Morris. Morris.
I’m on this endless loop of watching and worrying, and suddenly, I’m fucking tired.
But whatever Morris has to say to me will have to wait. There’s a light knock at the door, and then Leo toes the door open and holds up two big white paper bags. He looks proud of himself.
“Food is here!” he calls.
9
While Alice lays out the sandwiches and gets Zoey set up to eat, Leo and I stand together in my small kitchen, trying to figure out what to do about Alice’s car.
“You want me to haul it back to the yard?” Leo asks. “You give me three to four days and the cash I need to buy whatever parts I don’t have, and she’ll be good to go.”
“How much you thinking?” I ask. “Didn’t you strip the shop of everything that wasn’t nailed down?”
I’m giving him a hard time, but it’s also a real question. I can imagine a repair like that won’t be cheap. And I think three days is optimistic, especially for a kid working alone.
“Well, that depends,” Leo says. He meets my eyes and explains that the power’s been off, so he can’t technically put the car up in a bay for a full diagnostic. “You get the power back on, I’ll know much faster what the car needs. And”—he looks embarrassed as he admits it—“if I have the parts back at my house, I won’t have to buy ’em.”
“You need a job? You’ll do the work? Can I trust you?” I motion to the bruise forming on his face. “A couple hours ago, you and me… We weren’t on such friendly terms.”
Leo rubs the spot on his face and shrugs. “I won’t hold a grudge if you won’t.”
I consider the kid for a minute. I’m not long on trust, but unless I want to fork over more cash to a stranger and spend more time getting Alice’s car towed, Leo working off his debt to me seems to make good sense.
I watch Leo’s face as I explain the deal.
“Here’s how this is gonna go. I’ll get the power back on at your brother’s old shop. You fix Alice’s car with what parts you have. Anything you need, and I mean anything, you come to me. I’ll buy it and bring it to you. No cash, no funny business. You donate the labor, and I’ll buy the parts to get your granddaddy’s car working so you can drive it off my lot.”
I calculate in my head how much we’re probably talking. It’s a fair deal for the kid, actually. More than fair. But I ask him to be sure, more of a statement than a question.
“Fair?” I say.
“I don’t know.” Leo shakes his head. “That truck could need two, three grand in parts, Morris. I don’t think it’s gonna cost that much in time and inventory to get Alice’s car running. I’m gonna owe you. And I don’t know how I’ll be able to pay you back that kind of cash.”
I’m real proud of the boy in this moment. He is laying it to me straight. Not trying to manipulate or abuse the situation. A lesser man would have known he was getting the better end of the deal and kept his trap shut. But Leo’s clearly not a lesser man.
“You’re working off your debt to me,” I explain. “And, in turn, you’re gonna help me get that yellow hunk of junk off my property. Sounds like a real fair deal to me. I don’t think I need numbers to jive this. I’m good, so…we good?”
I give a half smirk to let him know I’m not really insulting his granddaddy’s truck.
“Now, come on,” I say. “We got sandwiches waiting.”
Leo stares at me for a moment, like he’s not sure whether to hug me or slug me. I clap him on the shoulder and open the refrigerator on instinct, hoping for some cold beer to wash down lunch. I moan at what I see. I’m gonna need to do some shopping.
It takes some convincing before Alice lets Leo haul her car away. She’s clinging to that dead hunk of junk like it’s her last lifeline to freedom.
And it probably is, but at this point, it’s not going to get her anywhere. This little bird’s broken a wing, and without it, she ain’t flying.
Before Leo leaves, I give the kid explicit instructions to move my bike into the building to secure it overnight. He really wanted the keys, offered at least six different times to ride it back here to me, but there was no way I was letting any man’s ass on my ride.
I trusted he could lock it in the repair bay, since it turned out Leo had a master set of keys for every door in the strip mall anyway. We exchanged numbers, and I told him I’d be by the shop tomorrow to get my bike. I figured I’d have Tiny or one of the Disciples drive me over.
For a couple bucks in gas, shit, I could get Midge to drive me. Although, knowing Midge, she’ll wanna throw in a BJ as part of the deal. She works over at the compound doing anything and anyone that needs doing.
Although I wouldn’t consider letting Midge near my dick on a good day, with Alice nearby, I won’t even entertain the idea for fun.
I can’t explain the way I react to her.
Alice is beautiful, sure. Her body is firm and yet soft, her ass plush and enticing in a way that makes me want to bend her over any available surface and taste her skin with my teeth.
But there’s something else there. Something more.
The ease I feel with her and Zoey isn’t something I’m used to. Hell, it’s not something I ever thought possible.
I’ve never been that guy.
Never wanted to be tied down to people.
I love coming home to my room.
My shit.
The satisfying crack of the tab on a beer as I have a drink after a long ride. There’s no room at the compound for a kid, for family. And I have no desire to ever leave the club.
I have everything I’ve ever wanted. Freedom. All the fun I can stand. And a place to call home—my room at the compound.
But having Alice and Zoey here, I realize this place could be more than a crash pad.
It could be someone’s home.
Alice is clearing away the mess from our meal, opening and closing the cabinets, looking for the trash bin and cleaning supplies. She is making herself at home, busying herself and stealing little looks at me.
I just watch her. I lean back in my chair and cross my arms. Zoey is finishing the last bite of her chips. Alice looks flustered as she sweeps the crumbs from in front of Leo’s place.
“Mama,” Zoey asks quietly. “May I be excused?”
Alice faces her daughter, but she looks tired. Too tired. “Yeah, baby, of course. You gonna finish that movie?”
Zoey nods and leaps excitedly from the chair.
“Zoey?” Alice stops her with a gentle tone. A reminder. “Morris treated us today. Did you forget to say thank you?”
Zoey spins on her little blue socks and races up to me. “Thank you so much for that sandwich, Morris,” she says. “It was really good!” She holds her hand up for a high five, and I lightly lift my palm to meet hers.
“My pleasure, princess,” I say. “Now, go have some fun.”
Alice is watching me with a look on her face I can’t read. She doesn’t look angry or unhappy, but more…uncertain.