Page 24 of Speed

“Kinda what we stopped by to talk about.” Crusher sat on the stool off to the side.

“Shoot, what’s on your mind.” My curiosity peaked by his words.

“How you’d feel about opening a shop?” Jag stood and turned toward us.

“Club has a garage. Why would we want to open another?”

“Speed, not a garage, a shop. One to make custom bikes.”

“Are you talking the six of us, Crusher? And do you think we could make a go of it? Enough demand, considering we would only be able to build four to six a year, depending on what the clientele asked for.” We grew up working on bikes, our fathers and the other men in the club taught us everything we knew about bikes.

“Yeah, we already have four guys who live in Cali and ride leisurely that want a custom job to show off. And more money than they have sense. We figured with the six of us working it, your estimate on how many we could do in a year is close. So?” Crusher grinned.

“You fuckers had this all worked out. When did you plan on telling me?”

“Now.” Jag laughed.

“Asshole.” My eyebrows cocked, waiting for them to explain.

“The building behind Hawk’s came open, the club was going to buy it and extend the garage out, but Dad said we could have it for our business if we wanted.” Crusher shrugged.

“Hmmm—” I looked around my garage, it was a spacious three bay. It held every tool imaginable and a helluva lot closer than driving to town to go to work. “What about here?”

“Here?” Jag looked around. “Might have to build on, at least for storage of parts and shit.”

“I agree,” Crusher stood and began walking around the garage.

“Other than building an addition like Jag said, no cost for the building, no tools to buy and other than purchasing parts, we could pretty much start the business tomorrow.” I smiled, it would be the closest to working with Cutter on bikes as I could get. Working with my friends in the same garage where I had some of the best memories of time spent with my dad.

“Let’s do it,” Flirt said as he stepped in with Coast and Devil behind him.

“It works for our needs.” Coast looked around.

“We’d only waited for you to get back to complete the deal.” Devil walked up and slapped my back.

“Well now, the only thing we need is a name, and I will file my first official paperwork as attorney for the club when I file for our business license along with copyright on the name.” Jag smiled at us.

“Sons of Black Hawk Custom Rides.” It hit me as I looked at each one of my friends and took the smacks to my back as a unanimous yes.

Looked like Black Hawk MC was going to have a new business.

The lot at B&B wasfull as I parked the cage toward the end of an aisle. The ol’ ladies’ food had run out, and it was time to stock my place. I’d had a productive day between clearing the room, breaking down the bike, and making plans for a business with my best friends. All in all, not a bad day.

After the guys had left, I showered, dressed, and headed to town. I swung by the diner and ate a burger and fries before I made my way to the store. No way was I going to this place hungry. I’d learned that lesson years ago when I’d had my first place and had thrown out more of what I bought than I had eaten.

Hadn’t taken long to fill the cart, I only had one more aisle to backtrack to, the cereal, my weakness too. I ate plenty of meat and vegetables to keep my physique prime. However, I’d never been able to make myself eat the healthy cereal, I enjoyed the shit I’d eaten as a kid: Fruit Loops, Lucky Charms, and my favorite, Captain Crunch.

When I headed down the aisle, the first thing I noticed was the little body hanging on to the top shelf with one hand and reaching the other to get a box from the shelf. The kid was stretched on her tippy toes, and my only thought was that was so not going to end well.

“Darlin’, you need some help with that?” I wanted to grab her but didn’t think a grown man grabbing a little girl and scaring the shit out of her would be such a good idea, but it happened anyway when I spoke ‘cause her foot slipped, and she was headed down the shelves.

I grabbed her around the waist and set here down quickly, then reached and snagged the box she was trying to grab off the shelf. I turned and looked down at her.

“This what you wanted?” I hadn’t paid that close of attention to her until she looked up at me.

“Yep, thanks, mister.” She reached her small hand out for the box, but I didn’t move, I just stared at her. The little girl with my face, hair, and eyes. Fuck me. No doubt entered my mind on her parentage. I imagined I’d have looked just like her at that age if I’d been a girl. Considering how she was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and boots on her feet, her hair and facial features were the only things to give away she was a girl. A beautiful little girl who no doubt belonged to me.

“Can I have my cereal? I said thanks like my momma told me to when peoples help.” Her eyes stared into mine, and I watched her eyebrows draw together in thought, and she sucked her lip between her teeth.

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