He frowned at his empty plate, hating when she talked like this.
“The chicken was really good,” he said, waiting.
Sutton sighed then nodded at him. He was on his feet and out the door before he had to make more conversation.
*
Church lingered in the doorway of the forge. Severin could feel him watching, but he didn’t acknowledge him at first. It had been a long night lying in bed
with her two doors down, trying not to imagine what she slept in. Women were too damned distracting, and this morning the handlebars he worked on weren’t cooperating.
“Is this one going to be ready on time?”
He glanced up at Church and his brother’s half smile as he looked over the Frankenbike was enough approval to let him know he was on the right track. Church had always been his biggest fan as well as his biggest critic.
“Does it matter? If it’s not ready, they’ll wait.”
“Rodrigo would give you hell for saying that.”
“Rodrigo is in France,” Severin reminded him. “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Besides, you can’t rush this shit.”
‘This shit’ being his art.
“It’s cold without the forge going in here.”
“You’re getting soft in your old age,” Severin said, grinning to himself. Church threw a punch, and Severin deflected it with one hand while he put the metal he was working on down on one of his workbenches. “See? Soft.”
They tussled, and eventually he got Church down on the ground, but then they fought to see who could pin whom. Church was leaner, and almost a head shorter, but he knew all of Severin’s tricks and weaknesses, and he was still well muscled, especially for an old married guy.
“Good thing I didn’t wear anything nice out here. Ilse will kill me if I rip another shirt.”
“How are the kids?” he asked, kneeing Church in the groin – not hard, just firmly enough to make him squawk.
“Fuck off!” Church shoved him off and he rolled onto his back next to him. “We want more than two, so watch the jewels.”
“So that’s how you end up so dirty,” a female voice came. “I should have guessed.”
Severin cut his gaze to Church, but rather than tell her they were having a private conversation, his brother got up and brushed himself off.
“Hey, Minnow. Settling in okay?” He smiled, the white of his teeth dazzling against his dark skin.
The girl smiled back at Church. “Yes, thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever slept in a bed that comfortable before.”
Severin rolled up onto his feet and headed back into the garage, leaving them to their conversation. He slid his welding gear back on, grabbed his tig torch and filler rod then finished a few welds. By the time he pushed his mask up, Church was alone, standing just inside the door.
“For fuck’s sakes, Sev, you’re not even trying,” Church grumbled, moving closer.
Severin stepped back from his project and pulled his mask off to get a better look at what he’d just done. “Is it that bad?”
“Not the handlebars, fuckwad.”
“What? That little cunt Sutton hired? I’ve barely said a word to her.”
Church scowled at him. “Minnow is a nice girl. She needs this job. You know Sutton won’t keep her on if you don’t make nice with her.”
Anger and discomfort made Severin hunch his shoulders. “I am being nice.”
“No. You’re being marginally less of a dick than you were to Todd.”