Page 117 of Size King

“I just think she’d be great for Dual Wheel Duo, man,” I say. “I think she’s a really awesome chick, and a lot of guys will want to come to the shop just to be around her. She’shot.”

“She’s not bad,” Cody concurs. “But she’ll probably come work for us anyway. We’re going to burn that motherfucker to the ground. She’llneedto work for another bike shop.”

“I’ll swing by their shop right now and tell her she has to come with me,” I say, going for my jacket.

“Dustin,” Cody says, shaking his head. “You’ve got to keep your mind clear and focus on the bigger picture here. If you want to hold off on Operation Hellfire for reasonsotherthan some random girl you don’t know, I’ll totally understand. You know what we need to do. The fact that Jacob didn’t recognize us in Ultra-Cycle that one time doesn’t mean he didn’t learn who we are. He could be on the lookout for us with several armed Hell-Snakes posted around.”

“Which is exactly why I need tomakeher come with me,” I say. “Operation Hellfire will commence on Sunday.”

“Sunday?” a few voices gasp.

“We found out their schedule, didn’t we?” I ask. “You guys—you said he is going to open later on Sunday so he could have his main garage repaired?”

“Yeah, only Evans and ‘maintenance’ are on the schedule for Sunday morning,” Tyler confirms.

“They’ll be expecting us at night,” I say. “Every one of their days are full of clients and people going in and out of that shop throughout the entire day. Sunday morning is when most folks go to church. I figure we could show up there and show him the power of the gospel.”

Although the crowd is still visibly disappointed at having to hold off on satisfying their pyromania, they seem to like where I am coming from.

Despite receiving a disapproving smirk from Cody, I still choose to leave and head over to Ultra-Cycle.

* * *

When I getto the shop, I see that it is a full house. The garages are full of mechanics hard at work on motorcycles. People are going in and out of the shop, and it is busy.

I walk inside, but I stand off to the side. There is a line to get to the counter—behind the counter are two women, one of them the object of my affection. The girl who isn’t Megan is definitely attractive, but she is nowhere near as gorgeous as Megan is.

Since Megan is frantically moving around in her workspace, I don’t want to distract her and make her appear unprofessional. I wait patiently until the line has died away. Fortunately, no one else is waiting around in the shop either when it is my turn.

“Howdy, mister,” says Megan.

“Good day, ma’am,” I reply. “I’m wondering if maybe I could you pull you away from your counter for just a few minutes so I could talk with you.”

The other girl walks up to us and smiles. I smile back.

“Hello there,” the girl says.

“Dustin, this is my good friend and co-worker, Kelsey,” says Megan. “Kelsey, this is—”

“Pleased to meet you,” says Kelsey, taking matters into her own hands and stepping forward to shake my hand.

“Hi Kelsey,” I say. “You know, it’s actually good that you’re both here.”

Before I can get back into my sales pitch, I’m interrupted. I know I shouldn’t be surprised to see him. After all, I’m inhisshop.

Jacob comes right out from the back of the store and slaps Megan’s ass. He glares at me, giving me an icy smirk as his fat paw kneads the back of Megan’s pants. I’m completely taken aback once again by his behavior.

“Welcome back,” Jacob says to me. “What brings you by?”

It is the first time that I’ve seen Jacob after learning what he’d done to my family. I doubt he is the actual gunman (although I didn’t entirely write the theory off), but it didn’t matter. This man is responsible for my wife’s death. He’s taken my wife from me, and now he is trying to take someone else away before I’ve even had her. It is driving me insane.

“You got more bike problems you want us to take a look at?” Jacob asks me, still with a handful of Megan’s ass.

“Uh,” Kelsey says, watching Jacob with Megan. “Jacob, what the hell—”

“Is anyone talking to you?” Jacob snaps, keeping Kelsey down.

I bite my lip, trying my best to contain my anger. I still can’t believe that through all of this, Jacob keeps his greasy claws on Megan’s ass. I also can’t believe that she isn’t just shaking him off like a flea.