It was a crazy situation in our town, but with that fear comes respect. When rival gangs rode in, our president got a call asking us to come to town because an unknown group was there. We knew who they were and already had eyes on them. Still, it was nice to be the preferred group that the town was comfortable with.
“Thank you,” Maxine replied, picking up her plate and starting to clear the table.
“Leave that, time for you to go with the boys and get that storage unit emptied.” Sticks shooed Maxine away, and Sticks side bumped Maxine with her hip, almost knocking herself over. Maxine was stronger than she looked, as Sticks just found out.
“Go with her, Tank,” Prez said, pushing us to get the job done.
Placing my arm around her waist, we headed to where the trucks were idling, waiting for us. Maxine gave the driver the address, and we climbed in, pushing Maxine in the middle, and some bikes followed us to help with the loading.
Maxine opened the double doors to the storage unit, and I gave out a loud whistle.
“That was not what I was expecting.” The unit was chocka’s, like you couldn’t put anything else in there if you tried.
“I did say I had a bit of machinery.” She shrugged and began giving instructions on the gear we were taking. An hour and a half later, we pulled the last piece out of the unit. The fun part had been working out how to fit it all in the two trucks. It was a jigsaw, and it amazed me that Maxine had been the one to move it all in there by herself and make it fit. Some machines were heavy, like the lathe, which was heavier than we thought, and it took two men to move it. How did she do it by herself? She had to have had help, didn’t she?
We drove back. Tomorrow, Maxine will hand in the keys.
The rest of the morning and partway through the afternoon, Maxine had the guys moving stuff around until she was satisfied with the sheds set up. It looked great.
Maxine POV
It was amusing to watch me struggle with my machinery and equipment. Sticks had brought sandwiches out to the shed when we arrived, and we ate while we worked. By mid-afternoon, my shed was finished, and I had plugged everything in and tested it. A new wash bay, filled and ready for use, a tub full of metal and off-cuts, and all my spare parts, in a separate part of the shed. When Prez saw what I had, he cleared a larger area, and soon the shed was better equipped than the bike shop’s workshop. The gang members came and went as they investigated what I had set up. I was ready for work tomorrow, will have to find out who my boss is, to allocate tasks for me, as I know if left up to me, I would be working on that baby of theirs first. I want to get my hands on that little beauty. See it up and running.
I headed in, exhausted from setting up my workshop, but it was worth all the effort. A quick wash, and I headed towards the kitchen to see if they needed help with dinner prep, but got stopped by a guy who said the Prez wanted me in his office. He led me to the office door, which was open, and knocked. He looked up from the pile of papers on his desk and smiled.
“Come and take a seat,” he nodded to the chair.
Sitting erect, staring at him as he finished something on his desk. I put down his pen and relaxed.
“The workshop looks impressive. I had no idea you had so much equipment. You know how to use it all, like some of that you would not have learned from Mike.” I guess this was his way of asking how I got the equipment and how to use it. I thought I had already told him that it belonged to my grandpa.
“This was all from the sheds my grandpa willed to me; he taught me how to use them all.” I couldn’t stop the pride in my voice as I spoke of my grandpa. He was the only person who made me feel loved.
“I have a list here of jobs for you to do, the restoration of the bikes including baby, will be after these are done, don’t worry you won’t be taking work from Mike, he has more than enough to keep him busy, but we noticed you have a knack for painting and the artwork it great, so our guys want you to work on the paint jobs first. See what you can do, between paint jobs, for the other service and repair. I get that you might have to stop and let the paint dry, only one bike paint job at a time, so that you can do other work. I hope I got all that right.” I took the page and noticed his bike was the first on the list.
“Do you have a preference on the paint job, other than the small explanation here?” I asked, looking at what he suggested.
“Do up a drawing, and show it to me, I am sure the others will have something better for you to go on, but treat it like our tattooist does, we give him an outline of what we want and he draws it for us, and then we make a choice from there.” He was grinning at me, like I was something he was enjoying to get a rise out of me.
“Okay, I will get on that. Anything else?” I wasn’t going to let myself be put out by this; maybe it was a trial of some kind. This was not what I had thought they wanted; it had nothing to do with being a mechanic.
“Yes, have you thought about moving in yet? I know Tank would love to keep you in his bed.” He joked that he would have heard from Sticks by now if nothing had happened.
“It would be beneficial to move here for work purposes. I often work late into the night.” I replied, “I had thought about last night and Tank keeping his promise. I decided I needed to learn to trust again, and this move was huge for me.” I like Sticks and Cricket, and I get along with the ladies I have met so far.
“Good, Tank can drive the truck and bring your stuff here.” He dismissed me.
“I only have clothes; the few things I added to the place can stay for someone else’s use.” I pushed, not wanting to bring all that stuff here.
“Tank can take you.” He again turned to his paperwork, dismissing me, as if all was settled; it might be in his mind, but this had my stomach in a mess, nerves taking over, it felt worse than being kicked out of home.
I am not sure I was ready for this; so much was happening so fast, it was blowing my mind. In one week, I had lost my boyfriend to my sister, got kicked out of home, moved into the flat above the bike shop, now I have a new boyfriend, that was if I agreed, which by accepting to move in with him, I guess that means I have, and changed my job, moved my grandpa’s machinery to a new home, and been given a list of bikes that want new paint jobs, which was more a hobby for me. Still, not part of my job, I found it frustrating that he wanted me to paint so many bikes. I was looking forward to restoring some of those old bikes to their glory days.
“Hey, ready to go?” Tank came around the corner as I was finishing my coffee. I went to the kitchen for a bottle of water and found the coffee pot hot, so I drank that instead.
He came around and wrapped his arms around my waist, as if it was a natural thing to do. I stiffened at first, but he didn’t react, just nuzzled my neck, and waited for me to reply.
“Guess, so, don’t feel I had much of a choice,” I replied, moving to rinse my cup.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.