“Are you sure? I can stick around.”
“Your clothes will stain, Maddie. Wear something a little more comfortable. I’ve got everything covered here.”
She hesitated but then moved her ass to the main staff room, grabbing her bag. “Do you want anything?”
“A burger with all the trimmings. If you go back to Carl at the diner, he’ll have our order ready.”
“Got it.”
“Get yourself something to eat.”
She chuckled. “I don’t think I need anything after those pancakes.”
“I ate half of them. Don’t forget to eat. I don’t want you fainting on me.”
“Believe me, I won’t starve.” She walked out of the reception, and he watched her go.
“Holy fucking shit balls,” Pat said. “She has worked some magic in here for just a few hours.”
“Yeah.”
“She’s a hard worker,” Pat said. “Should have known it.”
“Why?”
“Have you seen the way she is at the fairs?” Pat asked. “She probably works harder than everyone else, always helping out, covering for people.”
“I don’t want to have any deliveries here,” he said.
“Fine,” Pat said. “I’ll call it in.”
Bull nodded. It was rare to have club stuff come to the shop. He kept the two separate, but there were times they mingled. With Maddie working here now, he was going to make sure the club life didn’t touch her.
Not that he did too much dangerous shit. His father was the one responsible for putting the club in the line of fire and nearly getting them all killed. Bull had the scars to prove the shit he’d done to get out of it. They had their limits, and no one crossed them.
Bull wouldn’t allow anything to hit the town, nor would he allow Maddie to know just the kind of person who hired her.
Chapter Three
It didn’t take Maddie long to figure out jeans and an old shirt were the best kinds of clothes to wear to work. Two days, exactly. The two white blouses she had worn were not fixable. They were covered in stains, and she had tried detergent, even soaking them, but nothing was going to help clean them.
Instead of tossing them out, she had torn them up into rags, so she would save money that way.
The job at the mechanic shop was fun, for the most part. She was always there at seven. Most of the time, Bull had opened up the shop and was waiting for her. He had to get up super early to be there. She had started going to Carl’s to pick up their breakfast. If Bull was getting up early, he deserved the best coffee and breakfast muffins Carnage had to offer.
He rarely said much first thing in the morning. He took the coffee and muffins and stayed in the main shop while she went to the reception desk and checked through the day’s bookings. Not only did Bull have regular work from distributors for their cars and trucks, but he also dealt with people turning up or booking ahead of time to have their car checked over.
She was surprised to see what a tight ship he ran. There was no area left for mistakes. He simply didn’t accept them. She didn’t understand some of the terminology he used when he looked over a car and she had to contact the customer to give them the bad news, but she did so with ease.
He was good at what he did. More than good.
By the end of the week, she had gotten into the flow of the job. She liked Pat, one of the guys who worked with Bull. For the most part, he was quiet, but he didn’t make her feel uncomfortable.
A couple of the guys from the Chaos and Carnage MC also worked at the shop. They tended to get to work, ignoring her, and she was more than fine with it. Bull was the person she dealt with most, and he was a good guy. She liked him.
He was fair.
She had seen him help a family out who had been struggling. Two days ago, the dad had come in asking if there was some kind of payment plan. Right in front of her eyes, Bull had changed the invoice details, removing one of the zeros, and told him that the problems weren’t as severe as he first thought.
Bull had paid the difference.
“Well, well, well, I had no idea Chunk was working here.”
Maddie looked up, and sure enough, Grant, the one guy she didn’t want to see, was standing in the main reception.
A couple of people chuckled at his comment. He often called her Chunk or a fat cow growing up.
She hadn’t heard it for a long time. After being stood up the other day, Glenn had called, telling her that he just couldn’t bring himself to go on a date with her. She wasn’t who he had imagined, and he couldn’t get past her weight.