Just the Thing

by Marie Harte

  They began serving cider not two minutes after the festival started. The day progressed from there. Sadie dealt with chattering children, adults annoyed at the long lines, and other people just happy to be alive. She felt it her duty to add to the festive air and got her face painted by the booth next door in exchange for free cookies and drinks.

  Now she wore half a skeleton on her face, and it was majorly creepy with her hair pulled back into a chaotic ponytail with fake spiders and cobwebs hanging off her hair.

  “That is so unhygienic. I get one spider in my cider, and I’m suing.”

  She recognized the deep grumble and felt herself blossoming into a smiling fool. She took a moment to compose herself, forcing a sneer. When she glanced up at her latest customer, she saw Gear wearing a cowboy hat and a bandana tied around his neck, a pair of dark glasses covering his gorgeous hazel eyes.

  “Sue me, and I’ll strike back. I’m known to have a lethal one-two combination.” She fake punched him.

  He laughed and yanked the man behind him so that they stood abreast. “Sadie, this is my baby brother, Thorvald. Thorvald, this is Sadie.”

  His brother sighed. He looked enough like Gear around the eyes to proclaim them related. “It’s Thor. Hi, Sadie, nice to meet you.” He held out a hand, larger than hers but more refined than Gear’s. She shook it, noticing that he didn’t have Gear’s rough knuckles or calluses either.

  “Hi. This is Theo, my partner today.” She glanced at Theo, who nodded at them and took care of the next customer in line. “So, you two slumming?”

  Gear chuckled. “Why do you think we came here first? Love the face, by the way. It’s so you. So very…deathlike.”

  “Well, the cowboy getup ain’t you.” Before he could ask, she fetched cider for him and his brother and handed them a festive prewrapped bag of cookies she’d put together for him this morning. “Come talk to me while I work.” She nodded for them to join her in the tent.

  The costume parade started, and the crowd in front of her cleared out fast, giving her some breathing room.

  “I’m going to get more supplies while I can,” Theo said.

  “Good idea.”

  He grabbed the store tricycle, which had a large basket in the back, and rode off to Sofa’s, a short distance away.

  “So,” she said to the men guzzling their hot drinks. “How’s it going?”

  Thor answered, “We got here half an hour ago. It took that long to find you. There are a lot of people here.”

  Gear chuckled. “My brother’s a scientist. He’s right now, no doubt, doing the math and trying to figure out how many people can actually fit in the square footage of the festival’s area. For fun.”

  Thor grinned. “I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. It’s a lot, that’s all I can say.”

  Sadie liked him on sight. Thor looked to be a few years younger than Gear. He had the same dark hair, but a rangy build, and stood a few inches shorter than his brother. Like Gear, he had hazel eyes, but his seemed softer, not as intense. She recognized in him a calm gentleness missing in Gear.

  “You eyeing my brother for some reason?” Gear asked, his voice deep.

  “Just wondering how you two can be related. He seems so smart, relaxed, and, well, nice.”

  Thor grinned. “Oh, I like her.”

  Gear broke open the bag of cookies and shoved one in Thor’s mouth. “Shut up and eat.” He turned to Sadie. “So I was thinking if you’re not busy later, maybe we could hang out.”

  “Hmm.”

  “What? It’s easy. Yes or no?”

  “I’m thinking.”

  “Don’t hurt yourself.”

  Thor choked on laughter.

  Gear pounded him on the back.

  “Jesus, Gear. Try not to kill your brother. Here, Thor. Have some water.” She handed him a water bottle.

  “Thanks,” he rasped. “Ah. That cookie was awesome. Snickerdoodle, right? Orchid sometimes makes those.”

  “Who’s Orchid?”

  “Our mom,” Thor and Gear said together.

  “You call your mom by her first name?”

  Gear nodded. “Yeah, Otis too. Our dad. Our parents are… How should I put this?”

  “Crazy. And not just crazy in love,” Thor added. “But, like, full-on whacko. But hey, it works for them, and we didn’t turn out too badly.” He eyed his brother. “Well, Iris and I are stable.”

  Gear pinched the bridge of his nose, pushing up his glasses. “Look, just ask her.”

  “Ask me what?” Sadie looked from Gear to Thor, waiting.

  Thor cleared his throat. “Well, my brother was telling me how great your food was from that party. And these cookies are divine.”

  Gear snorted. “Divine. Can’t take the professor out in public, can I?”

  Thor ignored him. “Just amazing.”

  “Thanks.” Sadie beamed. “One thing we do right at Sofa’s—and that’s bake.”

  “So I have a faculty party coming up, and some idiot put me in charge of handling the food. Do you think we could talk about you catering for us?”

  She nodded. “Sure. I’ll get you some quotes if you can tell me what you’re looking for. Cookies and cupcakes, or appetizers, or a sit-down lunch, and for how many.”

  “Wait, cupcakes?” Gear took his glasses off, and she liked being able to see his eyes. “I haven’t tried your cupcakes yet.”

  The ringing of a bike bell signaled Theo had returned. But Elliot stepped through the back instead.

  “Elliot, did you bring any cupcakes?”

  “As a matter of fact, I did.” He grinned, looked over her guests, and raised a brow.

  “Elliot, you know Gear. This is his brother, Thorv—”

  “Just Thor. Nice to meet you.” Thor held out a hand.

  Elliot took it, and the pair blinked at each other before quickly pulling away.

  She looked at Gear to see if he’d witnessed the weirdness, but he seemed too fixated on her breasts to notice.

  She cleared her throat.

  He glanced up without an iota of shame and gave her a wide grin. “I was looking for more spiders.”

  “Uh-huh. So Elliot, Thor might want to hire us to cater a party. You want to set him up with the deets?”

  “Sure.” Elliot’s smile looked a little too forced, and she would have asked him what was wrong, but the sound of rushing voices drew her attention.

  “Shit.” Gear sighed. “Why today of all days?”

  * * *

  A dozen photographers and a few people with recorders rushed the tent. “Gear, can you tell us what brought you out here today?”

  “Are you now selling food?”

  “Can you put any truth to the rumor that Sahara is having B-Man’s twins?”

  “When will you come back to the show?”

  “Do you consider this a major failure on your part, your inability to hold on to the company you started? B-Man told us it’s official. You’re no longer a member of the Motorcycle Madnezz team.”

  “Is this your mistress?” One of the female reporters smirked. As if to say, you can do so much better.

  Gear could see Sadie’s temper growing, her face turning red. He sensed his brother slipping out the back, as Gear had ordered him to do should they get sidelined by press. A good thing. Gear tried to keep his family out of the media as best he could. No sense in Thor getting targeted because he stood too close to Gear. Now if only he could do the same for Sadie and Elliot.

  Before Gear could stop her, Sadie took a step forward. “None of you want to hear it, but the truth is that B-Man was plowing Sahara for months while tossing Gear’s reputation down the toilet.”

  The crowd erupted into more questions and shutter clicks. Gear groaned. “Guys, gimme a break. I’m here talking to friends, trying to
enjoy the Halloween Festival. Sofa’s was nice enough to give me some cookies and cider. Try some. They’re better than anything you’ll eat here.”

  “So you’re now part owner of Sofa’s?” someone asked.

  “The hell he is,” Sadie argued. “You people are not only stupid, you’re sad. You’re also standing in the way of my paying customers.” She turned to the woman who’d asked the mistress question. “And lady, who the hell uses the term mistress anymore? How old are you, anyway?”

  A few of the other reporters snickered. The woman didn’t look amused. At all.

  “So you admit you’re sleeping together?”

  “Do you admit you’re about as clever as a clapping toy monkey? I’m selling cookies. And cupcakes. Oh, and spiced cider. Chick, you have no idea who you’re dealing with. Gear, schmere. Today is about Halloween and Sofa’s Spookville.”

  A few locals seemed to recognize the name.

  “We put on a spread every Halloween.”

  Had Gear been worried Sadie wouldn’t be able to hold her own? Man, was he wrong.

  He took a step back, and everyone focused on him again. Hell. “Look, I’m interrupting business. You can bug the shit out of me out there as well you can in here.” He left the tent.

  Most of the crowd went with him. Unfortunately, a few of the more aggressive types stayed near Sadie. Gear refused to answer anything more than the bare minimum, legally under a gag order, which sucked so much ass. He told them he’d left the show, had nothing to do with Sofa’s with the exception of enjoying their food, and that Sahara and B-Man deserved each other. Which set off more questions.

  And that’s when all hell broke loose.

  He gaped as two of the reporters in front of Sadie’s tent stood drenched in water. A few ice cubes littered the ground near them. Make that drenched in ice water.

  “How dare you?” the mistress questioner yelled. “You assaulted us!”

  “With water? Give me a break. Hey, I told you to move.”

  “Three times,” Elliot added.

  Sadie continued, “We have to keep the milk cold, you know? And that ice was melting. We can’t serve bad milk to customers, or we’ll get in trouble. We normally dump the water where you’re standing. It’s not my fault you two refused to get out of the way.”

  “You throw water where customers would be standing, you stupid bitch?” the nasty female reporter screamed.

  “Lady, there are kids around.” Sadie frowned. “Keep it clean, would ya?” She smiled and waved at a group of people gaping at the spectacle nearby while the reporters around Gear started focusing on the real story—bitchy Marsha Concannon getting the tables turned on her.

  Sadie waved at the crowd. “Who wants bat cookies? Devil’s food cupcakes? Ooo, who wants to see a real witch? She’s right here!”

  Gear couldn’t help chuckling as he walked quickly away, forcing the others to walk with him or lose a shot of him. He made it to his bike, confident Thor would find another way home. Then he hightailed it back to his place, wondering how the press would spin things.

  That evening at home, he found out.

  * * *

  Thor sat next to him, both of them basking outside in Gear’s in-ground hot tub. Sadie had supposedly been too busy to meet that night. Gear still thought he scared her. But after seeing the hatchet job the news had done, he worried he might have scared her away for good.

  “Oh hell.”

  Thor turned up the volume on the tablet that he refused to leave inside. He had the thing propped up on a lap table right next to the tub. “This isn’t good.”

  The woman Sadie had iced—Marsha Concannon, a real asshole, in Gear’s opinion—was ripping Sadie a new one. “Gear’s angry new mistress—I’m sorry, his angry friend—got violent today when approached about their relationship. She also had some very unflattering things to say about B-Man and Sahara. I’m sensing some jealousy issues.” Marsha tittered. “But then, who wouldn’t?” They flashed a picture of Sahara at her best, side by side with Sadie’s painted face, cobwebbed hair, and angry snarl.

  “That has to hurt,” Thor noted. “I feel for you. But hey, if you want to see where this goes with her, she’ll have to get used to stuff like this.”

  “Why? I’m leaving the spotlight, Bro. No more TV. I’m done with all that.”

  “You wish. It’s going to take time to wind down, no matter how much you want to sweep it all away.” Thor turned off his tablet and slunk back into the tub. “Ah. Man, this feels good.”

  “It would have felt better if I’d been sharing it with Sadie,” Gear muttered.

  “Too bad.” Thor sighed. “Her brother seemed nice.”

  “Who, Elliot? He’s cool. Funny. And he makes great cider.”

  “He’s a cook?”

  “He owns Sofa’s with Sadie and her sister. I guess he’s a cook. I mean, he bakes, but he also makes food, like catering and shit. Why?” He saw his brother’s flush, and he didn’t think it was from the heat. “Oh hell, no. You can’t be sniffing after Elliot. You’ll make things worse and screw it up for me with Sadie.”

  Thor gave a harsh laugh. “Seriously? You think I’ll be the one screwing up your supposed relationship? And just what is that, anyway? Because the last I knew, you were off women forever. Then you followed that with a few choice names for Sahara. Followed by even more choice names for Brian. Though he really is an ass. I never liked him.”

  Gear grunted.

  “Well?”

  Gear chose to change the subject, because he didn’t know the answer to Thor’s question. “Brian wasn’t lying when he told them it’s official. Though I should have been the one setting everyone straight.” He sighed. “I saw my lawyer again a few days ago. We finally came to a settlement the network accepted. I can’t talk about what happened—”

  “What? That’s ridiculous!”

  “I’m out all the way. I have no rights to Motorcycle Madnezz. But the bike and tools I brought to the show come home with me. And I still retain credit on the bikes I did while on the show, so I can have that to fall back on when it comes to prior work cred.”

  “That’s it?”

  “That and they bought out my shares in the company. It’s still not much, because they squeezed me out of the bonus shares I thought were mine, but fuck it. It’s done. Over. And anything that happens from here on out is no longer under their control. I can set up shop, work for someone else, leave the business altogether. It’s my choice. I’m done with fucking TV. No more appearances.”

  He still didn’t know what to do with himself. The past two months had been agony, going into the shop to finish orders, working alongside guys who’d once been his friends. Only Smoke and Chains still talked to him. But the bitterness of all he’d endured stung.

  Did he have it in him to start fresh with a new garage, new bikes? Should he do what he loved best and focus on the bikes alone, which would mean working for someone else? He’d been approached by a few custom places looking for a designer. Problem was he’d be losing control by working for a boss. He really didn’t want to do that.

  “You need to find a new place to work. Your own,” Thor said as if reading his mind. “You can’t work for anyone else. You’re an asshole.”

  “Hey.”

  “Truth hurts. You’re just like Otis. You need to create, but it has to be your own thing, your own way. Why not use your current notoriety”—at Gear’s glare, he amended—“fame, and get a small place? Do everything your way. Iris will help you with a new brand. Screw Motorcycle Madnezz. Do something crazy. Like Cycle Junkies.”

  “Oh, because that name has never been used.” Gear snorted.

  “Or Motorcycle Gods. Bikes We Likes.”

  “Just stop.”

  “Or how about Manly Men and the Power Tools That Love Them?”

  Gear had to chuckle
at that one. “Okay, I get it. You think I should hop right back on the horse.”

  “I would have said bike to make it a proper analogy, but yeah. You’re gun-shy now, because you got majorly burned. But you have your health. You have me and Iris. Mom and Dad too.”

  “And…? Sweeten the pot a little, Bro.”

  Thor splashed him. “Well, you might have Sadie too. That’s if she hasn’t seen tonight’s entertainment news feeds. And if you’re even in a relationship, because you swore you’d never have one again.”

  Gear sighed. “She’s cool. I really like her. I didn’t want to. Didn’t plan on her. But she really rocked the Xena outfit. She likes beer and burgers. She says what she’s thinking, and she’s not all that impressed that I was on TV. That’s kind of nice.”

  “There is that. You haven’t had to work for a woman in a long time. Especially not since the show aired.”

  “Fame sucks. Trust me. I didn’t want it from day one. Brian talked me into it. And stupid me, I listened.”

  “Okay, if the pity party is starting again, I’m done.” Thor walked out of the tub and wrapped up in his robe. “I need to head out anyway. A bunch of us are geeking out over some old school D&D.”

  “If only you meant Dances & Dolls.” A popular strip club downtown.

  “Plebeian.”

  “Huh?”

  “Insulting you is pointless when you start feeling sorry for yourself. I’ll talk to you later. I have a date.” Thor darted back into the house.

  “With a board game and nerds,” Gear mumbled. Damn it. He did feel sorry for himself. He needed to go out. To think about something else. To see Sadie.

  Gear groaned and rested his head back, staring at the starlit sky. He had the perfect backdrop for seduction. And no Sadie. He could call any of over a dozen women to join him for an easy fuck. But none of that mattered. He wanted Xena.

  His warrior princess with her trash talk, her right hook, and her ice water–tossing, obnoxious self.

  He grinned, remembering Marsha’s shock. That grin faded when he considered Marsha’s revenge. Shit. What if Sofa’s suffered because of that post? He jumped out of the hot tub, turned off the jets, and put the cover back on. Then he hurried inside and, after drying off, called Sadie.