Page 15 of Throttle Therapy

“Yo,” Roadkill said, knocking on the open door.“You find anything for me?”

“I’ve got the basics.Name, address, basic financials, both personal and for the bar.”Cypher shook his head.“Did you know he’s paying your woman half of what he’s paying any other waitress?”

“My woman?Who the fuck told you something like that?”Roadkill immediately clamped his mouth shut as he realized the hacker was goading him, trying to get him to give something away.And he’d succeeded.

Cypher smirked.“Thought so.”

“First, is he really paying one waitress less, and second, what makes you think she’s mine?”

“Yes, he’s really paying one waitress half.And because she’s the only one I’ve found who has any connection to him who also recently joined Savage Iron.”

Roadkill rolled his eyes.He should have known Cypher would figure out why he wanted to know and who he was looking out for.

“What else you find?”

“Not much, at least not yet.I’ve got a couple of stories about how he’s a horndog who won’t back down until he gets what he’s after, then when he’s done, he walks away without a second thought.”

“He’s an asshole as well as a horny fucker.”

“From what I’m finding, I’d say that’s accurate.”

“And clearly, he’s not above making women suffer for not giving him the attention he thinks he deserves.”He fell silent, remembering the messages he’d exchanged with Papa Smurf earlier.

“I know Papa Smurf’s been wanting to hire someone for the front counter and to do the billing and such.Any clue what they’ve got budgeted for that?”

Cypher shook his head.“Intelligence and research I handle.Money is Slide’s domain.”

“Any clue where he is?”

Cypher smirked again.“I suggested he go hang out at the Driftwood.See if there’s anything happening there we should know about.”

“When?”Roadkill tried to remember if he’d seen the club treasurer in the other room when he’d come through.He wasn’t sure.

“Hours ago.He may be back now, I don’t know.”Cypher shrugged then turned back to his computer, effectively dismissing Roadkill.

Knowing he wouldn’t be getting more out of the hacker, at least right now, Roadkill headed back to the common room.He wanted to see if Slide was back and what he’d seen.

He didn’t find Slide in the common room, so he wandered outside and over to the service shop where Papa Smurf was still working, not on customer cars but on the club’s vehicles.Even when he wasn’t working, Papa Smurf liked to keep busy.He said it kept him out of bigger trouble.Roadkill had heard stories of the trouble Papa Smurf used to get into.He figured keeping busy wasn’t a bad thing.Maybe Slide was there, maybe not.But it would give him a chance to see if Papa Smurf was open to bringing in someone who would have to be trained in every aspect, and what the budget might be, if one had been set.

At the shop, he found the lights out and the door locked.Where the hell was Papa Smurf?Pulling out his phone he sent the old mechanic a text asking if he had time to talk for a few.While he waited for a response he headed back to the clubhouse.Before he arrived, he received a reply saying sure, and that he would be in the common room in a few minutes.Roadkill headed inside, found an out of the way table and waved down one of the prospects to fetch him a drink.

Before Ryan brought his drink, Papa Smurf came down the main stairs, paused as he scanned the room then headed his direction.He took a seat.

“What you need?”the older man said as he got comfortable.

“Just wanted to follow up on that text earlier.Would you be open to training someone who has no clue what they’re doing?Then either letting her off in time to pick up someone at school or let her pick them up and bring them back to the shop?”

Papa Smurf cringed.“Kids?Around the shop?That’s asking for trouble, man.”

“Not a kid.She’s fourteen.Big enough to enlist in small chores, maybe have her put tools away and pay her something small as an afterschool job?”Roadkill was just throwing out ideas for now.He would need to talk to Jenna and see how she felt about switching jobs.

Papa Smurf bobbed his head from side to side as he thought about it.

“I can make it work.How come you looking for a job for her?And why not put her to work at the gym?”

“I’ve already got all my positions filled,” he said with a shrug.“Besides, I’m not sure I want her hanging around Phantom all day.”

Papa Smurf snorted.“And you think a bunch of mechanics is going to be better?”