“Office is back here,” Onyx says, putting his hand at the small of my back and guiding me down the rest of the hallway. He slows as we reach a door that looks just like the others except for the keypad beside it. He punches in a code and when the lock pops, he holds it open for me.
His office is quiet. Two desks are face to face. I imagine him working with one of his brothers here. Each desk has neatly stacked paperwork in little organizers. The far side of the room is completely lined with file cabinets. I count at least twelve,including a lateral file cabinet. There are also boxes stacked in careful rows near the back. Some of them are pretty old, judging by the wear on the cardboard.
“This is where you’ll be working,” Onyx announces. “You can use Mica’s desk. He’s hardly ever here because he has an office in town. Most of the records are stored here. Some of the older stuff is still in the archive room, but we’ll start you here.”
I walk into the room, shut the door behind me and set my bag down on the desk. My anxiety clicks down a notch just being in this space. This is something I understand. I feel at home in an office and Onyx’s office is a nice one. I’ve never had the luxury of working in a real office before. I set up a nice home office but it’s not the same. He has endless file space, a full-sized copier and desktop computers. Heck, there’s even a water cooler. I have to tamper down a smile at that, you’d think in a biker clubhouse it would be a minifridge stocked with beer.
Turning to him, I say enthusiastically, “Your office is perfect. I can’t wait to get started digging through all the files.”
Surprise registers on Onyx’s face. “Most people fuckin’ hate my office. My old man says it’s claustrophobic and Jasper called it soulless once. Even Mica couldn’t wait to get out of here. He bolted the second his office in town was refurbished and hasn’t looked back.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “That’s crazy talk. You even have your own half bath,” I say, pointing to an open door off to the side. “This is premium grade office space.”
He gives me a sexy lopsided smile. “This is what I’ve been saying for years.”
Onyx leans against one of the cabinets, folding his arms loosely. “I wanted it to be nice because I spend so much time here.”
“Well, you did an amazing job,” I tell him.
“As you know, I’m the club’s secretary. That means that in addition to taking meeting minutes, I handle all the club’s business operations. I file for business licenses, ensure compliance with state and local regulations and make sure Mica has everything he needs to file taxes on all our businesses every year. I’m also responsible for scheduling employees for all three businesses. We own and operate a junkyard, garage and auto parts store.” He pauses, then adds, “Mica is actually the club’s treasurer. He handles any and everything to do with numbers, including accounting, audits and financial tracking. He’s the smart one.”
That doesn’t surprise me. “It makes sense that you divide it up that way.”
He watches me for a moment, like he can’t believe how easily I’m acclimating to his environment. “If you need anything, office related or otherwise,” he says, “you come to me. No matter what the problem is, I’ll fix it.”
I nod. “I’m sure you will. We’re in your wheelhouse now. I respect that.”
He straightens and gestures towards the boxes at the back of the room. “We’ll go over those next. But you can take a minute if you need it.”
“I appreciate you taking it slowly, but I want to jump right in,” I tell him.
I glance around the office, taking it all in again, with more detail. This is where I start my new life. I know this job is temporary, but it might turn into something more if I do a good job. We’ll just have to see.
And for the first time in weeks, it feels like something good has finally come my way. I’m finally getting my life on track, with the help of the Sons of Rage and this family that my grandfather was so fond of.
Onyx moves deeper into the office and gestures towards that stack of boxes lining the far wall. I quickly follow, eager to sink my teeth into my new job duties. I notice the boxes are all labeled by hand and marker, some newer, some clearly old enough that the cardboard has softened at the edges. They say epoch one through thirty, from what I can see.
I run my fingers along the label on one box. “What does epoch mean?”
Onyx shoots me a stern look.
“My ma has always walked to the beat of her own drummer. She used to be in charge of the club’s paperwork and thought it would be cool to divide everything up according to time periods that only existed in her head. Epoch one is prior to her and my dad getting married. Epoch two is after they married and before they had kids. It makes it practically impossible to find anything. And that is why she hired you, by the way.”
“Oh, wow. She didn’t mention any of that.” I can almost see how that made sense in her own mind.
“Yeah, it’s a bit of a sore spot. Anyway, this is most of it,” he says. “Anything older than that’s still in storage.”
“Queenie told me she wanted the most recent stuff handled first.”
He shrugs, “Not surprising. I’ve been meaning to get to this stuff forever, but I’ve never been able to carve out the time.”
I nod, already trying to get my head around the monumental task ahead of us. This is their club history. We need to treat these documents with the utmost respect. Her epoch debacle aside, I can see why Queenie pushed for this project and why it never made it to the top of Onyx’s list. Someone running operations for multiple businesses doesn’t have the luxury of stopping everything to archive the past.
I straighten and look back at him. “This is a big job.”
He lets out a breath that sounds like relief more than frustration. “Yeah. That’s obviously why she wanted someone who actually knows what they’re doing and someone she trusted to keep what they learn in these files confidential.”
I step closer to the nearest box and open it carefully, sliding the lid aside. Inside are ledgers, old reports, handwritten notes clipped together with rusted paperclips. Some of it should have been preserved years ago. I close the box gently.
