AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Carol watched the two bikes in front of them as Andrea followed behind them in her car. Daryl was one of the bikers, but the other biker was new to Carol, even though she'd heard his name a number of times already. His name was Merle and, apparently, he was Daryl's older brother, Andrea's "old man", and the president of the Judges.
And he was going to help Carol get her feet on the ground. At least that's what she'd been told.
Andrea followed the car back to the bar where Carol had first met the Judges the night before. The bar looked different in the daytime. It didn't look as scary or as daunting. Of course, maybe it looked different because it wasn't pouring rain or because there wasn't a long line of bikes parked out front. At the moment there was only one old bike with a sidecar attached to it that was parked out front.
Daryl and Merle both parked their bikes and Andrea chose a place to park her car. Carol got out when Andrea opened her car door and she got Sophia out the back of the car. Together, all of them walked toward the entrance of the bar where Daryl and Merle were both headed in a hurry.
Carol was barely in the door before she jumped at the sound of Merle shouting. His shout was followed by Daryl shouting as well. Both of them were yelling the same word.
"Teeter! Teeter!"
Carol had no idea what "teeter" might mean, but she'd learned that there was a great deal that she didn't know when it came to bikers. Still, both men walked around the bar yelling the word.
And then Carol realized what a "teeter" was shortly after there was a heavy thud and Merle rushed toward the back of the bar only to return seconds later in the company of a very old man who was wearing the same kind of vest that Daryl and Merle were wearing.
"Jesus, Teeter!" Daryl barked at him. "You scared the fuckin' shit outta us. You can't not answer the damn phone! How was we s'posed to know you ain't fell in the fuckin' freezer or some shit?"
Carol laughed to herself. She looked at Andrea who looked at least a little rattled. Carol hadn't known what to expect when they'd been nearing the shop where they were supposed to meet Merle only to see Merle and Daryl pulling out on their bikes. They'd offered no explanation other than to gesture to Andrea that she should follow them.
"He's a Teeter?" Carol asked, leaning toward Andrea.
Andrea laughed to herself.
"Joe Teeter," Andrea said. "To be exact. Some people call him Old Joe. Most people just call him Teeter."
"Is he part of the club?" Carol asked.
"One of the originals," Andrea said. "But he's more than that."
"Why do I feel like you say that about everyone?" Carol asked.
Andrea laughed to herself.
"Maybe because I do," Andrea said, keeping her voice down. "The club is complicated, Carol. Don't expect to understand it all in one day. Just—roll with it."
When Carol turned her attention back to Merle, Daryl, and the old man named Teeter, the old man was explaining something about a smoker that wasn't working as it was supposed to. Someone else, whom Carol didn't know, was going to take a look at it, but since he couldn't come until later and business had been slow, Teeter had closed down the bar to go out back and tinker with the smoker himself.
"That's fine," Merle said. "Do what'cha gotta do, but'cha answer your damn phone."
"Can't hear the damned thing," Teeter responded.
"You gotta turn up the volume then," Daryl said.
"Gotta wear your damn hearin' aids," Merle added.
"The batteries are dead," Teeter responded.
"How long they been dead for?" Merle asked.
Teeter gestured toward Andrea.
"Since the last time she changed 'em," Teeter said. "You expect me to keep up with that? If Wilma was here—I never would've had to keep up with that."
"When's the last time you changed his batteries?" Merle asked, looking at Andrea. Andrea shrugged her shoulders.
"I never have," Andrea said fairly quietly. "He's never asked me to."
"To hell I haven't," Teeter said. "You used to be better about keepin' up with things. You get so—you get so wrapped up. You keep forgetting to do what I ask you to do."
Merle looked at Andrea with the same confusion on his features that Carol felt.
"Wilma," Andrea said, basically breathing it out.
Merle nodded and grunted his understanding. Carol wasn't sure she understood, but she had a pretty good feeling that Teeter wasn't scolding Andrea. He was scolding somebody named Wilma who—wife or old lady, if there was a difference—was no longer with them.
Teeter's scolding of Andrea was only half-hearted and then he simply stopped speaking. He stared, for a moment, at Andrea and then he looked back at Daryl like he hadn't seen him and he hadn't been speaking to him only moments before.
"I was tryin' to call you earlier today," Teeter said. "Crockett was supposed to come an' have a look at that cooker, but he ain't showed up all day. I been tryin' to fix it myself."
"Yeah," Daryl said. "Yeah—I hear ya. I'll look at it 'fore I head back to the shop. Probably ain't nothin'. Might just be outta gas."
"You think I wouldn't think to check the gas, boy?" Teeter said.
"I know you would," Daryl said. "I'll just have a look at it for myself. Just to satisfy my own curiosity."
"Teeter—why don't'cha go tinker a bit more with that smoker," Merle said. "Bring in some ribs to defrost for tonight? Them mushrooms too that'cha make. Feed ever'body good after court."
Teeter agreed to making mushrooms and ribs and he disappeared out the back in the same way that he'd come into the bar. As soon as he was gone, Merle walked over to the bar and put down a pack of cigarettes. He took a cigarette from the pack and lit it, looking Carol up and down as he did.
"You must be this Carol I heard about," Merle said. "And the girl's—Sophia?"
Carol nodded.
Merle leaned down in Sophia's direction. She was standing just behind Carol.
"You like Pacman?" Merle asked.
"What?" Sophia asked.
"Game," Merle said. "You wanna play a game?"
Sophia's eyes lit up and she nodded her head.
"You don't have..."
Before Carol could even finish forming the words, she felt Andrea squeeze her shoulder roughly. It reminded Carol of Andrea's mantra—she didn't have to do anything that she didn't want to do. Perhaps Merle didn't have to do anything that he didn't want to do either.
Merle ignored the start to Carol's words and reached in his pocket. He thumbed around and passed several pieces of pocket change to Andrea.
"Get her set up? Gimme a chance to talk a second with Carol," Merle said.
Andrea took Sophia to the corner where there was a Pacman machine. Apparently bikers liked Pacman right along with the pool they clearly shot. Carol had to admit that she was a little amused by the fact, but she wasn't going to say anything. She felt like she put her foot in her mouth every time she opened it.
"What kinda job, exactly, were you hopin' for?" Merle asked. "There ain't a whole lot open in Liberty right now. Just kinda one of them places where people get a job damn near as a kid an' they get stuck in it. Sometimes the same person's workin' a job 'til they die."
"Like your friend?" Carol asked.
Daryl hummed.
"Like Teeter," Daryl said. "But Teeter ain't always worked here. He's worked here a long time—damn long time—but he ain't worked here his whole life."
"I don't have a preference for a job," Carol said. "I'll be honest—I just need a way to make money. I'd like it to be a legal way to make money, but other than that...I don't care if it's scrubbing toilets. I need to provide for my daughter."
Merle laughed to himself. He looked at Daryl.
"She wants a legal way to make money," Merle said. He looked back at Carol. "You think we're hustlin' hookers or some shit like that? Andrea—you a hooker?"
Andrea laughed as she came walking over. She'd left Sophia learning how to play Pacman at the machine with a stack of quarters.
"Only for you, Merle," Andrea said.
"Je-sus!" Daryl said. "Don't even bring that shit in here. It's too damn early in the day an' I ain't even had a drink yet to numb me to it."
Merle chuckled.
"We're law abiding citizens," Merle said to Carol. "And you won't hear no different. As long as legal's all the hell you're lookin' for then I got a job for you. Pay's minimum wage. There's tips and room for promotion. Overtime. Possibility for side gigs."
"Benefits?" Andrea asked.
"Could be," Merle said. "Long as we could—be at least a lil' bit flexible with how we definin' perfectly legal."
Carol swallowed, her stomach churned a little.
"I'm a little flexible," she ventured.
Merle smiled at her.
"I bet you are," he mused. "I bet you are. You might just limber up a whole lot more here, too."
"What do you have in mind, Merle?" Andrea asked. "What's the job?"
"We been in need of a house mouse for a good long time," Merle said. "Since—what was her name? Shelly? Since she moved on. We could use a house mouse."
"That weren't what we talked about," Daryl said quickly.
"What's a house mouse?" Carol asked.
"House mouse keeps the club's house clean," Merle said. "That would be this here place. The Chambers. House mouse also takes care of whatever the hell it is the club needs takin' care of. Takes care of the members' needs."
"Hell no," Daryl said. "That'd be takin' advantage! She just come in her desperate for some kinda job an' you give her some damn degradin' shit like that. That shit's why the hell she said she ain't wantin' nothin' illegal."
"Ain't nothin' illegal about it," Merle said. He laughed to himself. "Damn brother, calm the fuck down. I don't mean she's gonna be no traditional ass house mouse. I just meant it in name. You wanna hear about the job or you don't? 'Cause my brother here was just gonna have you secretatin' at the shop, but that ain't really what we need you for."
Carol wasn't even sure what to think. Something had stirred Daryl up, and she assumed it was the fact that those job duties sounded like they could easily cross a line that Carol wasn't comfortable crossing, but she wasn't sure why Daryl should be so personally offended that she'd been offered the job even if it was of a questionable nature. Still, she was desperate for employment and she was willing to hear what Merle had to say. If nothing else, maybe he'd give her the secretarial position just for entertaining him and being a good sport.
"What would you want me to do as your...house mouse?" Carol asked.
Merle grinned at her.
"The Chambers is a bar," Merle said. "It's a fully functionin' bar. Only time it ain't open is durin' sleepin' hours when nobody oughta be out drinkin'. It's also a restaurant. We don't serve a lot, but we serve some damn good barbecue durin' lunch and dinner hours. Teeter's been handlin' everything here for years. He still cooks some damn good barbecue, but we don't make shit anymore 'cause he sucks at customer service. People'll come in durin' lunch hours an' be lined up just about down the highway out there—but Teeter'll forget he's got to serve 'em."
Daryl laughed to himself.
"He's run 'em outta here once or twice sayin' they was trespassin'," Daryl offered.
"You'd keep the place clean. Clean the tables. Serve the food and drinks. Help Teeter out while he does what the he does best—cook the shit outta some food good enough to give you coronary disease," Merle said.
"That's it?" Carol asked.
"You'd make minimum wage," Merle said. "Keep your own tips. You'd do a couple side gigs, too, with us. Just when you got time or it's slow here an' we can drag you away from the bar. Shit like—pickin' up parts for us or...makin' calls if we need it. Side stuff at the shop. We got insurance out at the shop. We'll put you on the payroll out there an' then you can have the benefits. He snubbed out the spent butt of his cigarette and helped himself to another before he offered the pack to Daryl. "What'cha say, sweet cheeks? You lookin' to be a house mouse or you ain't?"
"Nothing illegal," Carol said. "At least—nothing too illegal?"
Merle laughed.
"I like you. Like the way you think. Nothin' too illegal," Merle said. He dragged his finger across his chest in an X. "You got my word."
"And no sex," Carol said.
"Hell, sugar, if that's how you wanna be," Merle said. "But I ain't puttin' it in your contract that'cha can't get you a piece of ass if you got you a mind to have it. Just don't seem right to me. A woman's body's hers to do with as she pleases an' all that shit, ain't that right Andrea?"
"He's being an asshole," Andrea said. "But no—it's not part of the job description. Asshole or not, he'd never make that a job requirement. He's just giving you a hard time."
"I can handle a hard time," Carol said. "And I want the job. The only problem is—I've got to have childcare. I've got to get Sophia in school, but I'll need someone to watch her after school. I don't know anybody here."
"Don't worry about that," Daryl said. "We got that covered already. Just got a call to make."
"You want the job?" Merle asked.
Carol took a second to consider it. It wasn't like she had any other options, though. She nodded her head.
"I want the job," she said.
Merle smiled and offered out his hand to shake. Carol put her hand in his and he squeezed her hand before giving it a firm shake.
"Welcome to the Judges' Chambers, Mouse," Merle said.