Nara, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content staying where she was. She sat down on one of the few raised surfaces not covered in grease and leaned back onto an exposed support beam. She focused on Joe. She couldn’t tell if Julien noticed the mark of the King Cobras on Joe’s shoulder or not, but they’d talk about it later. She wouldn’t bring it up with members of the Black Vipers she didn’t know as well. “Nice ink, kid. Where’d you get it?”

Joe rolled one of the bikes closer to his workstation and popped a squat beside it. He was in the middle of looking at what sized tools he needed when Nara complimented his tattoo. “Yea its nice, but it’s not the only one I got.” He looked over at her. “I got it done at Moth and Dagger some time back. I like it myself.” He ran his fingers over it, “Took a few trips though.”  He pulled a rod from the bike, looked it over and slid it back in. He stuck a socket wrench in to give something unseen a turn and went on to drain the oil, clean the oil filter, and to fill ‘er up with something new.

“So, what’s your name girl? Why you in a biker gang?” He fussed over the bike - checking brakes, the chain, the tire pressure.  He eventually turned it on, not liking the sound it made. He bent over to wrench at something again until he thought the idle sounded perfect. It wasn’t a fast process, but he paid a lot of attention to everything he did. He would do the same for each bike, without question.

She was asking him about his gang, not about where he had gotten the actual tattoo. Perhaps he was too stupid to understand what she was trying to get at. Or, perhaps, he was clever and wanted to deflect the question entirely. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t know him well enough to know which of the two it was. Still, she had gotten what she wanted and was in no rush to press the matter - especially not when he was busy tending to her precious bike. Instead, she just chuckled and dropped some insubstantial small talk in response. She leaned forward, head in hand, eyes curiously trailing after Joe as he worked. At least he seemed honest about his level of attention; he didn’t seem like he was skipping around. “The name’s Nara,” she replied cooly, eyes still following his hands as she grinned “Don’t you think it’s a little personal to ask of a girl why she's in a gang? That kinda thing is more of a… third date question.”

Joe glanced up and smiled a bit for a moment before getting back to work. “Oh, I don't know if I want to go on a first date just yet. You got that big guy with you after all, don't you? He's just as big if not bigger than Vernard.” He sat right down on the floor, rubbing a knee. Maybe it was time for him to invest in some knee pads.

She laughed and gave him a shrug, he couldn’t see. “Black Vipers gave me something exciting to do. So I took them up on it.” She smiled to herself, “And it doesn’t hurt that I’m good at what I do, I suppose.” Nara wasn’t a good liar. Her answers sounded flat, at best. But her real reason for being in the gang wasn’t something that most people would even believe anyway. Why bother trying? “What about yourself? What brings someone with that kind of cobra tattoo to work in a shop like this?” If he didn’t get her implication this time, she decided, he was stupid. Definitely stupid.

“Nara. Rolls off the tongue nice.” Joe touched his work in a way that sometimes looked like he was being too soft. Caring. He really seemed to love cars and motorcycles, maybe a little too much. He ran his fingers over the body of the bike how one ran their fingers over the skin of someone they loved. “Well I mean, when a girl drives on a loud rumbly thing, you get a little curious.” He looked back at her. “Hmm..working in a shop like this means I get to check any vehicle that comes by...I see anything suspicious, and I can alert who I need to.” It was a way of keeping rivals in check, especially those who were too stupid to get rid of the evidence. “You know - we’re like a family, The King Cobras and your Black Vipers. My gang does most of its work in cars.” He pointed to a black Hemi Barracuda with his pinky finger, keeping the tool in his hand steady. “That one’s mine.” The Hemi was immaculate, painted a pearlescent black that reminded Nara of the night sky.

By now the other two mechanics had finished up their tasks and had rolled a motorcycle each to tune-up, they weren’t nearly as infatuated as their friend but they still had an attention to detail. It seemed like they all had a preferred spot to work in. The way that he so carefully touched the body and mechanics of the bike, made Nara want to ask if he wanted a room so he could be alone and whisper sweet, sweet words to them. The girl smirked. She’d have to let Julien know that his bike was very, very well looked after.

Her smile only widened when he finally connected the dots. True, she’d never mentioned her gang name out loud before this, but she would have hoped that it was obvious, given the details etched onto their jackets. Her smiling face greeted him when he spun around to look back at her. Okay, so maybe he was a little slow on the uptake, but at least it was somewhat endearing. Besides, his answer to why he was doing what he was doing actually made a lot of sense. She’d have to give it to em--their sister gang was pretty clever to use a network of auto shops to keep their rivals at bay. Nara laughed, “Okay, kid. That’s a pretty smart play, I’ll admit.” It was times like this that she was glad the Boss had the smarts to partner up with people like this. Having a rival gang take possession of all shops in the area sounded like a huge pain in the ass. When he pointed to his own ride, kept pristine and spotless, and with its own custom paint job, Nara whistled. “Impressive,” she replied, “don’t think I’d mind getting a ride in that myself--” She leans her body towards him, eyes on his, “what did you say your name was, kid?”

“Don't call me kid. The name's Joseph. Joseph Alexander King.” He got up with some effort since it looked like maybe his knees had hurt for a moment. “N, of course, it was a smart play. I came up with it! If any goons try n step in town, we’ll know the moment they get anythin’ done to their rides.” He began to look full of himself. Whether or not it was truly his idea was up for grabs. He could have lied and could have not. “And you know they’ll show up when they get trashed.” He walked past Nara, glancing at her while going into the office to get himself a delicious drink of water and ice. “Come in here.”

Nara shrugged. “A kid will always be a kid,” she explained rather nonchalantly as if that was clear enough of an explanation. As if he’d somehow been condemned to be called ‘kid,’ and now it was an immutable fact passed down by the universe itself. She couldn’t help that, and neither could he; he’d just be stuck with that title forever. Of course, there was a slight chance she’d call him something other than ‘kid'. But apparently, the issue wasn’t important enough to him, and give her his actual name was altogether forgotten in favor of boasting about how setting up a network of auto shops to keep an eye out on rival gangs was all his idea. Nara let him have his moment and just smiled; she’d give him the benefit of the doubt. A good idea was a good idea, and as long as she was one of the beneficiaries, she didn’t give a shit who the idea belonged to. She went up to her own bike, running her hand from the bike seat up to the handles. The keys were already in, so she gave it a little rev. True to their word, the engine flared to life, purring smoother than before. Satisfied, the girl let the engine off and made her way back to Joe. By the time she had come back, she had also taken the time to send a short message to Julien and gang. The boys at this garage were as diligent as they promised.

Reaching down to one of the thigh holsters kept against her left hip, she reached inside and pulled out several thick stacks of bills. She noticed how Joe stiffened up slightly, did he really think she was about to pull a pistol on him? Taking out one of the thinner, neatly bound stacks, she threw it on a small work table in front of the two of them. Fifteen hundreds. Then, from a different stack, Nara counted out $200-worth in $20s with brutal efficiency. As if she was used to this kind of thing. This too was tossed on the table for him to count, if he was that kind of person. She paused as if thinking, before taking out an extra hundred. Placing the bill on the table with a little more care than the way she’d tossed the other, bigger bills on the table, Nara eyed him with a pretty smirk. “Consider this a tip just for you. For a job well done.”

Joe placed the stacks together into a safe and pocketed his tip. “Thank you, Nara. I..hah...You're a soft one, aren't you? Hiding behind a tough look?” He paused and shook his head, seemingly not needing to recount.

She phoned down Julien and gave him the news that the bikes were ready to go. It had taken a handful of hours but for her the time had seemed to fly while watching Joseph work. The other members of the Black Vipers reappeared one by one over the next hour. Some of them looked worse for the wear, sporting black eyes and bloody lips, but it seemed like whatever they had gone to do had been successfully accomplished nonetheless. Nara waited for all her gang members to pick up their bikes and ride off to their hideout, or to their own homes.

Julien did a quick look-over his bike, turning the ignition to listen to the bike roar and purr. He smiled and nodded back to Nara. “Ooh, this all sounds great.” He hopped onto the bike, revved it and sped off.

Nara picked up her helmet and fitted it on. She blew the pompadoured mechanic a kiss with pointer and middle fingers on her lips. “See you around, kid.” And with that, she turned and strut to her bike before taking her own bike off into the night.

Joe had gone to stow away the profits from the day’s work, writing down in the book what had been done and for how much. What items had been consumed to keep a tab on their stock. By the time he was done with that, the rest of the gang had come and gone. He caught a glimpse of pink hair going under a helmet and caught her gesture When he saw that it had been a kiss blown his way, his cheeks colored pink with a blush. Not saying much, he watched that last bike roar and ride out.