novelxo Axel: Chapter 1
Being the President of an MC is not easy. Keeping everyone working, the businesses running smoothly, and minimizing the drama all takes time and energy.
I’m reading a report of a woman in the town being abused by her husband. They have a new baby, only twelve weeks old, a son he should be proud to hold.
Reading through the report, it looks like he may want to have the wife off’d, but it’s not clear enough, and no-hit has been put out that we can find yet.
Sitting back in my captain’s chair, I rub my thumb under my chin in deep thought. Is this one we want to take on? Do we want to get involved?
Picking up my cellphone, I send a message to Drag my VP to arrange Church tonight. I’m going to bring this to the brothers and recommend we let this be the last one.
A knock on the door gets my attention, and I call, ‘Come in.’
Mia walks in with a small smile. She’s my ol’ lady, in name only at this point. We’re learning more about each other, getting to the point where small hand holding, arm around her shoulder or hers around my waist are steps forward to us becoming a genuine couple.
‘What can I do for you, babe?’ I ask as I lean forward in my chair and hold my hand out for her to come closer.
Mia walks to me and perches on the edge of my desk, facing me. She rests her hand in mine and gives me that sweet sigh she does when she’s near me.
‘I’ve been looking at some of the businesses that are around the town, ones that are failing because the owners are lazy or want to retire. One’s I’m sure I can revive, then sell at a good profit,’ Mia fidgets a little, but I lean forward more and rest my hands on her hips. I lift one eyebrow giving her the go-ahead to continue, ‘There is a sandwich shop on the corner of West Street, it’s small, but if we purchase the building, we can open it up and make it a much more viable business.’
‘Do you want to go look at it, see how much it would cost?’ I push my chair back and stand, leaning forward and kissing Mia’s forehead. ‘Come on, let’s go look. I need a breather. Get some fresh air.’
Draping my arm around Mia’s shoulders, we walk out of the office and into the common room. This is the hub of the club, bar on one side, dining area off toward the kitchen, pool tables, and sofas scattered around.
As we enter, I see the club women sitting around talking, whispering, Brandy has been with us the longest, and it’s nearly time to move her on. She is becoming more trouble than she’s worth. I notice she gives Mia one of her nasty looks, and Bubbles grins sickly. Yep, it won’t be long before they need to move along.
Drag gives me a nod from his position at the bar, then walks over to join us as we head out the main door to the parking at the front of the clubhouse.
‘Where are you going, Pres?’
‘We’re going to look at the sandwich shop on West Street to see if it’s worth buying, then Mia’s going to turn it over and make a killing,’ I inform him, and as we reach my bike. I picked this one up so Mia would have the most comfort, a Harley Electra Glide Ultra Limited. It’s like she’s sitting in an armchair, well worth the price I paid for it.
‘Want company?’ Drag asks as he’s sitting astride his bike, having me smirking and shaking my head. He had no intention of not coming along.
Arriving at the sandwich shop, we sit and look at the outside of the premises. Yes, it needs to be renovated, the paintwork’s peeling, the window display looks dated, and it seems to have no security alarm or cameras.
Placing our helmets on the bike seat, we walk into the shop. Shit, it’s small, just a damn counter in front of you which covers the entire wall, and everything else is behind that.
All she’s selling is a few sandwiches, chips, and an assortment of chocolate bars. As I turn, I notice she has a glass-fronted fridge with cold drinks, no alcohol, just water, and soda.
An older lady walks into the shop from a doorway behind the counter, smiles, and asks, ‘Can I help you, folks?’
Mia steps forward smiling, ‘Hi, I was talking to Dolly, and she said you may be thinking of selling the sandwich shop, and I’m looking at making an offer if I can have a good look around and see if it will be what I’m looking for.’
‘Oh, Dolly did? Did she?’ shaking her head, ‘I’m Joan, and yes, I’m thinking of selling. I’m seventy-four, and to be honest. I’ve had enough of working. The place has been great for me, but it needs someone with enthusiasm to modernize it.’
Lifting part of the counter, she opens the way through to the back and nods for us to follow.
Stepping behind the counter, it’s clear that it’s clean but needs a lot of work even if it was kept as it is now, but renovating the place will mean ripping out most of what I’m even looking at now.
Through the door, we walk into a lounge of sorts, a table, chair, small tv, armchair, and boxes of supplies along one wall.
Walking into a kitchen that is a damn good-size, but again dated and needs upgrading, but it could be great.
Upstairs is a bedroom, bathroom, and a small room which Joan has boxes lining the back wall, personal belonging’s from what I can see, photo albums, glassware, a box with shoes in it.
‘There is another floor, set out the same, and a basement, but those are empty. If you want to have a look, then please do. I’m going back down and making a drink if you all want one?’ Joan states as she heads back for the stairs.
‘No thanks, Joan, we had one just before we came out,’ Mia replies, again giving her a small smile.
We check out the top floor, which is three rooms, woodwork is in good repair, and the windows are good, nothing here to worry about in any way.
Heading back downstairs, we check out the basement, which is empty, as Joan told us. This is two rooms but could be opened up to become one nice-sized room, a damn good storage area.
Drag turns to me and grins broadly, ‘Well, Pres, this could be a good turnaround, as Mia suggests, a good little business earner. Instead of renovating and selling, why not keep it and hire out someone to run it?’
Mia shuffles a bit, then turns to me. ‘Axel, the idea is to turn it into a thriving business, sell it, and move on to the next one. As I told you, I’ve seen a lot of places we could do this. Unless you want more businesses for the club?’
‘Let’s see if we can get this place first, then once it’s done, we can put it up for a decision,’ I state, looking at Mia to see her reaction to that, ‘We need more businesses as the club grows, enough for all the brothers to keep working and we need to expand.’
‘I agree, Axel, but it will never be a huge earner. The premises are not big enough to do that, but the bar in Gravestone we could turn it into a thriving business.’ Mia turns and ascends the stairs without giving us another look.
‘Fuck Pres, I hope my big mouth hasn’t put the kiss of death on this.’ Drag grumbles then stomps up the stairs after Mia.
Shaking my head, I have one last glimpse at the basement, then follow them upstairs and see if we can negotiate a good deal on this place.
I negotiate a deal with Joan and shake hands. I arrange for TwoCents to come over and make the payment once all the legalities are done.
Once back at the clubhouse, Mia heads upstairs to her room, and I enter my office, throw myself into my chair and rub my hands over my face.
‘You okay, Pres?’ Drag asks while leaning on the door frame.
‘Yeah, I’m fine.’
‘Okay, do you need anything before I go and make sure the Prospects are working?’
‘No, thanks, Drag. Make sure Target is okay. He’s doing great, and I want him to bring his friend in if possible. He’s gonna be a damn good brother, and if his friend is the same type, then we could have two brothers that will fit in perfectly.’ I respond.
PT, our secretary, knocks and walks in, looking at the papers he’s holding. PaperTrail we called him because he can follow any trail we put him on, but a mouthful, so we shortened it to PT.
‘What’s up, PT?’
‘Pres, I’ve been filing all the orders for Club Whisky, and it looks like they are using more than they should be at the club because, checking with TwoCents, their take has not increased.’ PT hands me the paperwork, and I give it a good look.
‘I see what you mean. The increase in the orders is a couple of grand, but the income hasn’t increased. We have Church tonight. We’ll talk about this then.’ I hand him the paperwork back and then walk out of the office behind him.
Quickly heading upstairs, I knock on Mia’s bedroom door, and when she opens it and sees me, she steps back for me to enter.
‘We have Church tonight, and I want to talk to you about the sandwich shop before the meeting,’ I sit on the one chair in the room, Mia sits on the end of the bed, ‘The shop could be a good earner for one of the brothers Mia, that was the thought Drag had when he mentioned us keeping it and not selling it.’
‘I know, Axel, but it would never bring in much of an income. It may cover one or two people, but not to the amount that a man would want as a good wage for his future.’ Mia runs her hands through her hair and ties it back into the braid she keeps it in.
‘Did you want to do this yourself, Mia? Is that the mistake I made?’
‘No, not really. I don’t have enough money to buy it and pay for renovations anyway, so it would be a club business whether we keep it or sell it.’ Mia responds, I know she’s nervous as she’s running her hands up and down her thighs.
‘What do you want me to do, Mia?’
‘Nothing really. We buy the place, we fix it up, and then you can decide what happens. I can show you the plans I’ve made before I saw the inside today. We can tweak it, so that great kitchen is remodeled for fresh products to be made and sold.’ Mia hands me a bundle of papers with drawings.
‘We have the offer in on the premises. She has agreed to the price I offered. Now, do you want to undertake this and be responsible for it, or do you want me to put it in the hands of one of the men?’
‘I’d like to do it but jointly with someone who has the experience for me to learn from, if that’s possible,’ Mia says a bit nervously.
‘Okay, Hammer has a construction background, hence his name and not that he went around hammering people’s heads,’ I chuckle at that, but Mia gapes as I’m not sure if she believes me or not, ‘I’ll bring it up in Church that you be joint managers on this and then you can discuss, argue, or whatever with Hammer, but, any issues you are worried about you come to me Mia, do you understand?’
‘Yeah, thanks, Axel.’ Mia leans forward and presses her lips against mine, gently, sweetly, then she pulls back, blushing brightly. That is the first time she has kissed me since the one she asked me for weeks ago.