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JJ stopped at my desk, his slacks a deep gray. The sleeves were rolled up on his white button-down, showing off his tattooed arms. I understood why Dominic thought he was attractive. He was but he didn’t hold a candle to my men. “Will you join us?”
I didn’t bother asking why. If JJ wanted me in there, I’d go. I needed to get along with him for Perry’s sake and everyone else’s. I noticed some of the employees watching how I was in front of JJ. They’d take cues from me since I protected Perry. Over the last week, I’d learned to relax my body and be my normal, not say much to anyone, self.
I shut the door behind us after we walked in. Perry was already at his conference table with his tablet in front of him, flipping through something.
“JJ, I thought we’ve been through this,” he said.
We took our seats.
“We have, but if you want to infuse money into this place, give it a steady revenue stream, you’re going to have to think outside of racing. I know Pey and others already brought it up to you. That’s why I asked him to join us.” I was Pey now? When the hell had I become informal with JJ? And how many people knew I talked to Perry about a consumer arm? Greer knew. Dominic. Most likely Stefen, who I was guessing said something to JJ.
“I can’t just branch off into a consumer division. I don’t have the money.”
“Yeah, I get that. I already gave Stefen a few ideas to funnel things on the racing side. Plus, I have someone I’m bringing on to my team here.” Perry had told JJ he could hire a small staff. It went a long way in making him feel comfortable. All of Stefen’s team were being nice to him from a distance. They feared him and it unsettled JJ. He wasn’t his dad. I got it, they didn’t.
“How do you know him?”
JJ waved Perry off. “That’s not important.”
“JJ,” Perry growled.
“He’s young. Early twenties. Two years ago, I caught him trying to boost one of the cars in my lot and put the fear of the Altair family into him. Since then, he’s been working for me. I’ve been teaching him everything I know. He’s a natural with his hands, has no criminal record, no nothing. He was only trying to steal from me because he’d ended up with a bad crowd, and they said they could help him if he did that for them.”
“How did you get him away from them?”
“I might loathe my father, but I use my name when I need to. These were a group of punks who thought they were badass. I rolled up with Val—”
“Val?”
“Yeah, his name is Valiant, weird I know, but if you call him that, he starts swinging. Something about how his old man used to beat him and that was his name too. Val was scrappy as hell back then. He reminded me of you when you were a teenager, but he was older. He’s filled out now. Still lean but has some muscle on him. Anyway, so Val gets out to confront these punks, knowing I was in the car as backup. He tells them he doesn’t want anything to do with them . They start wailing on him. He tries to fight back but it’s six to one.”
“So, you got out,” I supplied.
“I did. I went over to put the fear of our family name in them and they fucking shook. I told them Val was under my protection and if they fucked with him, they fucked with me.”
“And you already had a reputation for not putting up with shit,” Perry added.
“Right. I didn’t have to bring my old man into it. Since then, Val’s been with me. He crashes in my spare bedroom. He’s basically the brother I never wanted but now wouldn’t give up for anything.”
Perry sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Is there a point to all of this?”
“I’m bringing him on, and I want to start working on consumer parts. Let Stefen have my other ideas for the racing division. We’re PJS Auto not racing. Let me put together a team of people who can do this. We don’t have to pay them a shit ton, but they should be compensated for their worth. Mechanics who don’t need a lab and aren’t afraid to get dirty. I’m not asking you to blow the money you were given. I’m asking to take a small leap with me. Didn’t four people resign this week anyway?” He leaned back, propped his ankle on his knee.
“They did because they didn’t like you being here.”
“Let me have their salaries. I’m sure they were making more than I’ll need.”
“It’s not as easy as shifting budgets from one department to the other. Besides, I was going to replace them.”
“Can you hold off for a bit or were they critical?”
Perry looked at me, his eyes pleading for help.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” I said. “Greer and I have both told you to start a move to consumer. You can still produce racing parts, but you can do this too.”
JJ grinned. I wanted to flip him off but refrained. I wasn’t doing this for him. I still didn’t fully trust he wouldn’t bring hell to our lives. But he had a point. One my brother and I had been trying to make for a while now.
Perry pushed his tablet away forcefully. It would have hit the floor had I not reached out to stop it.
