Page 26 of JoJo

Chapter 8

Today was my one month wedding anniversary. I wasn’t expecting a celebration of any kind, simply reflecting on how well things were actually going. Steel worked out of our third garage bay a few days a week. When he wasn’t working on servicing or tweaking club bikes, he took on special rehab projects. Our community has a vast amount of classic cars and trucks amongst its populace. As an older generation dies off with their “clunkers” sitting in the yards or long forgotten in a back barn, a younger generation swoops in and wants them turned into something spectacular again. Steel actually had clients penciled in on a calendar because he had too much work coming in. Not that any of us were complaining, of course.

Since word got around about my marriage, and Steel’s skills were being lauded in town, business for the garage had started picking up again. In fact, if our next two months looked like the last, we were going to have to look at expanding the garage for the first time in 30 years. My dad would be so proud.

I had shown up to welcome Angel and Sweet back to town, and drop off a baby gift since they obviously hadn’t had a shower, or time to even plan for a new baby. I wasn’t going to take my anger on the parents out on the child. LeLi was a sweet baby from what I’d seen and she was already starting her life out in turmoil, even if she wasn’t yet old enough to realize she’d had one mom abandon her and another woman step into fight for her. I couldn’t imagine explaining all that to the poor girl one day, and didn’t envy Sweet and Angel having to take on that task.

I meant what I had said to her though. I was on hiatus from the club and, after seeing the baby, I stayed away from the clubhouse too. Steel had club business to handle, and was doing a solid job of it after he and Sweet sat down and had a discussion. Having a discussion seemed like a nice way of putting it after seeing what they both looked like, but apparently that was how the boys worked out their shit. It had never occurred to me to just hop in the ring at the clubhouse and beat the shit out of Angel Girl. Somehow, I didn’t think it would make me feel better about how she treated me sometimes.

Then, there was Steel and me. We were surprisingly solid. Although we were still getting to know one another and definitely learning how to live and work together without getting on one another’s nerves. Things were actually transitioning smoothly with us on all fronts. Well, they would be super smooth if he’d get his ass out of the shower already, because I wasn’t feeling well again this morning. Clyde and Chuck had each been out of work one and two days, respectively, last week with the flu. It seemed the sneaky bastard of a virus was finally catching up to me too.

I banged on the bathroom door one more time. I heard Steel chuckling from the other side, apparently thinking I was just still being shy about my bodily functions around him. I most definitely was, but that was not my problem this morning. Thankfully, he kept the door unlocked. I barreled in and raced by his still laughing ass in the shower, threw the toilet lid up and proceeded to puke my guts up until I was dry heaving, tears streaming down my face from the effort. The toilet flushed of its own accord once during the lull in my heaving. A part of me knew it meant Steel was there, but that small girly part of me that only wanted him to see me at my best all the time held out hope that I suddenly owned a magically flushing toilet. Then again, that would also mean I owned magical hair ties that pulled all of my hair up and out of the way in an improvised messy bun as I puked.

“Jesus, babe! Are you okay? That was spectacularly violent.” I turned slowly, planning on glaring up at him only to come face to dick with his still dripping penis. Okay, in his defense, his entire body was still dripping from the shower he had jumped out of to help me. Not that I would complain about the puddles he was currently making on the floor, because he was doing it to help me.

“If you wretch again after looking at my cock, I’m going to develop a complex.” He managed a straight face while saying that, then added softly, “Please don’t.” He managed to make me laugh a little, which in turn actually did not feel that great on my sick-sore abs.

“Ugh,” I managed to groan out as he stooped down beside me with a wet washcloth and wiped my face free of tears, and possibly gross stuff that I didn’t want to think about.

“You don’t feel feverish. Maybe a tiny bit warm,” he mentioned as he tended to me.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“Babe!” It was an admonishment, not an endearment. “Nothing to be sorry for. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have been tormenting you when you knocked though. Hell, I thought if I made you knock enough you’d come wash me to get me out of the bathroom quicker.” He winked then, looking far too sexy to be sitting naked in front of Princess Pukes-a-Lot, or in other words, me.

“Maybe you should put on some clothes though. I might decide Olympic style sexcapades are the cure-all for what ails me.” Steel just laughed at me, and then seemed to notice the mess he’d made on the floor.

“Stay still. I’m going to clean this up before you slip.”

“Not really motivated to go far so take your time,” I mumbled as I hung my head on the arm I still had draped over the toilet seat. Again, I was thankful that I enjoyed keeping our space clean.

He did not take his time. Instead, he tossed on a pair of sweatpants, an old concert t-shirt, and then he wiped up all the water he’d tracked everywhere before coming back for me. Steel gripped me in his sturdy arms, lifting me like I weighed nothing and took me to our bed. “You stay right there. I’m going to get you some fresh clothes and probably some mouthwash.” He grinned at the last suggestion.

I made a face. “Much appreciated.” As he ducked back into the bathroom, my cell phone rang. Luckily, it was on the night stand beside the bed so I reached and answered it.

“Hey, JoJo. Mr. Sawyer is here to pick up his car.” Chuck stated quickly, which meant Mr. Sawyer was probably being a pain in the ass. I glanced at my alarm clock.

“He’s early,” I lamented. “Really early.”

“That’s what he said,” Chuck countered. I almost giggled at his unintentional joke.

“Okay, well, I’m sick. Could you go up to the office? His invoice should be in the top spot on my desk. The keys are on the peg board in the garage though.”

“Sure thing, JoJo. I hope you’re okay.”

“Puking my guts up, actually. I figure I have whatever got you and Clyde down last week.”

“Uh,” Chuck sounded weird all of a sudden. “Sure, I bet that’s it. Okay, gotta go take care of this. Feel better.” The words were blabbered out at a mile a minute before he hung up on me.

“That was weird. Chuck’s never usually that easy to get off the phone.”

“Probably because what ailed him and Clyde last week was a good case of bow hunting deer season starting.”

“What?” I yelped incredulously. “Seriously? They were hunting? We had to all but shut down for two days.”

Steel just chuckled. “According to the guys, your dad always used to close the shop for a long four day weekend when the season started.”

“Why didn’t they just tell me? I would have continued on with the tradition.”

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