Page 16 of Throttle Therapy

“You and those mechanics won’t mess with her just because you think I’ve got a thing for her.Phantom will and unless she’s prepared, he’ll scare her off.I want to help her out, not put her in an even worse position.”

“What makes you think she’ll take it?”

“She’s struggling.She came in to get in better shape because that’s what her fuckwad boss told her she needed to do to make better tips.”Roadkill paused and forced himself to take three deep slow breaths.“I just found out he’s paying her half the wage he’s paying his other employees, even the ones doing the same job.”He shook his head.He spotted Slide as he came in the front door, lifted one hand, and waved the man over.

Slide waved in his direction, letting Roadkill know he’d seen him, but he turned and headed toward the command center.He was likely checking in with Cypher since that was who had sent him to the Driftwood to start with.

“Your girl know anything about computers?Cypher’s been trying to convince me that if we computerize, things will be easier all the way around, but I don’t have time to learn a new system, much less do all the set up and shit.”

“I’m not sure, but she strikes me as intelligent.She should be able to figure it out, especially if I can talk Cypher into going in and showing her at least once.”

“What’s up?”Slide said as he grabbed a chair, spun it around and sat, straddling the back.

Ryan showed up with Roadkill’s drink, checked with Slide and Papa Smurf then disappeared to fetch their drinks.

“Cypher said you spent the afternoon at the Driftwood?”Roadkill asked, turning to Slide.

Slide nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Tell me what you saw.”

“What do you mean?”

Roadkill just lifted a brow.

Slide sighed.“The bartender is an ass.He spends his day chatting with the regulars and making snarky, cutting remarks to his waitress.”

“Did he touch her?”Roadkill asked.

“Not that I saw.He stayed behind the bar, she stayed in front of it,” Slide said.“But that didn’t keep him from constantly cutting her down.”

“Was there reason?”Papa Smurf asked before Roadkill could breathe past his rage that someone would treat Jenna like that.He didn’t care if she’d done anything wrong, no one deserved to be constantly belittled like that.

Well, he might treat this Mason to some of it as he taught him a lesson, but first he wanted to get Jenna out of there so he couldn’t retaliate.

“How did everyone else treat her?”Roadkill asked.

Slide waggled his head from side to side.“The other patrons either mostly ignored her or were cautiously friendly.It was as if they didn’t want to piss off the bartender and as far as I saw, she’d done nothing to trigger the shithead, though it could have happened before I arrived, if there was anything.I got the feeling this happened all the time.If it wasn’t a normal occurrence, then why would people either be careful of how nice they were to her or totally ignore her?They know what’s expected of them.”

“What else did you notice?”

“She’s a cute little thing.Seemed a bit timid, you sure you can convince her this is the life for her?”

Roadkill ignored him.There would be plenty of questions and more than a little ribbing, but he didn’t care.There was something about the woman that drew him and even if she had no interest in him, he’d make sure she could take care of her sister, without being forced to deal with that fucker Mason if he could manage it.

“How about, if I can talk her into it, I bring her by to meet you tomorrow,” Roadkill said, looking at Papa Smurf.“She should have her sister with her too, so you can meet them both, see if you think it will work out.”

“Sounds good.You know how things work.I close at noon on Saturday if there’s nothing in the shop.If the doors are locked, come in the back.If I’m not around, then send me a message.Unless something comes up, I won’t be far.”

Roadkill nodded.He didn’t know if he could talk her into going, but he’d do his best.He had no doubt she’d be far better off at the shop.But would she accept the offer?

Chapter Ten

“What’stheplanfortoday?”Lacey asked as she shoveled in her Marshmallow Mateys.

“First, we’re going to hit the gym.”Jenna hated admitting it, but Roadkill was right about how sore she’d be today.She hadn’t wanted to get out of bed.Even now, after a hot shower that helped more than she’d imagined it would, she knew she couldn’t do another workout like yesterday.

“The gym?”Lacey whined.“But.Why?”