Harley moved so fast, I barely saw it happen, but suddenly he was shoving the man away from us, until his back slammed against the glass door with a heavy clang. Even though I’d seen them crash against it, the loud thud still made me jump.
“Fuck’s sake! You’re as bad as they are. I don’t need another broken nose, or more broken fucking ribs. I’ve got a baby on the way, remember?”
Another broken nose? How many noses did he have? I suddenly started giggling, and they both froze, Harley backing up a step, staying between us, but checking on me at the same time.
“Babe?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I was laughing hard now, because that’s what happens when ridiculous things occur to you, especially in heightened situations.
“Uh… was it something I said?” The guy asked, and I laughed harder. By this point, they were both fighting smiles, and I think that broke the tension a bit. Surely that was a good thing, unlike my ridiculous hysterics for no good reason.
“Caroline?”
“I’m sorry! He said… he said he didn’t want any more broken noses, and then I thought how many noses did he have, and I’m dumb, I know. It just made me laugh.”
They both chuckled, then glanced at each other and the humour drained away again. Harley sighed, and the other man, Adam, lifted his hands.
“There’s no need to come at me heavy, man. I’m really just here to check you guys out. The Bennetts are… well, they’re fucking annoying pricks is what they are, but they know that. Everyone knows that.” He hesitated as Harley groaned, and he grinned widely.
“Ha! Youdoknow who I mean. That’s my reaction every time the fuckers call me or whatever.”
“The twin pricks? I wasn’t there, but I heard what happened.”
I had no idea what they were talking about, but the atmosphere had turned almost friendly, and I felt like I’d had a little to do with that.
“Can I get you a coffee, Adam?” I asked, getting up and heading for the machine, but Harley moved me back to my seat and sat me down.
“You’re not here to wait on customers, or whatever the hell he is, babe. You just relax here. If he wants one, he can fuck off and buy one.”
Adam laughed. “Yeah, I feel right at home already. Look, the Bennetts are nosy fuckers, who want to know who everyone is, and how they can make use of them. I don’t think they’ll even bother you guys, but Nige is a snarky fuck who won’t leave his little tech lair, and here I am.”
“I literally have no idea who you’re talking about, but if you want to know more about the club, you make an appointment with our President, Micro, and he’ll decide if he wants to meet you. That’s it. End of.”
“You’re the VP, right?” Harley shot me a frown.
“How the fuck would you know that? That’s barely even been the case for more than a few days.”
Adam groaned, backing up a few steps again. “You want me to throw myself out? Maybe land on my nose a few times? I get it, okay? They’re nosy fuckers, and Nige can find out most shit without me, but I’m the poor bastard they throw into danger, to see if I die, and if I don’t, they know it’s safe.”
“Like a canary!” I blurted out, immediately covering my face with my hand. Why did I just come out with that? Adam laughed, and then Harley joined in.
“She’s got a point,” Harley added, and Adam nodded when I looked at him again.
“Yeah, I’m their fucking canary. You know I never wanted to work for them, but,” he glanced around the shop, “Cameras in here? Nah, if Nige had hacked those, he wouldn’t need me. Look, the Bennetts are annoying, interfering, inappropriate, frustrating, and a royal pain in my ass, but they saved my lady once, and I’ll always be grateful for that. Plus my lady is their lady’s bestie, so I’m stuck with them either way.”
“Theirlady?”
Harley groaned, and shook his head at me.
“We don’t want to know. Adam, get in touch with Micro, because VP or not, this isn’t my call. You seem okay, but from what I hear about them, I don’t think we’d want to associate with them. Even you don’t seem to like them, so maybe don’t go into sales. You suck at that. If your Nige guy is so good, he can get a number for Micro. That’s it. All I’m saying. Please go.”
Adam took the hint, at last, and left, and Harley dropped heavily into his seat, digging out his phone. He lifted it to his ear as he rolled his eyes at me.
“Never a dull moment, huh? Oh… Pres, I just had a little visit you might want to know about.”
I turned back to my design, tuning out his call as I focused on adding rooms, and blocking out space for the purposes I had listed from our conversation. It was pleasant, familiar, almost therapeutic. There was comfort in the process of adding details, and layers, floors and walls. Adding in the double gate system he’d mentioned, and labelling each section.
To knock it all down, they’d need temporary buildings, like they have on building sites, so while I waited for Harley to finish his call, and then finish with another walk in, I spent that time looking into companies who rented out those kinds of things, making some notes for him. I was starting to feel really invested in the clubhouse project, and thinking about that reminded me of that group of lovely women who had all affiliated themselves with the club, and with biker men. That had to mean something, right? I stared at the design again, and a smile crept across my face. In fact, I had some ideas of my own now. I saved the version, and created a secondary project file, one for me to propose. Why not, right?
