Page 79 of Baiting Kong

“He says I have you to thank for that.”

“All I did was reach out and locate a few of his old friends to see if they could help him pull his head out of his ass.”

“He’s going to AA meetings,” Axel said. “He’s never done that before.”

“Good. That’s a step in the right direction.”

“Yeah. It is. He looked good and he apologized for not being a good dad these past few years. He even promised to keep working to become his old self again. Thank you for getting his friends to reach out. He sent his thanks as well. I know it’s too soon to hope he’ll stick with it, but I appreciate everything you did to get him started in the right direction.”

“You love him, that’s all I needed to know,” Carl replied.

Axel really hoped his father kept with his newfound sobriety, but he’d seen his old man backslide several times over the years. He knew better than to trust in it yet. He wouldn’t close the door on the possibility of it sticking this time, though. That wouldn’t have been fair to either of them. Just like objecting to Kong popping over tonight wouldn’t have been fair to Scout. Axel would have deprived himself of the opportunity to listen to Kong share stories of their early days with the club.

The interest glinting in Carl’s eyes spoke volumes. Axel kicked himself for missing it before. Heat, desire, but most importantly, fondness softened both of their features whenever they looked at one another. It was the same goofy-ass expression Axel got whenever he thought about Carl and Scout, and holy shit, he was completely okay with it.

Chapter 24

(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.”

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