Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“And we’re off,” I heard Drake say with satisfaction as the new shutters were nailed into place. “Now, what color paint were you thinking’?”
The women gathered around some paint samples one of the guys had brought and things really started to move. By the end of the day, we had switched to sandwiches and cold beers brought from the corner market, and were staring at the pretty Victorian, which looked a whole hell of a lot better.
“We’ll be back tomorrow, ma’am,” Tank said. The aunties all smiled and waved as the guys started cleaning up. It was clear that after the initial shock, they were loving having a bunch of men around to help out.
We loaded up the tools and supplies to take to our respective homes for the time being. It wasn’t the type of neighborhood you could leave stuff out in the yard overnight.
Not a kid’s bike, or a quality hammer. Not even a pair of muddy boots on the porch. Not even a milk jug.
No, it wasn’t that kind of neighborhood yet. But it would be.
The Devil’s Riders would make sure of it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Becky
“We got permission from the building owner to do the mural,” Janet crowed, holding up a can of paint. I hid a smile. It was hard to imagine the landlord would have said ‘no’ considering that Jack was standing right behind her.
No one said ‘no’ to Jack.
He was a wee bit intimidating. Even more intimidating than my Whiskey, who was just as tall and broad, but whose sweet nature shown out from his face.
Yes, my man was another gentle giant. Other than his scars, he looked like an enormous choir boy. My choir boy, I thought with a dreamy smile, knowing he was completely devoted to me. Whiskey was currently helping the girls, taking a break from working on the auntie’s house for the fourth day in a row.
As for the ‘street team’, this was not our first day at the rodeo, or our first mural. The neighborhood was looking spiffier already, particularly in the blocks immediately surrounding the auntie’s house. The ladies were thrilled, as were most of their neighbors.
‘Most’ of them. A few disreputable sorts were standing around glaring at us for the first couple of days, until Jack and Preacher had stopped working on the carpentry and joined the ‘neighborhood beautification squad’, which was what us girls liked to call ourselves.
We’d planted flowers, covered up graffiti with plain paint, and painted several murals already. Nothing fancy but a few of us had a flair for art. And Callaway and Mac came along and added finishing touches to them after the paint had dried. I had gone back to look at our handiwork and I was impressed.
But the ‘beautification’ was just the start of it.
More than a few security cameras had gone up, along with the training of some local volunteers to maintain and monitor them. And some of the guys were building secure wood enclosures for garbage cans on some of the apartment buildings, vastly improving the way entire streets looked. The city had generously ‘donated’ some upgraded public trash and recycling bins, after a gentle nudge from the club. All in all, the streets looked a hundred times better, just from a few specific things.
Just like people, some places just needed a little TLC to really shine.
There were already more people hanging out in the street, from grannies admiring some of the new plants, to kids playing on the street while tired looking mothers sat on stoops keeping an eye on them with watchful smiles. I couldn’t help but feel good about it.
“I never understood how you did what you did up north,” Kaylie said to Cynthia in wonder. “I am starting to get it.”
“It’s different there. Bigger area and bigger problems. We are still pushing to expand the district. But we assumed the same techniques would work.”
I sidled up to Dana and grabbed a roller to help with painting the base coat in a light, neutral color on the aged brick covered in graffiti.
“Did you start picking stuff out for your house yet? I heard Drake picked out a beautiful spot at the lake.”
“They haven’t even slept together, Becks,” Janet said with a wink. “Slow your roll.”
“Wait, what?” I squeaked out. The man was building her a house and they hadn’t even… I blinked in confusion.
We all turned to look at Dana. Even Jack. Then he held up his hands and backed away, dragging Whiskey with him. My sweet man looked at us and mumbled something about checking on something up the street. I knew they wouldn’t go far enough that he couldn’t keep an eye on us girls.
We were well protected with our men around. Always. We never had to worry about a thing. Other than supporting and loving each other.