Page 20 of Property of BamBam
Personally, I just like the kid. He’s twenty now, if memory serves, and one of his uncles, who was his mom’s brother, was part of the club before he died. It’s one reason Paps decided to hire him when he was barely old enough to work; as he drilled into all of us at a young age, we take care of those in the Kings family, even if the member ends up passing away. Since Nexus helped his sister, the club stepped in and took over when he died.
Buddy’s one of ours and when his mom passes away, which hopefully won’t happen for many, many years, we’ll move him onto ranch property and put him in a tiny home or something. Rio’s already mentioned it in the past, and I’m sure there are jobs there that he’ll be able to do as well.
“How’s inventory looking, Buddy?” I question. “Do I need to have Pokey put in an order?”
“Hold on, I looked at that this morning when I opened up!” he exclaims, rushing over to the counter where the cash register resides.
We only have that because sometimes, people need to buy laundry soap, softener, or stain remover. There are machines that have tiny boxes, but the club as a whole decided to offer larger sizes of several brands of products. Customers can buy them from us, we label them with their name and then when they come in to wash, it’s one less thing they have to remember from home.
Buddy keeps up with how much they have left so they don’t run out, and we willingly stock what people prefer. We also have achange machine, a vending machine and a soda machine, which we take care of and fill. Well, Buddy does, anyhow. He comes back over with a sheet of paper, and I take it before saying, “I’ll get Pokey to order this and have it shipped here. Glad to see you also put the junk food and sodas on the list too. Makes it easier.”
He grins at me then goes back to the counter and reaches below it, coming out with a bag that I know has the money from the vending machines. “I knew you were coming today so I got the money out, BamBam. I didn’t do the change machine though.”
“Appreciate it, Buddy,” I tell him, taking the bag and placing it inside the one I’m still filling. “I’ll get the change machine too.” While he doesn’t empty the washers and dryers, he does handle that task for the two vending machines since those items tend to go faster than the detergent does. If something’s getting low, he’ll call and tell Pokey and then go to the huge warehouse store and buy what is needed and put the receipt in the bag with the money.
Pokey’s tried to get him to just take the cash out of what’s been spent, but he said he doesn’t feel right about doing that. So, he spends his money and Pokey reimburses him. It works for Buddy and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.
“No problem at all, BamBam,” he replies before he returns to sweeping the back of the laundromat.
Once I’m finished collecting all the money, I walk over to one of the rolling laundry baskets and place the heavy as fuck bag inside. Glancing around, I note once again that the place positively gleams. Hell, it even smells clean, which sounds funny, but having been on runs in different places, and having had to utilize a laundromat, I can attest to the fact that they’re not all the same.
“Keep an eye on this for me,” I state as I roll the basket behind the counter. “Gonna check out the upstairs apartment.”
“You got it, BamBam.”
“Yeah, this could work,” I muse as I walk through the apartment.
It’s got two bedrooms, a nice size kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom that is probably one every woman would love to have. There’s a large soaking tub, as well as a shower stall, plus two sinks and a built-in vanity. The furniture in the living room appears new-ish, and there’s a queen size bed in the larger of the two bedrooms. We have the items we got for Livy at the clubhouse for Theo, and it wouldn’t take any time to move it here and have it set up for her. That is, if she accepts the position I’m wanting the Kings to offer her and is comfortable living above the laundromat.
Checking the kitchen, I see it has at least the basics so someone can cook and also eat. I don’t know if she drinks coffee or not, but if she does, I’ll need to get her a coffee pot. Everything is clean and ready; now I need to see if the club is okay with offering her a job once she’s allowed to leave the premises. The best part about it is the fact that with her living upstairs, she won’t need a vehicle.
I’ll definitely offer to take her wherever she needs to go until she can afford to get one. I know Pokey worked some magic to get a checking account started for her, but as he said, he didn’t want to reroute too much from Jasper’s parents so he didn’t rouse any suspicions. Considering that they’ve got their fingers in a lot of pots, I definitely agree with him.
“Maybe that’s something she’ll let me get for her,” I murmur to myself. “If she puts up a fuss, I’ll tell her she can make the damn payments.”
Not that I’ll actually take her money. No, I’ll just put it in an account for Theo but what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her as far as I’m concerned. It’s time for her to realize that with the Kings at her back, she’ll be able to do whatever she wants.
Satisfied with my inspection, I leave the apartment, close and lock the door then pocket the keys. The only other thing I would add before I’d let her stay here by herself is a security system including cameras. Plus, she needs fire extinguishers and a few of the fire blankets I’ve heard about. There’s a working fire escape as well, and I make another note to myself to check that out to make sure she’s able to access it.
I head back downstairs and into the laundromat and can sense the vibe has changed. “Buddy?” I call out.
“I’m over here,” he replies. Moving to the back corner of the laundromat, I see three guys who are standing around Buddy with their arms crossed over their chests.
Now, I may not wear my cut when I’m in a cage, but I did slip it on when I got out before coming inside. It’s a part of who I am, and I feel naked without it, not that I have to justify anything to anyone else.
“What’s going on?” I bark out, glaring at the three men that I don’t know or recognize.
“This doesn’t concern you,” one of them says, barely glancing over his shoulder at me.
“Yeah, actually, it fucking does,” I snarl. “In case you didn’t notice when you walked in, this is a Kings of Anarchy business and I’m one of the members. So, you wanna tell me why you’re hassling one of my employees?”
I saw where the bucket that Buddy was previously using to mop has been tipped over, water all over the formerly clean floor. Buddy also has a busted lip which pisses me off even more. The guy wouldn’t hurt a fucking fly, yet these assholes put their hands on him? Yeah, that’s not gonna work for me and if they don’t start talking, they’re gonna figure out how I got my road name.
“We were just talking to him,” Asshole Two replies, not answering my question.
“Seems to me thattalkingtypically doesn’t yield a busted lip. Wanna try again?” I hiss between clenched teeth as I quickly shoot off a text to Rio to find out if anyone else is in town.
“We just wanted to know if he knew of a woman with a baby who might’ve moved into town,” Asshole Three finally says.
