Read Online One That Came Back by Lexy Timms - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Lexy Timms
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Kinney, zipping his jeans as Luke walked off into the night. At least he had been able to divert disaster between Kinney and the Rojos, but he didn’t feel good about how he had to do it. Not one damn bit.
If this was going to be his life for the next year or longer, he wasn’t sure he’d made the right decision.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Life is a Highway
“ This looks really good, Luke.”
Aces stood next to him the next morning as Luke showed him the clubhouse he built behind his shop.
During the past three months, he had been working hard. He’d bought a Quonset hut kit online for around five thousand dollars, and with the permits, the sewage line, the foundation, the heating system and other building materials, spent an additional fifteen thousand. It was his personal project during the long New England summer as he worked his way into the good graces of Jack Kinney and the now-permanent Tucson crew transplants. He originally thought of putting the clubhouse in the storage garage in back of the shop, but watching a popular television show about outlaw bikers disabused him of that notion. As the tensions with the Rojos ramped up he didn’t want his shop the direct target of a Rojos attack. Not saying the clubhouse in the back made it less likely to be hit.
At least it wasn’t directly at the back. He built the clubhouse on the other side of the broad blacktop lot behind his shop, the back edge of the Quonset hut hitting the furthest edge of the property. He figured if something did happen, his shop would be out of the line of fire.
He hoped.
“Like we talked about, Aces, the taxes on this building come out of club revenue.”
“Don’t worry, Luke. We’re brothers. You did us right by building the clubhouse. I don’t know how Okie got along all these years without one. Besides, you’ll come out all right with the rentals of those rooms you built for club members.”
“Speaking of which, Pepper’s patch comes through tonight, right? He’s been on me about one of those rooms since his lease is up and we agreed that only club members could rent a room.”
“Well, that’s up to the membership, but I haven’t heard any objections.”
“Good.”
“You’ve become real tight with him since Gibs—”
“Yeah, and since Saks left the club,” Luke cut him off. The memory of Gibs’ death was still too raw for him. It also reminded him about Emily.
Saks was a bitter pill to swallow too. Saks still worked for him, but with Luke’s increasing involvement with what Saks quite rightly saw as a criminal element, Saks barely spoke to him. He simply now came in and did his job. More recently, Saks started taking off a day here and there, and Luke suspected he was looking for another job. Luke couldn’t blame him. But it was a tough job market and Luke paid above market wages, so he hoped he wouldn’t lose his best mechanic soon. The replacement ‘employee’ the DEA sent was barely qualified to do simple maintenance and Luke spent more time than he wanted going over the man’s work.
“So everything’s ready for the inaugural meeting in the new clubhouse?” Aces brought him back to the conversation.
“Yeah.”
The liquor permit was the stickiest part of the whole deal, followed by the special permits to allow housing on commercial property. Even private clubs needed a liquor permit in Connecticut. Thanks to the discrete intervention of the DEA, the permit squeaked through just in time. The town zoning regulations couldn’t be handled so easily, and Luke had to make special arrangements for that. He hated to skirt the law but small-town politics always won out. There were restrictions too. He could only make six tiny mini-apartments instead of the ten he wanted due to zoning constraints. He never understood the logic of zoning officials, why six was acceptable but ten was not. But it was better to have something rather than nothing and it gave him extra space to install a
If this was going to be his life for the next year or longer, he wasn’t sure he’d made the right decision.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Life is a Highway
“ This looks really good, Luke.”
Aces stood next to him the next morning as Luke showed him the clubhouse he built behind his shop.
During the past three months, he had been working hard. He’d bought a Quonset hut kit online for around five thousand dollars, and with the permits, the sewage line, the foundation, the heating system and other building materials, spent an additional fifteen thousand. It was his personal project during the long New England summer as he worked his way into the good graces of Jack Kinney and the now-permanent Tucson crew transplants. He originally thought of putting the clubhouse in the storage garage in back of the shop, but watching a popular television show about outlaw bikers disabused him of that notion. As the tensions with the Rojos ramped up he didn’t want his shop the direct target of a Rojos attack. Not saying the clubhouse in the back made it less likely to be hit.
At least it wasn’t directly at the back. He built the clubhouse on the other side of the broad blacktop lot behind his shop, the back edge of the Quonset hut hitting the furthest edge of the property. He figured if something did happen, his shop would be out of the line of fire.
He hoped.
“Like we talked about, Aces, the taxes on this building come out of club revenue.”
“Don’t worry, Luke. We’re brothers. You did us right by building the clubhouse. I don’t know how Okie got along all these years without one. Besides, you’ll come out all right with the rentals of those rooms you built for club members.”
“Speaking of which, Pepper’s patch comes through tonight, right? He’s been on me about one of those rooms since his lease is up and we agreed that only club members could rent a room.”
“Well, that’s up to the membership, but I haven’t heard any objections.”
“Good.”
“You’ve become real tight with him since Gibs—”
“Yeah, and since Saks left the club,” Luke cut him off. The memory of Gibs’ death was still too raw for him. It also reminded him about Emily.
Saks was a bitter pill to swallow too. Saks still worked for him, but with Luke’s increasing involvement with what Saks quite rightly saw as a criminal element, Saks barely spoke to him. He simply now came in and did his job. More recently, Saks started taking off a day here and there, and Luke suspected he was looking for another job. Luke couldn’t blame him. But it was a tough job market and Luke paid above market wages, so he hoped he wouldn’t lose his best mechanic soon. The replacement ‘employee’ the DEA sent was barely qualified to do simple maintenance and Luke spent more time than he wanted going over the man’s work.
“So everything’s ready for the inaugural meeting in the new clubhouse?” Aces brought him back to the conversation.
“Yeah.”
The liquor permit was the stickiest part of the whole deal, followed by the special permits to allow housing on commercial property. Even private clubs needed a liquor permit in Connecticut. Thanks to the discrete intervention of the DEA, the permit squeaked through just in time. The town zoning regulations couldn’t be handled so easily, and Luke had to make special arrangements for that. He hated to skirt the law but small-town politics always won out. There were restrictions too. He could only make six tiny mini-apartments instead of the ten he wanted due to zoning constraints. He never understood the logic of zoning officials, why six was acceptable but ten was not. But it was better to have something rather than nothing and it gave him extra space to install a
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