“It’s my shop.”
Stella raised a brow. “Want me to tell him to stop what he’s doing?”
“No,” Rena snapped. “But he should at least ask if I wanted his help before taking over.” And like that, her bad mood changed. Mr. Perfect wasn’t so perfect after all. “Huh.”
“Yo, Ms. Jekyll, what the hell?” Tommie leaned closer, looking into her eyes. “You on drugs? You’re mad, you’re laughing, you look like you want to cry.”
“She does not,” Nicky said.
“She did earlier.”
“I’m good. I’m just mad at Mr. Perfect out there, and it feels good. Sometimes he’s so great he makes it tough to be angry at him.”
Stella grinned. “He pissed you off. Make him pay for it.”
“But not with more Valentine’s Day presents.” Tommie grimaced. “He’s not a good gift giver. Just sayin’.”
Stella shrugged. “Meh. I don’t mind. I’ll take the possessed Cupid if you don’t want it. It’ll scare my sister. And she’s getting on my last nerve lately.”
* * *
Axel did his best to keep his anger in check as he took care of the graffiti. Such bullshit. He knew, heknew, this had to be Fletcher’s work.
“That cheek looks pretty bruised,Jefe,” Lou said, leaning back against his car as he watched Axel and Smitty work, applying the graffiti eliminator. The paint had only semi-dried, so it would come off easily. The pressure washer would probably work on its own, but he was taking no chances with Rena’s shop.
Axel didn’t answer, so Smitty spoke for him. “He annihilated two of Fletcher’s crew Friday night. Rabies is out. Scott suffered a bruised jaw and concussion, and no one’s seen Daryl or Fletcher for a while.”
The guys looked at Axel. He frowned. “Not me. But if I find them, I’ll kill them and leave no bodies.” He was only half-joking.
“Ah, good thing then no one’s seen them since Friday night,” Smitty said. “Interesting that Fletcher’s been absent. I would have thought he’d have been a part of your attempted beatdown.”
That had bothered Axel too.
Lou said, “But didn’t someone see him out and about not too long ago? He might be hanging out at those white-power rallies in Spokane. It’s been in all the news about how the city’s doing its best to get rid of those fuckers.” He went off in Spanish.
Axel agreed with most of the words he understood and added his two cents in German.
Smitty sighed. “I don’t speak Spanish or German, and I still agree with what I’m pretty sure you said.”
The cleaning took little time, and Smitty and Lou decided to head back to the shop to check on Rylan. Mateo would be fine, and Rylan had been doing well, but Smitty wanted to check on the guy. They got in Lou’s car and rolled down the windows. “Rylan keeps giving me attitude.” Smitty scratched his head. “I don’t know why, but I get the feeling he doesn’t like me.”
Lou gave him a mock gasp. “Not like you, but why not? You’re so damn pleasant to be around.”
“Yeah? So’s your mother.”
“Oh, nice, Smitty. You gonna insult my mama like that?”
Smitty grinned. “Man, she’s hot. If I wasn’t gay, I’d take her out and make a real woman out of her.”
Lou rolled his eyes then waved at Axel. “Later. Take care of Rena and the girls. And if you didn’t see how much you pissed off your girlfriend, you are one blind son of a bitch.”
Smitty chuckled. “We really should stay and watch him try to fix it.”
“Watch a grown man cry? Nah, I’ve seen that before.”
“Oh right, being you work at Webster’s Garage half the time.”
Axel snorted.Nice one, Smitty.
