“So, I’ll give you another rent discount. The park is looking nicer. I want you to keep doing it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t really have the time.” Or the desire. “But, uh, I might be able to find you someone else who would be interested.”
She pursed her lips. “But you did good work. I trust you.”
“Well, I’ll vouch for him. He’s a hard worker.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Who?”
“Well, it depends on if he could move out here. You got any vacancies? Not just lots, but trailers?”
“We’ve got a couple of our smaller campers over on the south end.”
I nodded. “Okay, but you’ll have to discount him double what you did for me. It’s hot, dirty work.”
She huffed and wagged a finger at me. “You’re trying to take advantage.”
“No, I’m trying to ensure he gets a fair deal. I worked at the rate you offered because I was behind on rent, and it seemed fair to accept less. But he’d be coming in with this arrangement.”
Nina liked her money. I might put her off the whole idea by demanding more, but I wasn’t going to recommend Ghost move out here unless it could be a better arrangement than he had now. He might not thank me.
“Okay, fine. You get him to rent one of those trailers, and I’ll discount him double.”
“And it’ll be an ongoing job. Not just temporary?”
She nodded. “If he works as hard as you. I don’t need any slackers.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to him.”
Waffles yapped and jumped at her legs. Nina stumbled back with a gasp. “Get that mangy mutt out of here!”
With a laugh, I backed out of the office. On the way back to the trailer, I hit the group chat with the other guys and let Ghost know of the opportunity. If he wasn’t interested, maybe Hollywood would jump on it. We were all struggling financially, but with Aiden covering half the rent for me, I was in better shape than I’d been in a long time.
“Okay, Waffles. Let’s go home and get you into bed.”
Waffles had slowed down on the walk back, so I was pretty sure he’d run off some of his nervous energy.
As we rounded the bend toward home, I spotted a motorcycle at the curb.
I tensed, and Waffles, sensing my energy, growled low in his throat.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “We don’t like that.”
Gray rode a motorcycle, and occasionally Axel borrowed it, but neither of them had visited me out here. Besides, I recognized the snake painted on the body.
A Serpent had come calling.
I fisted my keys, bracing for another fight. There was only one bike, and as I neared the house, I saw Puck leaning against the fence by himself.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
He smirked. “Nice to see you too, Knight.” He gave me a once-over. “Looks like we didn’t break you too bad, huh? The bruises are gone.”
“You think you can take me one-on-one?” I asked.
He eyed the dog, who was still growling. “And risk this little mutt’s fury? Nah. I’m not here to fight.”
“Then leave.” I opened the gate and led a still-growling Waffles inside.