Truth and Humility (21 page)

“Are you serious?”  Danny’s head spun.  The monetary loss in payroll alone would be staggering.  But Cahill, true to form, had made the sacrifice and gotten his way.

That’s all that mattered.

____________

“Okay, Monkey, let’s hear it,” Torsten boomed as he slammed his half-empty beer mug down beside her and took a seat.  The cigar in his teeth emitted a dank odor.  “Tell these jerks how you mounted that yellow bitch and rode her till she broke.”

Danny coughed and waved at the air under her nose to clear it.  She wasn’t used to this kind of raucous joint, but she’d been brought to a hangout frequented by the crew.  The marquee outside boasted Tuesday draft specials and the locals were in the mood for a bargain.

“Don’t be an ass, Torsten,” Mac grumbled from her other side.  “Show some respect.”

Torsten went deathly still.

“Yeah,” Danny faced him and she scowled with theatrical offense.  “Watch your fuckin’ language, there’s a lady present.”

Men howled and her mouth split into a wide grin.  Torsten released his breath and collapsed on the table in a dramatic display of relief.  “Holy God, I was worried there for a minute.  Thought I’d get neutered with a rubber band.”

Danny laughed and rubbed the back of Torsten’s neck.  “It’s okay, ya big jerk.  You ain’t my first rodeo.”

Her eyes caught sight of Austin as he watched her from the bar.  He was looking particularly delicious in a casual button-front shirt and a pair of comfortable faded jeans that boldly advertised male virility.  The shirt was tucked in, sleeves rolled up to the elbows and the top two buttons openly challenged any woman with a pair of eyes to peek inside.  Danny’s jaw clenched tightly when she watched the two women beside him blatantly attempt to do just thato chalt.

The man knew them, that was apparent.  In fact, since the two hussies entered the joint they hadn’t left him alone until he’d politely offered to buy them a round.

“Danny!”

Refocusing took a moment.  “Yeah, Mac.”  She looked at her friend with a raised brow.

His big face took up her vision and mirrored concern.  “You’re awfully interested in what Boss is doing over there.”

Ever since Mac had overheard Derek’s heated accusations earlier that day, his concerns were legitimate.  Danny knew the big lug was only worried about her.  “No…not at all.”  She fumbled for an excuse.  “I was just checking out that chick in the red.  You know, the one with all the cleavage.” 
Just how he likes them.
  “I’d kill for her shoes.”

Mac chuckled and indicated her mug.  “Beer’s getting warm.  Better drink up.”

Danny sighed and lifted the heavy hunk of glass to her lips.  She didn’t care for the mild, hoppy taste of beer.  And ever since the drugging, she was leery of alcoholic beverages, but was too embarrassed by the whole incident to bring it up.  Besides, there was nothing to worry about here.  She was among friends.

Her insides warmed at the thought.  These rude, crude, lazy misfits were her friends.  Who’d-a thought?  It was kind of refreshing being one of the crew, rather than the boss of one.  As a
female
supervisor, the rules were different for her than they were for men.  While she was just one of the guys on the job, she certainly wasn’t during her free time.  But this way, mingling came at a more relaxed level.

After another round, Danny had to admit she was every bit as relaxed as if she were sitting around the table with her family.  The new kid was catching hell for his instant crush on the woman who dominated the yard earlier that day.

“Come on, Danny, let me cook for you tomorrow night.  I promise you, after one taste of my grandma’s lasagna, you’ll fall in love with me.”

Men hollered in comical protest and Danny took a nut from the snack bowl.  “You couldn’t follow a pilot car let alone a recipe, kid,” she teased, throwing the nut to go along with the ultimate kiss-off.

“Oh!  Oh!  That hurt!”  The kid clutched his heart and laughed with everyone else.  “I can so follow a pilot car!”

Her ribs hurt from laughter and tears were just a few more raucous jokes away.  Then she noticed Austin had shaken off the hussies and joined the group sometime when she hadn’t been looking.  He was straddling the chair, laughing and conversing with the guys at the end of the table, just as comfortable as the rest of them.

The man was filthy rich.  He was their boss.  And he was obviously one of them.

Mac’s elbow bumped hers.  “So, tell me more about this car, Danny.”

“What car, Mac?”  His look said
seriously?
and Danny ate nuts through a knowing smile.  “Ah.  ‘The Challenger.’ ”  Her brother to a tee.

“Aside from what’s under the bonnet, because let’s face it...we all know what a 426 Hemi sounds like.”

“Kay.  What do you want to know?”

“Four speed manual?”  She nodded.  “What year?”

“1970.  R/T, of course,” she volunteered, but he probably already knew that.

“Wheelbase?”

“110 inch.  Super Track Pack with the SureGrip axle, power front disk brakes, dual exhaust...”

“Posi Traction from the looks of the skids and the smoke.”

She nodded again.  “Four-eleven gear ratio.  She’s quick off the starting line, but she tacks about 3k on the highway.”

Mac was impressed.  “Your brother must race a lot.”

“Not a whole lot.  But the only time he lost a race was when he plum forgot to start.”  Her mouth curled up at Mac’s incredulous look.  “My friend, Melanie, threw the flag.  She was in a string bikini.”

Now that made sense.  The kid started taking mental notes.  “What kind of hood?”

“Shaker,” Mac supplied.  He remembered how it had vibrated with horsepower and he crunched on a pretzel.  “Always reminded me of a pair of nostrils.”

Danny regarded him thoughtfully.  “Yes, come to think of it.  Kinda like a lion’s nose, all snarled and mean.”

The kid propped his chin in his hand and stared with drunken worship.  For the car he’d never seen or the woman who could talk cars, he wasn’t sure which one.  “What about the interior?”

Other guys were listening.  “Black.  It has the standard instrument panel, but Derek put in a pistol grip gear lever to replace the one it came with.  Likes how it feels in his hand.”

“So, he restored it.  All original?”

“Yes, very picky about that.”

“Rallye wheels?”

Her arm plunked to the tabletop and she stared at the kid through half-lidded eyes.  “Are you testing me?”

“What?”  The kid was completely clueless.  “I like Rallye wheels.”

Mac chuckled.  “They didn’t come standard with the hemi cars that year...at least I don’t think so.”

“Nope.”  This was something Danny thought Derek had been too picky about.  “Just the plain steel 15 X 7’s.  But I agree with you, kid, the Rallye wheels look better.”

The kid cracked a dreamy smile and searched out the rim of his beer mug with it.

“So.”  Mac wasn’t finished yet as he wiped foam from his mustache.  “What kind of front seat?  Bench or buckets?”

Danny was slowly beginning to realize just how infatuated her friend was with classic cars.  Who knew?  Of course, this was what friends went out for, to drink and find stuff like this out about each other.  “Bench seat,” she provided with a smirk.  “For the ladies, of course, so they can slide in closer.”

“I’ll bet your brother gets plenty of puss...” the ‘s’ dragged out of the kid’s mouth, and slowly died off.

“Yes, he does,” Danny agreed impassively.  “He’s a regular man-whore, that one.  But I think he has more of a thing for Melanie than he lets on.”

It was the second time that name came up.  “That chick who got you beat up?”

Thanks for the reminder, Mac.  “Don’t rag on her,” Danny said, suddenly depressed.  “She’s a good friend and she’s pretty messed up about that.”

Little did she know, her comment stirred up some hard feelings at the end of the table.  Austin was listening, catching bits of information as they floated his way.  Completely ignored Torsten’s ramblings of God only knew.  The man even called him out on it.

“Yo.  Boss.”  Now that Torsten had his undivided attention, he said, “You been listening to a word that’s come out of my mouth since one beer ago?”

“Sure.”

“Okay.  How many turkeys did we fry at my family’s picnic last weekend?”

“Uh...”  Wild guess.  “Three?”

Frank snickered in his hand.  “He’s a lost cause, man.  Just let him lust in peace already.”

Austin didn’t like the sound of that.  “I wasn’t lusting over anything.  I thought the man said three turkeys, dammit.”

Priceless
, Frank thought, and spoke low.  “Man, Torsten didn’t fry any turkeys, he’s fuckin’ with ya.  You are so enamored with that girl, you got hearts in your eyes.”

“I do not.”  Austin wasn’t the type to sit like a fool and gaze at any woman with hearts in his eyes.

Torsten shook his head, reading the man like an open book.  “He’s gonna need something stronger than that pale ale, Frank.”

That didn’t sit well with him, either.  “She’s an employee, Torsten.  Not happening.”  Then to Frank.  “And talk like that can start the kind of trouble I don’t need.”

Frank’s turn.  “Boss, you are standing your ground in quicksand.  If you don’t want us to know you so well, then quit hanging out with us.”

But he liked hanging out with them.  Not so much at the moment...

Something came up down the table that pricked his ears and he found himself answering a question that Danny couldn’t.

“It was Plum Crazy,” he contributed loudly, bringing all the attention to himself.  “Cracked and faded, but that was the original color.” 
Damn,
he thought when those brown eyes met his in surprise.  He
was
enamored.  Who the hell was he kidding?

“How did you know that?” Danny asked with a frown.

“Because I’m the one who found that car for him.”

Something rough shadowed his face when he said it.  It made Danny think he was butting in to challenge anything warm and fuzzy she may have said about Derek.  Did he really want to go there with all these people listening?  “Then, it wasn’t long after that you two parted ways.”

He tipped the chair forward, arms crossed over the back.  “Not long at all.  Never got to see it run.”

Mac said with pride, “Sure got an earful of her today.”

Frank said, “I don’t think that’s the ‘she’ he was focused on, Mac.”

Austin fumed.  Frank had too much of a loud mouth.  At least Mac was being more discreet about his confrontation with Danny’s brother.

“Why did he paint it black?” Mac mumbled as Danny anxiously tried to read their boss’s thoughts beside him.  “Plum Crazy was a great High Impact color.”

“Derek hates purple,” she answered distractedly, fixing Austin with a wary stare over her tipped mug.  Maybe the beer was making her
too
comfortable and she should back off of it a bit.

But the kid wanted to keep her talking.  Not about anything in particular, but the subject at hand was still open.  “So, this brother of yours sounds like he’s got commitment issues.”  He shook his head as if saddened, letting her know he had no problems with commitment.

Mac rolled his eyes while Danny considered the wisdom of continuing on a conversation about Derek in a now volatile atmosphere.

“More like a broken heart,” she answered pointedly.

Austin kept his thoughts about her carefully-aimed barb to himself as he continued to rock.  The other men seemed impervious to the underlying tension between them and now felt the topic of heartache to be a worthy one to chase.

Let them hash that one out on their own,
Danny thought, and used that time to visit the ladies room.  Luckily the stalls were empty and she was able to relieve her bladder in peace and quiet.