Clutch: Satan's Fury MC (8 page)

“My lead mechanic got pretty mangled when his bike got away from him. He was on his way home when he hit a curve covered with loose sand. With all the rain we’ve been having, he should’ve known better. Now the garage is backed up.” 

“I’ll do what I can to help you out,” I offered.

“Much appreciated. Cotton said that you were one of the best.”

“Yeah. I know my way around an engine, especially the classics,” I added with a smile.

He stood and started for the door. “Then you should be as happy as a pig in shit when you see the garage. I’ll have one of the boys take you over.” I nodded and followed him down the hall to the back door. After talking to one of the prospects, he came back over to me and held out his hand. “Crow is gonna take you over to the garage. Just follow him. And remember… call me if you need anything.”

I shook his hand. “Will do, Boss.”

After the prospect got on his bike, I followed him over to the club’s garage. It was just a few blocks from the diner, and there was a huge blue sign with the name Lou’s Restorations hanging just beneath the roof. It wasn’t a new shop, but it was in decent condition. Crow parked his bike and led me inside to meet Blaze, the guy in charge of the garage until their lead guy got back on his feet. When he saw us approaching, a curious look crossed his face and I could see that he was sizing me up, questioning if I was there to take over his job. He wasn’t a small guy, but like most, he was several inches shorter than me. With his blonde hair and unruly beard, he reminded me of that guy from that chick flick—I think it was called
The Notebook
or something. I should’ve been able to remember the guy’s name. Cass made me watch that shit four or five times, and after seeing Blaze, my mind went straight to them out in that boat around all those damn swans.

He pulled me from my thoughts when he asked, “You Clutch?” 

“That’d be me,” I answered. “Guess you’re the man in charge.”

“Yeah, that’d be me … at least for now,” he answered. “Duggar will be back in a couple of weeks.”

“Gus sent me over to see if I could help out, maybe get y’all caught back up. Where do you want me to start?” I asked, even though I’d do what I’d always done. First, I’d do a thorough inspection of each car, going over the entire vehicle one section at a time. Then, I’d take stock of the condition of all the body parts—interior, electrical, engine, exhaust, suspension, and frame. Once I had a list of what needed to be done, then I’d get to work.

“Dive right in, brother. We’ve got three in the main garage, and there are two more out back. And we’ll have another one coming in later today,” Blaze explained. “I’ll be working in the back on the Chevy if you need anything.”

He started towards the rear of the garage, and for the first time, I realized there was only one other mechanic working. I called out to him and asked, “Hey, where is everybody?”

“You’re looking at it, brother … at least for today. I have a couple of guys that will be coming in tomorrow.”

“What the hell? Two guys running the entire garage?”

“Yeah … it sucks. Right now, the garage makes the least amount of money, so we get the least amount of help. A good bit of the body detailing, sandblasting and chrome, is sent out. All interior work is done around the corner at Lenny’s Upholstery.”

“Fuck.”

“Yep.”

Hell. No wonder they were so fucking behind. There wasn’t much I could do about it, so I shook it off and said, “Guess I’ll get started.”

Without even stopping for a lunch break, I spent the next seven hours working my ass off in the garage. I’d dismantled the first engine and would have gotten more done, but I couldn’t get Hazel out of my head. The longer I worked, the more distracted I became with images of her in that wet t-shirt. I decided to call it a day, convincing myself that I had to leave early so I could make a stop at the hardware store before it closed. I wanted to get that shower fixed before Hazel got off work, hoping that I wouldn’t spend another day tormented with thoughts of the mysterious brunette.

Before leaving, I grabbed a few tools and headed over to Blaze. He’d already finished up with the Chevy and was working in the office when I walked up. I tapped on the glass window and said, “Calling it a day. I borrowed a few tools for the night. Have a little project to work on back at the apartment.

“No problem.”

“I’ll be back in the morning.”

He looked up at me and, with sincerity in his voice, he said, “Appreciated your help today.”

“Anytime,” I told him as I went to the side door and walked over to my bike. I made a stop at the hardware store around the block and gathered up everything I needed to fix the shower. I quickly realized that I couldn’t carry everything I needed on my bike. Thankfully, the kid behind the counter offered to deliver it since he was on his way home. I helped him load everything into the bed of his truck and led him back to the apartment.

Once he was parked, he rolled down his window and asked, “You want a hand getting it all inside?”

“Nah, I got it.” Once I’d gotten everything out of the back of the truck, I closed the tailgate and walked over to the driver’s side window and handed him a twenty. “Thanks, man.”

He tipped his hat as he put the truck in reverse and pulled out of the lot. It was cumbersome with the sheet of drywall and all my tools, but I managed to get everything up the stairs in one trip. My hands were full, so I used the tip of my boot to knock on the door.

Moments later, David poked his head out of the door. When he saw all the stuff in my hands, he asked, “You really gonna fix that piece of crap shower?”

“That’s the plan,” I answered as I stepped into the apartment. “Your sister still at work?”

“Yeah. She won’t be home for another hour or so.”

I started down the hallway, feeling relieved that I could get a good start on fixing everything before she got back. “Good. I should have most of it done before then.”

“You need a hand?” he offered as he reached for the sheet of drywall.

“Thanks, bud.”

Once we had everything laid out in the bathroom, he looked over to me and said, “You know, I don’t even know your name.”

Thinking back, I realized he was right. I smiled and said, “You can call me Clutch.”

His eyes skirted to the ground for a brief second, like he was mulling over what he was about to say next. Then he looked back over to me and said, “I guess you can call me David. My sister’s name is Cindy.”

“David, it is. Can you pass me the wrench?”

As he reached into the toolbox, he asked, “You’re in a motorcycle club, right? So, Clutch is like your road name or something?”

“Yeah, I picked it up when I was working at our garage back home. My real name is Thomas, but no one really calls me that anymore.”

“I think it’d be cool to be in a club like that,” he told me as he handed me the wrench.

“It has its moments.”

We continued to talk back and forth as I disassembled the broken faucet and all the broken plumbing. In no time, we had the new showerhead installed and a new nozzle on the faucet. There was still a hole in the drywall, but I was running out of time. They’d still be able to take a shower, so I decided to leave that for the following day.

Once I had my mess cleaned up and all my tools back in my bag, David asked, “You want a drink or something? I think we’ve got some sweet tea made up.”

Knowing Hazel would be home any minute, I told him, “Nah, I gotta get going. I’ll be back tomorrow to finish up the drywall and paint.”

“You’re gonna paint it, too?”

“Yeah, it could use a fresh coat … maybe two.” Honestly, the entire apartment could use a coat of paint and some other basic updates to make it more like mine. As I was walking out into the hall, the little sister popped out of her room, blocking my path. I smiled and said, “Hey there, beautiful.”

A light blush crossed her face when she said, “Hi… I … just wanted to say thanks for fixing our shower.”

“No problem, sweetheart. Glad to do it.”

She was twirling a long strand of her hair around her finger as she took a step closer to me and softly said, “Just so you know … I think you hurt Sis’s feelings last night when you called her a dying hyena.”

“Whoa … wait a minute. I never actually called her a hyena. I just said she sounded like one when she was doing all that screaming last night.”

“It wasn’t very nice.”

“No … I guess it wasn’t,” I admitted. For a kid her age, she was doing a pretty good job of busting my balls for being an ass. “I guess I should probably apologize for that.”

“Maybe, but don’t do it because of me. You should do it because you want to, not because I said something about it.”

Damn. She sounded just like my mother—and even looked like her as she stood there with her hand on her hip and a stern look on her face.

I nodded and cleared my throat. “Got it.”

“Thanks again for fixing our shower,” she told me as she stepped back into her room and shut the door.

“Check you later, dude,” I told David before walking out of the apartment. It was getting late and I still hadn’t had anything to eat. I figured I had just enough time to make it down to the diner for one of those famous cheeseburgers and maybe, if the mood strikes, a good old-fashioned apology.

“I was enlisted for over twenty years. Would’ve stayed longer if I hadn’t blown out my knee. It was the best time of my life, but I tell ya … lots of things changed since the day I first joined,” Sam told me as he took another bite of his fries. He’d started talking as soon as I sat down in the booth in front of him to wrap napkins around the silverware. Even from several feet away, I could see a glint of happiness when he talked about that particular time in his life.

Hoping he’d keep talking, I asked, “What kind of changes?”

“Ah, nothing that really mattered. Back when I first enlisted, the boys could wear beards, long and burly. No one cared much,” he answered. After taking another bite of his burger, he said, “And back then it took months for us to get mail. It was well past Easter before we got our Christmas cards, but satellites and computers changed all that.”

“That had to be hard. I’m too impatient for that.” I smiled.

“I don’t know. I think we appreciated it a lot more back then. Now everything comes too easy, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

“You remember when the Challenger went down in ‘86?”

“The Space Shuttle? The one with the teacher onboard?”

“Yeah. I was there when it happened. We were called out to help recover the debris. They had helicopters and our guys out in boats searching for days, but we never found much. We all knew we wouldn’t, but we kept at it.” 

“It was a bit before my time, but I remember my teacher getting really upset whenever she showed us the video. It was so sad.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day … how the cloud of smoke just hung in the air for hours.”

Once I’d finished working on the silverware, I looked over at the clock and was relieved to see that I only had fifteen more minutes left of my shift. I got up and said, “I hate to cut you short, but I have to finish up a few things before I leave. Can I get you anything else?”

“No, dear. I’m fine. You go do what you gotta do.”

I grabbed the box of silverware and headed to the back to put them away, but when I turned the corner, I noticed that my mysterious, too-hot-for-his-own-good new neighbor was sitting in my section. I had no idea how long he’d been sitting there, so with my hands still full, I walked over to him. “Hey. Can I get you something?”

With a coy smile, he looked up at me. “I’ll take a sweet tea and a burger with onion rings.”

That smile caught me off-guard. Those lips curled into a sexy smirk, the scruff of his day-old beard, the hint of mischief that lurked behind those beautiful green eyes … it all had me going into sensory overload. I needed to respond. I needed to say something, but I just stood there, locked in my own prison of thoughts as I stared at his mouth. What was it about this man that had me acting like such a fool? And why did those damn lips make me want to bite my own? I finally pulled myself out of my lust-induced fog and said, “I’ll be right back with your sweet tea.”

“Thanks, Hazel,” he purred, making the hairs on the back of my neck prickle against my skin, which made me want to kick myself. He hadn’t even called me by my real name and I was getting all worked up. As much as I hated to admit it, the man had an effect on me, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore. I wanted to think that my attraction towards him was just because he was hot. I wanted to believe that it would pass, but the more I was around him, I realized that it was so much more than his looks that drew me to him. Confidence radiated off of him, shining like a new dime, and I felt like a moth being pulled into the light.

I took a minute to shake off the effects of his charms, and when I returned with his glass of iced tea, I said, “Thanks for the help last night … and letting me use your shower this morning. I really appreciated it.”