“Yeah, but for how long? I’ve got a gig here that they’ll keep me at as long as I want it. Shit pay, sure, but it’s a job. More than many people in Santa Maria can say. What’s gonna happen when you pay me an extra five bucks an hour but have no work for me after two months because the company finds out I’m working for you?”
The things I never even thought to consider…
“Does your father know that I’d be security? Can’t imagine, given how he felt about Steele, I would be any better.”
“Brock—”
“I appreciate it, but, Tara, I… I just don’t fucking know.”
I bit my lip and shook my head. For the briefest of moments, I felt I had no choice but to accept defeat.
But no.
As long as my life wasn’t in danger, I did not take no for an answer easily, especially in business settings. I may have needed protection from physical harm, but I wasn’t afraid to get my hands dirty in the political or verbal sense.
And besides.
It wasBrock.
“OK, but do you really want to be a gas station attendant for the rest of your life?” I said. “I’m sorry, Brock, but I refuse to believe that you want to give people change and tell them pump five is now available for something more. I’m not saying that working with me will suddenly get you a six-figure job. But it’ll put you in the orbit of people who do more and strive for more. What are you going to do at the gas station? Become a store manager, make fifty grand a year? Is that what you want your ceiling to be?”
It may have seemed like a risk, but I trusted Brock that even if he were to reject my straightforwardness, he’d at least understand it. I had acted with much more savagery and aggression around Steele and his other friends before.
“You know what you’re proposing is dangerous,” he said.
He doesn’t mean in the sense of violence.
“Why me?” he asked. “Connor and Mason are much tougher fuckers. I’m just a guy who rides his bike and winds up in jail because of a fucked-up sheriff here. I’m not a hero. I’m a fighter, but I’m not someone you should trust your life to.”
“Says the guy who may have saved mine on Monday.”
I smiled at the thought. It may have been the first time that I’d had anything resembling a positive reaction to that afternoon.
“Because, Brock, you’re a sweet guy. You’re tough, but you listen. You fight, but you protect. You don’t take shit from anyone, but you don’t give it either. And, well, I could use some arm candy as my security force.”
Brock laughed.
“Well, how can I say no to an offer like that?” he said. “Ahh. Fuck. Tell you what. If I can get one of the boys to cover me at the store for a week, I’ll protect you for that time and see how it is. But I can’t do anything more than a week right now.”
I’ll take it.
“Well, if you can’t defend me, I may not be there much more than a week.”
“Should I be cheering for it to end in a week?”
I…
I had no idea how to answer that question. I had no idea if he meant that question in a positive sense—because I’d be safe—or in a distancing sense.
“I’ll tell Elizabeth that I’ll have us security,” I said, choosing to ignore the question. “She won’t love it, but I think she’ll come around to it. Thanks, Brock, I appreciate it.”
“Thank me when your ass is safe in a week’s time,” he said. “I’ll see you on Monday.”
With that, Brock hung up. It was abrupt, but I’d pushed my luck. There was only so much “fun” I could wade into before things got too awkward.
But hey, in the interim?
At least I’d have handsome muscle and protection on me come Monday morning.
