Chap.9
I woke up with the sun in my eyes. I sighed and tried to wake up. I rubbed my palms into my eyes and sat up. My brothers were already up, and I could hear them eating breakfast in the kitchen. I thought back to last nights events. I cursed myself for being so emotional, but there was nothing for it. I got up still wearing yesterdays clothes, and went to the kitchen were the most enticing food smells were wafting from. The sight of scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, and orange juice greeted me heartily. "Do you always start the day so big?" I asked with wonderment. "Sure, I don't eat much the rest of the day though." Elisa said looking over her shoulder at me. "I'm fixing my plate now so sit down and dig in." I did so with gusto. I heaped my plate with pancakes eggs and sausage and piled on the syrup, and started my inroads. I think that I surprised Elisa. "You really don't waste time eating do you?" I smiled and swallowed my mouthful. "Nope." She smiled back at me and we continued our meal discussing our plans to find a suitable place for the shop and to start ordering parts. I went to the internet and found what I needed, and made the necessary calls, and then we went shop hunting. I wanted it to be known but not too known. We passed the police station and it was almost right next door to the station, it was like five buildings over. It was a four story building, good for a bar, shop, office, and rooms for the workers. We got out investigating. Since matt had my brothers and was showing them the park, that was no problem. It was an old fire house, and the rooms could be remolded. The ground floor would be the shop, and half of it would have walls in so Lexington would have no problems to work in secret. The only thing I was worried about now was gangs. I didn't want turf wars to spring up, but I'd worry about that later. Elisa went to the station to get her captain in here so we could buy the place and start work on it. The Claw and Fang. That would be the name of this place. Considering my talent and the numerous others who shared it, this was appropriate. She came back with her boss in tow. "So you're the one who wants to buy this place." She stated I nodded. "Yeah, I've got the cash up front up front for the whole thing, and I want to start work immediately." She nodded and said. "Well, the police technically own the place, but we've never used it so I'll give it to you for free." My mouth dropped. "Really?" she smiled. I smiled. This was turning out to be a good day. "Thank you ma'am. You won't be disappointed." We shook hands and she left, laving me and Elisa to our work. We started by finding workers. I changed into scruffy looking cloths and I went out in the bad part of town. I found five men and three women. The first guy I found was leaning against the wall watching life pass by. I went and leaned against the wall by him. "Jobs need filling I guess." I said conversationally. He was silent, but he nodded. I saw him out of the corner of my eye. "You lookin'?" I asked. He turned towards me interested. "Yeah." I smiled then. "Good. What can you do?" he thought for a moment. "Auto work." "Perfect!" I exclaimed. "Just come to this place and you have the job right away." He looked surprised but he took the sheet of paper and nodded. "See you then." And he walked away. One of the ladies I found became my secretary; the others were office workers, for clients and stuff. The other men I found helped me fill in the rest of my shop. I asked them about the gargoyles and they all said that they liked them, and that having them around was a good thing. I was beaming by the time I got back to Elisa. "I take it that you found people willing to work." She said grinning as well. "Yep. Five guys and three hard working gals. You?" "Another two ladies and two more guys." We smiled happily. My shop just needed to be finished now. The wiring and plumbing needed to be re-done, and some walls needed to be knocked down, but that was a piece of cake. We had one office down on the floor, and that was for meeting clients and getting their requests taken care of. The rest of the floor was covered in storage, jacks, and all sorts of machinery. I planned on adding a place for my private work too, complete with shower, bed, and a small closet. Just in case. I hand painted the sign for the shop on the walls outside, and I tell you, many people were curious, but Elisa just shooed them away and said if they needed a car or motorcycle fixed, to come back. My crew started to file in. the first guy I met was called Tim drake. I liked him. He was solid and dependable. The other guys, Corry, Sam, Josh, Benjamin, Ian, and Alan were good solid people. I told them that there would eventually be a bar upstairs on the top floor, and they thought that was a good idea. Two of the guys said they'd be bartenders/bouncers. I told them I could get some more people to help, and they said that was fine. But I also told them that place was going to be clean, no shady dealings with the customers. They knew what I meant. They needed their stuff, and they were in for it honestly. The women, Samantha, Cailiy, Anna, Molly, and Rebecca, were fine people. They needed to work, and I gave them the job. Anna had a small family to try and support, so I made her secretary, I made a note to giver a discreet bonus. The others became sub-secretaries. They helped out with appointments and filling in things, and stuff like that. We had a phone system installed and soon we were ready for business. I saw people looking at the shop with curiosity, and by this time it was well into the evening. Then a teenager walked in looking freaked. "Yeah? What can I do for you?" I asked. The poor guy started to tweak out. "Dude, my bike is trashed! I mean trashed! Some dude took a bat to it and then rammed it in to the water!" he was starting to get hysterical. "Do you have a job?" he nodded. "What's the pay rate?" "Lady I don't think I should tell you!" he was getting defensive. I sighed. "I want to know that way I can fix this for you without this being majorly expensive!" he looked surprised. "Oh." So he told me and we worked out the price. I told the guys to start cleaning the upstairs; I would handle this one personally. They nodded and got to work. I told the guy to bring it in, and he did. The thing was a mess. I think the engine needed replacing all the way! The wheels were fine, but the dash, lights and brakes needed work. I got it set up and got to work. The kid was opened mouthed, and when asked why he said: "because I have never seen a girl do what you're doing now." My movements were deft and I shrugged. I liked doing this. The guys and gals came down occasionally to ask what I wanted, and looked at me with respect. I was proud. I had the shop up and running in a day, and I had business. Life was good. We closed down shop at around midnight, and called it good for now. I would be there by five tomorrow morning and my brothers to with Matt, and they would help pick out rooms for us. There was just one big kitchen, but that was fine, there were five full bathrooms, and four half ones. We figured that this was fine. Elisa and I were happy as clams, and so we made way back to the apartment.