Page 45

(Creature)

Scout arrived at the shop with sun-kissed skin and a bit of sand still clinging to the back of his elbow.

The chain that attached his wallet to his cutoff jean shorts jangled when he sat in the chair Creature shoved his way as he finished up the conversation he was having with a man who wanted to bring his father’s Harley in to be restored.

It was definitely a project Sinn and his crew, which would include Scout once Creature allowed him in the garage next week, would appreciate and be excited to tackle.

Since it was immobile, and the man didn’t have the manpower to muscle it into the trailer, Creature arranged pickup and penciled it into the chart he’d made outlining the different bays the garage had been divided into.

Back when they’d first opened the shop, he’d measured out each spot, six for bikes and two for classic muscle cars, and outlined each in bright yellow and black caution tape before adding several coats of sealant to the concrete floor.

They remained clear to this day, and the boys knew better than to place tools or equipment on or across them.

“Consider it no man’s land,” he’d told each of them when they were hired.

Not only was the boundary there to keep parts from winding up on the wrong machine or things from getting lost, but as the staff became mindful of it, it became a safety measure that kept people from bumping into one another while they were working.

“How’d it go today?” Creature asked once he’d hung up the phone.

“A hell of a lot less falling off and way more riding than yesterday,” he explained. “Mark even let me catch a medium-sized wave, though that one did pitch me off sideways halfway to the shore. It was still fun.”

“Good, I’m glad you’re getting the hang of it,” Creature replied. “I’m looking forward to getting in the water with you on Saturday and seeing how much you’ve learned.”

“Awesome,” he murmured as he glanced around. “So, this place looks like a rhino rampaged through here with its tail on fire.”

Glancing around at the piles of paper precariously stacked on every flat surface in the room, Creature couldn’t deny that he had a point there.

“We’ve been too short-staffed to keep up with the office and the machines,” Creature explained.

“Tell me about your filing system,” Scout said. “I’m going to assume the cabinets are for hard copies, but do you have digital records, too?”

“Only for inventory and payroll.”

“Okay, then I’ll take care of the paperwork first, which will probably take the rest of the day,” Scout said. “Once that part’s done, you can tell me what’s most pressing, and I’ll tackle that. How far out are you booked?”

“Last motorcycle bay just got filled by a machine I’m going to send Jake to go pick up,” Creature explained. “Muscle car bays are spoken for through the end of the month. Its car show season, and guys are starting to line up to make sure their babies are perfect before they enter them.”

“Gotcha, that will make it easier when answering the phones,” he said, glancing around and locating a spiral-bound notebook sticking out of the edge of one of the piles.

Scout flipped it open to a blank page, located a pen, and laid them next to the telephone with the same quiet efficiency he’d displayed behind the bar.

“I’d rather write down specifics when someone has questions,” he explained. “It makes it easier than playing guessing games if I’ve got to interrupt you to get an answer.”

Creature’s eyebrows shot up at hearing that. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“Kat told me to tell you that there is a cookout after Chapel on Sunday, all hands-on deck, and to bring the hamburger buns. I promised I wouldn’t let you forget.”

“Thank you for that too,” Creature said, standing and stretching out the kinks in his back. “Guess I’d better get back to work.”

“Yeah, unless you wanna write yourself up for slacking off.”

“Funny,” Creature remarked, chuckling as he headed into the shop.

Sinn knelt beside a frame, running his hands over it while conferring with Jake, who held a notepad as he jotted down Sinn’s instructions. Creature waited for them to finish before waving Jake over.

“Need you to go pick up this bike and unload it into bay three,” Creature told him before passing over the address.

“Take the flatbed and get Bruce to help you. Pretty sure you’re gonna need the extra muscle.

Stop off at Hammer’s when you’re out that way and make sure he and Gini are good.

If they need help with anything, you can leave Bruce behind to take care of it, and someone will pick him up when he’s through.

Between the busted leg and the new baby, I’m sure there’s something they could use a hand with. ”

“Got it,” he replied. “Need me to pick anything up on the way back?”

“How’s the fridge looking?”

“Another case of water wouldn’t hurt.”

“Get two and a couple more boxes of freezer pops; it’s gonna be hot as hell this week even with the bay doors open,” Creature said and passed him a twenty-dollar bill.

“Check and make sure no one else needs anything before you go. The vending machine is almost empty, which means you fuckers aren’t eating right if all you’re doing is eating chips and chocolate all afternoon. ”

Creature said that last part loud enough that the rest of the crew could hear him even over a burst of noise from a power drill.

“You’re going to fuck around and make me tell the vendor to restock that shit with jerky and granola bars,” Creature threatened.

Several grumbles met Creature’s words, while a few of his mechanics just looked sheepish, giving him a good idea of who was responsible for the rapidly depleted snacks in the machine.

“Listen up, I’m only gonna say this once,” Creature declared once he had everyone’s attention.

“If you can’t bring your lunch in for whatever reason, let me know.

I don’t need to know why you can’t pack one; I just need to know who needs me to put in an order at the diner so someone can run food over at lunchtime.

You know Mark would tell you the same thing.

You can’t do your best work on an empty stomach, so if there are issues, let us handle them.

Mark and I will make it right with the diner until you’re able to bring your lunches again.

Period. I don’t wanna hear any arguments, and I don’t wanna find out someone is working all day with only a Snickers bar and a bag of chips to fuel them. Am I clear?”

“Crystal,” everyone replied back.

Creature left it at that and returned to the ’49 Indian Silver Arrow he’d been working on.

It was a beautiful restoration, and one Scout had helped a great deal with arranging the parts for.

Creature should have expected Sinn to amble over and pull up a milk crate to work on the other side of the machine. He was constantly drawn to it too.

“If you’re out here, who’s manning the office?” Sinn asked as he began tinkering with the dual pin cranks, one of the few things they had yet to tweak before they could test drive it.

“Scout,” Creature explained. “He’s not cleared to work in the garage until next week, but that office situation was getting out of hand.”

“Tell me about it,” he replied. “From the way the shadows were listing, it looked like my blind ass had tried my hand at organizing it.”

Chuckling, Creature let himself get lost in a machine for the first time in weeks, the Metallica Black album blaring from the radio while they worked.

Time melted, and he skinned his knuckles more than a few times on a stubborn crankcase, but between him and Sinn, they were able to make real headway on the machine and get the project back on schedule.

Creature was just making an adjustment to the rear blinker when Scout tapped him on the shoulder, notebook in hand and a scowl on his face.

“Duggan is on the phone,” Scout declared. “He said someone just sideswiped him and Rainy out on Old Mill Road. Rainy went completely off the road. He and his bike rolled down the embankment."

Scout paused briefly and checked his notepad.

"No damage done aside from some ripped leathers, but they wanted you to send the flatbed out. I hadn’t seen Jake come back, so I called him, and he’s on the way, but Duggan was worried about the guy who sideswiped them coming back.

He said it seemed deliberate, so he let Mark know to send some guys out until Jake could get to them. Wanted you to know in case…”

Creature cut him off with a shrill whistle, and someone killed the sound on the DVD player in the middle of an old Aerosmith classic.

“Kickstands up, guys; we’ve got some brothers in trouble,” Creature said, straightening up and clasping Scout’s shoulder. “Are you good to lock up?”

“Absolutely.”

“Spare keys are in the middle desk drawer. Go ahead and shut the bay doors after we leave and lock ‘em. Office door too and turn the closed sign so no one knocks. You can keep working until we get back. I’ll let you know if we get in any trouble.”

“Got it,” Scout said, as Creature hurried out to his bike, the rest of the crew already mounted up.

Sinn rode behind Pike, hell-bent on being a part of whatever was going on despite his vision issues.

He’d more than proved that he could handle himself, and Creature knew Sinn would give him an earful, and then some, if Creature tried to hold him back.

He was as doggedly stubborn as Creature’s boys, and having met the people who raised him, Creature understood why.

As they roared away, he saw Scout pull the bay doors down and knew he’d have everything secured before they reached the edge of town.

Sucked having to worry about being pulled over, though.

He’d have preferred to ride down to Old Mill Road like a bat out of hell, but they wouldn’t be any help to anyone if they got popped for speeding.