Marcus BOOK 5 of the RAZORBACK MC

8

MARCUS' POV:

Razor and I headed to the diner when we got Avery and Haus set up at the strip club. I walked into the restaurant with him and saw two girls, a guy in a black shirt and jeans that had the logo on it, there were two guys in cook outfits and one guy who looked downright scared like he was about to piss himself.

"This is Marcus, he's the new manager. You're demoted." Ryan introduced me and I just looked at everyone. "He's in charge, he says jump you say how high. s**t in this place isn't sitting right with me and the numbers." He told them and I just moved to look around. Everything was clean, as far as I could tell, the booths had no holes, nothing seemed too bad.

"Mr. Steel, can we just talk about what your concerns are?"

"No Jimmy, we can't. You see, you're either ordering too much s**t, or saying you're ordering too much s**t and pocketing the extra cash you know you aren't profiting from. Either way s**t is about to change. If you've been stealing, I'd cut it out before we find out." He told them, looking at them all and I just saw the girls look towards Jimmy like they were scared and the cooks look like they were confused.

"If you have problems with this new s**t now, quit. If we find out something happened, we take care of you ourselves." I told him and the girls made eye contact with each other before staying where they were. The guy that my guess was a waiter just raised his hand. "Yeah?"

"My name is Harry, um, does this mean you're going to change our schedules around or something too? I have classes-"

"No. The only thing we're changing is how things are happening with cash and food flow." I told him and he seemed to nod and go with it. "Any other questions?" I asked the room and the cooks both seemed to want to say something but kind of stayed quiet. "For right now I am going to ask you guys some questions, any suggestions you want that maybe Jimmy didn't do for you, I will see what I can do. Cooks first." I called and headed right to the back.

I got into the little office and saw that it was spotless, basically no paperwork anywhere. "Razor!" I called since I had to know if that was his doing and not something completely weird.

"Yeah?"

"You take all the paperwork from here?" I asked and he shook his head. "Jimmy we have a problem." I called louder and the guy walked back, looking like he had no idea what I was going to ask. "Where are all the orders, the books, the second count?" I asked and he looked into his office and pointed.

"All in the cabinet and drawers. I cleaned up last night so I could show you what and where things were." He told me and I worked my jaw, which means that things were now covered up fully and he could have made fake order sheets and bills if he wanted to and if he was smart.

"You'll be up after the cooks." I told him and he looked at me and nodded and crossed his arms before rubbing one and heading back down the hall.

The two cooks came in and waited at the door as Razor backed out and told me to call if there were any problems and that he wouldn't be more than 10 minutes away at most.

I got the cooks in the room and sitting down for a moment. "So, tell me what you two think needs a change in the kitchen or staff." I addressed and they kind of took some quiet time before they kind of talked about other people being ok, the bus boy was the one they mostly talked to as he did dishes in the back. "Then tell me what you think should change."

"The whole back air... it's old. It collects the oil and stuff. When I started working here we changed it twice a day if it was busy... when it's half mass today we change it three or four. Maybe it's the filters, maybe it doesn't do too well... I don't know we can't get Jimmy to get it checked out."

I wrote that down and nodded as they talked about some things in the kitchen they would like me to approve a replacement part or things like that. I made a list, and then Jimmy was sent in. He showed me the past orders, the food, we went over the menu, his idea of what we should change, and we were on a roll when one of the waitresses knocked.

"Hi, I usually get Jimmy's order for lunch right about now? Would you like it at another time?" She asked and I just sat back.

"No, we can eat now." I told Jimmy and he nodded at her. I looked at her name tag as he made his order and I wondered how I knew the name. Ezzy.

"I'll take the mushroom swiss burger, medium, with everything on the side." I told her and nodded and wrote that down. "And a coffee."

"Got it. Get it to you when it's done." She turned and I waited until she was out of ear shot before telling Jimmy we should pack up and that I want to talk to the waiters before they leave. He made himself busy and ate his lunch as I ate mine. Then the guy, Harry came in.

"Start with what you think should be changed." I told him as I stirred some creamer into my coffee.

"Well I don't think all three of us need to work at the same time. I've asked Jimmy to cut my hours if they're working a couple of times." He went on to talk about what days he would want off, who he would want to work with on those days. "Esmerelda is quick, she pays attention and she's good with nasty customers."

"That's the one with Ezzy as a name tag right?" I asked and he nodded. "Ok, and is the other girl-"

"Hannah, yeah, she's been here longer and still doesn't pick up the speed when we're busy." He told me and shrugged it off. "Hannah's nice and all, they both are, but our busy days we should keep Esmerelda on." He told me and I took notes on that, wondering if he was just trying to score bigger tips on busier days. He asked about no more uniforms, and if he could get a raise.

"Well seeing as we at the MC think there's a funding issue here, we won't be giving out raises until we see improvement in this place. If that upsets you, you can feel free to quit and we can make sure Hannah is up to speed." I told him seriously. I wasn't sure if it was the look in his eye when I said no raise, or the fact he even asked for one that made me think of setting him straight and making sure we meant business.

He didn't ask for anything else, and we were kind of done, so I sent him on his way and asked Hannah to get in here.

This day was just getting started and I already had a s**t ton to figure out about people here.

TARA'S POV:

I had a few meetings with big clients, making sure we had menu's and the right lay out for them down, and then I was heading to the kitchen to talk with Sienna. She was there, cooking up some menu tasting for this afternoon and I took a deep breath.

"When we started we agreed personal s**t wouldn't get in the way of business, so listen while I talk and then tell me if it works out for you. This isn't coming from me, but a client." I told her and she kept stirring something but she turned and listened as I asked and said what the clients wanted for their party, with it, they wanted her there, so we would both be working it in two weeks.

"We can do that, but I will have to work a couple days straight to make sure that prep work is done, and the party that Friday night we have is set up with a full party tray, two dishes, desserts... It might be tight, but we can probably do it if Jackie is helping out as much as she can." She told me and I nodded and moved to make a note that it would be hard a bit.

I would make sure that the customers would know that we had prior engagements, that we would do our best, and get everything they wanted done to the best of our abilities. I would find someone to help if Jackie couldn't and I made sure that we were all set up at the end of the day before I headed home.

I got to the end of the days cleaning after the brothers. I picked up bottles, slapped some heads, got them to start their laundry. I made the bathrooms were cleaned and started on the towels and when I stopped to have a beer myself I saw Marcus walking into the club.

"Well look who walked in while there's still a bit of daylight." I teased and he looked over at me and smiled before heading my way.

"I told you, I started at the restaurant. I got there at 8, finished at 6." He told me and I just nodded and moved to get the beer he liked. I popped it open for him and he leaned against the side of the bar and looked around. "Cleaning day?"

"Yes in fact. Go get your dirty laundry and towels."

"You know in another week you won't be able to boss me around any more." He teased and I rolled my eyes.

"I can always send you messages so you know when to do your cleaning." I teased back and narrowed my eyes, feeling like I was blushing as he smiled at me this time.

"What? Not going to parade around my house telling me to pick things up and clean my kitchen?"

"Not unless you start giving me home cooking lessons big guy." I raised an eyebrow to see what he would say to that but he just smiled and lifted his beer to his lips and didn't answer. "Just get the towels out of your room and I will wash them and they'll be ready later." I told him and he nodded slowly and looked over my face. "What?"

"Dinner?"

"Comes after lunch." I knew I had a comeback for everything, but right now it was a little bit of a bad idea since he might be asking me out. That was more than Avery did. But then... Avery knew the score with me.

"You know what I meant. What do you want to do about it?" He set the beer down and focused on me, not looking around like he was scared about someone hearing us talk about this.

"Tacos?" I asked him to see if he would want that too.

"Making or getting?"

"Well... I know a good truck, it's delicious." I told him and he nodded like that sounded like I a good idea. "On your bike?" I asked and he shrugged.

"You better get your helmet, if your brother sees you on the back of my bike without one I can just feel a bigger headache coming on." He told me and I was surprised he was more concerned with Ryan being hellbent on safety and not on us going out somewhere together.

"I'll get ready and get my things when you get your towels." I gave him a smile and he stood and nodded.

"Ok. Then hurry up, I am staving. I'll get the towels, put them in, and wait for you." He told me and I smiled and moved away from the bar.

"15 minutes then." I told him and he nodded back. I headed up with him and moved into my room to change from jeans to leggings, a simple pair of shoes, and then I slipped some cash into my bra before my ID and then grabbed my helmet. It was a basic hunter green.

I walked out with it under my arm and before I was too far I grabbed a jacket to make sure if he went fast I wouldn't be freezing.

I got to the first floor and saw him already waiting so I made a beeline for him. "Let's go."

"Where is it?" He asked and as we got out to his bike I was sure he knew where to go. I put my helmet on as he did and he threw his leg over before waiting for me to get on and hold on.

He took off and I was in a little slice of heaven as we rode through the town. We weaved in and out of traffic, and we both had wide smiles on our faces when he got to the truck. I ordered mine and he kind of stayed by my side as we waited for our order.

"So, where are we eating? Here?" He saw the tables here were kind of filled, and I just took a moment to think about it.

"I know a place a small walk away we can eat." I knew there was a couple picnic tables around the block that were probably empty.

"I like walking." He told me and I bit my lip and when our order was up I pulled the cash from my bra and before I could put the change in my bra he had his hand on my hip and kind of covered me like I was flashing someone.

"What?" I asked when he looked down at me like I was in trouble.

"You know who you are... and you know what your brother would say if he saw you do that." He told me and I laughed.

"I think his exact words were "What the f**k Tara you can't just do that in public" it was pretty funny and after I put him in his place, he didn't say another thing about it." I told him and he took a deep breath and shrugged. "What? Worried I was going to flash you?"

"No." He laughed and I just grabbed my tacos and let the way, his hand made its way back onto my hip as we passed some people, and when we got to the table he moved across from me instead of beside me.

We ate and I got to ask him about his first day at the restaurant and we got to talking about the other place he used to run, and I got to know him a bit better. Smart, funny, sexy, and he wanted me too.

If he didn't make a move soon I would be his birthday present from myself.