Home | Happy Lowman/OC (Book 1)

twenty-one

The rest of the afternoon was spent in Teller-Morrow's Automotive's office with Chucky—a man with plastic hands and a never ending script of stories to tell. Victoria found him endearing, funny, and as he taught her the ins and outs of filing, she found herself having fun.

She was quickly learning that there were no free rides in Charming. She was a guest in the clubhouse with access to free meals and alcohol and any other comfort she might need, but to earn her keep she had to be put to good use. While the Sons were out on club business, they would learn how to release vehicles to their owners, find invoices, and accept payment for mechanic services.

To Victoria, it was something to occupy her time and mind. It had been so long since she'd had a job. She felt out of practice, but Chucky was a very patient teacher.

After everything Gemma had told her, she needed to be busy until she had a chance to sit Happy down and hear his side of things. Gemma was right. She needed all the information before she could decide whether or not she could do this.

Jacquelyn sat across from her, typing away on her laptop. She'd been knee deep in work since all of her stuff had arrived and she'd barely come up for air since they sat down in the office.

"See, you type the final total here," Chucky said, pointing one of his plastic fingers at the computer screen. "Michael or Rory will tell you how much the customer owes once the work is done, and you just search them up by last name."

"Seems easy enough."

Chucky smiled and nodded. "It is, it really is. You'll take to it no problem."

"I wish my boss was as sweet as you, Chuck," said Jacquelyn. "Oh, wait, I'm my own boss, I guess that explains the stress."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Very funny."

Out the office window, a car pulled into the lot—a black four door sedan. Jacquelyn was oblivious, but Chucky had caught it, too, and suddenly looked nervous, his eyes shifting.

"You ladies wait here," he said, jumping up and heading outside as a tall, thin, red headed woman stepped out of the car. She wore a tailored grey suit and even from where she sat, Victoria could see the badge on her belt. It made her nervous. Would she arrest Happy today, right now, before they'd even had a chance to discover what they were? What if she never got a chance to ask?

"How much has Kozik told you about their charges?" Victoria asked Jacquelyn who looked up, just noticing the woman Chucky was talking to.

She shrugged. "He's been vague, but he did say something about Jackson's son ending up in Ireland somehow, so they obviously had to go after him. According to Koz, it was all unavoidable."

"Is Kozik in trouble?"

"No, he stayed here and helped keep the club together and he wasn't even around when they caught the initial charge. He's in a mood now ever since the vote happened for Happy's transfer."

"Why, what happened?"

Jacquelyn shrugged. "Kozik's didn't go through. Clay needs him in Charming while the rest of them go inside, but his wasn't unanimous. Apparently, he's got old beef with Tig and Tig can't let it go. Koz wouldn't tell me what it was."

Outside, Chucky was talking to the woman with wild waves of his arms, his plastic hands gesturing to get his point across. The woman seemed irritated and kept looking around at the garage, the playground, the boxing ring. Looking for someone.

"Are you going to talk to Hap about everything?"

Victoria turned back to her friend. "Yeah, when he gets back, I had planned to."