Page 49 of Shar: A Woman Alone

Crack speaks up. “Gunner, you have created one hell of aclub princess there. Don’t know HOW you did it, mind you.”

“On the subject of strong women, the tattoo shop has a newreceptionist. She goes by the name of Autumn and has already boosted the shop'strade. She has an uncanny ability to tell people what their tat should be, asyou probably heard over breakfast. Trip, can you enlighten us all?”

Trip spends five minutes telling the story of how Autumnsuggested a knockout idea for a tattoo for Shar, and then how she cured gym guyof his desire for a shitty tattoo of his own design.

Quite a few of the brothers express an interest in visitingthe shop and I’m not convinced it’s all for a tattoo, either. I’m betting moreof them come out with a booking than not.

“Most of you spent some time in town yesterday helping usdecide how we initially stock the hardware store. Pen, can you give us thegeneral consensus, please?”

“Sure thing, Pres. I have collated all the questionnairesthat you brought back, along with all the scraps of paper and other assortedinformation techniques that some of you employed. Overall, the townsfolk arekeen to have a hardware store again. They don’t mind us opening with a skeletonstock as long as they can place an order. They currently have to wait fororders to be delivered anyway. They think that if they support us by orderingtheir first two or three orders, we will get a feel for what the town needs,and then be able to stock accordingly for them to just walk in and shop off theshelf. I think they’re spot on and we should have a good shelf inventory inonly a few months. We’ll never be able to stock everything, but as long as wecan have most and then short order times, we’ll be as good as it gets.”

“Right, thanks Pen. Now to the next order of business.Prospects. How do we feel they are doing and what have you all got to justifyyour opinion?” Looking around the room, I see head nods, blank looks, and insome cases, complete surprise.

“Cord, your thoughts, please.”

“I’ve worked closely with Snore, and I think he’s great. Hehas a solid work ethic, always the first at the garage, got involved from thestart. Some of his ideas are brilliant in their simplicity, but the resultsthey promise are great. If you’re looking for someone to nominate him as abrother, I’m all in for that.”

“I’ll second that,” Trip adds. “Shar and I visited thegarage and we can vouch for Cord’s opinion.”

“Good. Votes for Snore to be made a brother then.” All thevotes are ‘ayes’ and so my decision to get a cut for him was obviouslywell-founded.

“Brawl, get Snore in here and don’t be gentle.”

Giving an evil grin, Brawl slips out of the office.

“Snore! Where the fuck are you?” Everyone in the roomsnickers and tries to hold back the laughter, knowing that Snore will bepissing his pants when Brawl drags him into church.

Moments later and a very pale Snore is shoved into the roomfollowed by a suitably scowling Brawl.

“Get that rag off his back. It doesn’t look like it’s beencleaned since the day he got it,” I snarl and stand up.

None too gently, Brawl removes the cut and throws it to me.Feigning a look of disgust, I step aside and let it fall behind my desk.

“On second thoughts, it looks cleaner than the rest of hisclothes.” Bending down, I pick up his new cut and throw it back. Brawl snatchesit out of the air and spinning Snore to face him, and keeping him mentally offbalance, he wraps the cut around him, shoving his arms through the sleeve cutouts.

Still with no idea what just happened, Snore looks at me andthen round the room. Cord steps forward, slaps him on the back andcongratulates him. Our little bit of play acting must be worthy of an Oscar, asSnore still doesn’t understand.

Everyone cheers and when Cord states, “Welcome, brother!”The penny finally drops. Looking at his cut, the pride beams from him and helooks seven feet tall, as he draws himself up, chest out, and I’m sure there’sa tear in his eye. No one will acknowledge that as we’ve all been there.

CHAPTER 25

Shar

After talking to Sharp overhis first coffee, and his only cigarette of the day, I’ve persuaded him to takeZara and me to the diner for breakfast. He told the MC that they had to eatthere more often and hadn’t, as yet, been himself. I love Lira’s food, and themeals here now are stunning, but a change of scenery is always welcome.

Zara has a brief meeting witheveryone at the salon again today, just to make sure they are all comfortabletogether before opening day. Sharp can attend as a representative of the club,and that way the employees will have a face to associate with it.

Meeting him at my SUV, Ithrow him the key fob and decide to have a lazy day of it. Looking surprised,he snatches it from the air and unlocks the SUV. Walking quickly to thepassenger side, he grabs the door handles and opens the front and rear doorsfor myself and Zara.

“Thank you, Uncle Sharp,”Zara says, giving him a beaming smile.

Sharp replies, bowing as hedoes so, “No problem, Princess.”

There seems to be a realconnection between the two of them, and that surprised me. I’m more surprisedby Sharp than I am by Zara. He has never given the impression of any paternalinstincts that I’ve seen. Leaving the compound, we all give Joel a wave and asmile. Sharp smiles at the prospect on the gate, but it makes me shudder, as itis such a predatory smile.

The drive to the diner isrelaxing, and we chat and laugh the whole way. I notice Sharp keeps grinning tohimself and I wonder why. I’m not going to ask. Once at the diner, we find abooth and I watch Sharp as he gives everything the once over. The serverapproaches and I see her expression change as she looks Sharp over like a pieceof meat and she dismisses Zara and me as mere baggage.

Making sure I read her namebadge as she reaches our table, I speak first before she can address Sharp.“Annmarie, we’d like a black coffee, no sugar, for my husband, chocolatemilkshake for my daughter and a tea for me, please.” Speaking in a voice thatis so sickly sweet it almost drips goo from my lips, I see Sharp and Zara giveeach other a look.

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