Page 3 of The Prettiest Outlaw

“Aye,” I said, waiting until I had her attention.

She looked up at me, craning her neck due to the differences in our heights. “Yeah—Oh.”

Kayla chuckled.

I didn’t change the expression on my face because I was used to that reaction from women. Not to be an asshole or conceited, but I wasn’t an ugly dude. The fact that I was over six feet tall and had arms as big as some women’s thighs only seemed to add to the appeal. As a younger dude, I exploited the hell out of it. Because my father was a serial womanizer, I wasn’t a cheater. But the fact that I did honest business never stopped me from taking a female customer down. I was fixing their vehicles and blowing out their backs at the same time.

“I don’t recognize you, so I know you’re not a regular here. I’m not sure what kind of experiences you’ve had at other shops. We don’t play the types of games you’re talking about, lil mama. I have a certain amount of space to store vehicles while we work on them. If I’m holding cars and bullshitting with them, that means I won’t have room for additional vehicles.

And for me… ‘vehicles in, vehicles out’ is not just a motto. It’s what puts bread in my pocket. So, we ain’t trying to hold your car. When we get the part, Khalil will put it in your car. While he waits for the part, he’ll fix the one thousand other issues your shit has.” I gave her a cocky grin. “If you know your trap ass car has to make it all the way to the Wisconsin border every day… take better care of it. Do regular maintenance.”

“You’re right.” She returned my grin. “You’re right.”

“Now, stop giving my employee a hard time, and pay the deposit so Khalil can start on your car.”

I walked away before she could respond to that, but she was still smiling while she swiped her bank card for the deposit.As I headed for my office, a voice called out to me from the waiting area.

“Brother Hill.”

That caused me to turn around and look because who the hell was calling me Brother Hill? When I found the culprit, I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was Brother Reedy from church.

I made my way over to him. I didn’t really know him, but he taught the new members class. I had spent two weeks learning the ins and outs of Faith in Harvest Church under his tutelage.

“Brother Reedy.” I proffered my hand for a shake.

“Brother Hill.” He pumped my hand up and down before releasing it. Taking a look around, he said, “This is a nice establishment you have here.”

“Thank you.” I could feel that my eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, but I tried not to let my face go into a frown. “You looking to get some work done on your vehicle?”

I didn’t know anything about Brother Reedy. He could’ve been a public transportation bus pass carrier for all I knew. I was grasping at straws, trying to figure out why he was in my shop. How did he even know I owned a shop?

“Umm, maybe.”

That threw me off even more.

“Actually,” he continued, “I’m here at the request of Pastor Sharpe.”

My eyes went large. I didn’t even know the pastor knew me. “Word?”

Brother Reedy chuckled. “Word, young man. As you know, our pastor emeritus, Pastor Creighton, had certain relationships with businesses in the city. Pastor Sharpe has decided that some of those relationships are not as… advantageous to the church as they might have once been. He’s looking for a new mechanic, someone he can not only recommend to the parishioners but that would also service the church’s vehicles. You know we have several school buses, several charter buses, and a few cars and trucks.”

“Advantageous?” I repeated, hoping the good reverend didn’t expect me to agree to service the church’s vehicles for free or at a deeply discounted rate.

There was no way I would ever agree to that. I was trying to build a relationship with Christ, but if Jesus knew everything, He already knew I was a street nigga at heart. Even the pastor of the church wouldn’t be allowed to play in my face.

Brother Reedy studied me. “Aye, is there someplace we could talk?”

“Yeah.” I started walking. “Follow me into my office.”

Once we got to my office, I took a seat behind my desk, and he took a seat in front of it.

“Listen, young man. Now, we all esteemed Pastor Creighton when he was the senior pastor of Faith in Harvest… we still do. However, Pastor Creighton had a way of doing things that don’t line up with the man that Pastor Sharpe is. Some of the things Creighton was willing totake on… Sharpe is not willing to engage.” He cleared his throat. “So, umm, we had a member who provided auto body services to and for the church, but Sharpe is looking to go in a different direction.”

“Not a direction where he expects me to service the church’s vehicles for free or at a deep discount, right?”

Brother Reedy chuckled, but I kept my face serious.

“Nah. Nah. Nothing like that. The person the church was using was used to getting kickbacks and favors from Creighton. He was used to trading on Creighton’s name around the city and in… religious circles. Sharpe don’t want nobody trading on his name.

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