Free Merrick: Harlequins MC by Olivia Stephens Page B

the moment. Give me an hour to get this sorted and I’ll call you back,” he said then ended the call.
     
    He then turned back to the contractor. “Let me explain something to you. When I give you a schedule, don’t fucking change it. I’ve been doing this since I was sixteen. I know how long it takes to put the walls up, and I don’t give a shit what your fancy Gnatt chart tells you. So you get your ass on the phone and tell the electrician and the plumber it’s going to be three more days before the rough in is ready. Got it?”
     
    “It shouldn’t take you this long to dry a house in!”
     
    “Says who? You? How many houses have you built?”
     
    “That doesn’t matter! The standard—”
     
    “Fuck what the book says! I’m telling you what it really takes. If you think you can find someone who can do it faster, then knock yourself out, but I’m telling you any reputable framer will tell you the same thing.” He watched the guy as he looked away. “You already found that out didn’t you? This is your fuck-up, not mine, so you straighten it out.”
     
    “Okay, look, I thought you were padding the schedule, and I’m sorry. If I miss my window it’ll be two weeks before I can get on their schedules again. Help me out here!”
     
    Merrick softened. “We’re going as fast as we can. I’ll see if the crew wants to work over, but that’s going to cost you more.”
     
    The man shook his head. “No. I’m going to be over budget as it is.”
     
    Merrick grinned. “Don’t worry about it. I lost my ass on the first few houses I framed, too. My dad taught me everything I know and I thought I knew all these ways to speed stuff up, to do it faster and cheaper. Turns out there’s usually a reason things are done the way they are. Here’s a bit of advice for your next house: ask the contractor what it’ll take, then listen to him. You’ll sleep better at night.”
     
    The man nodded and Merrick shook his hand. As the man pulled out his phone, Merrick found his site supervisor.
     
    “Did you get him straightened out?” Bud asked.
     
    “Yeah, I think so. He’s new, so help him out if you can.”
     
    Bud grinned. “We’re doing the best we can. If we don’t have any rain delays, and it doesn’t look like we will, we should be done by early Friday.”
     
    “Is that firm?”
     
    “Pretty firm.”
     
    Merrick nodded. That was a day early. “I’ll let him know. If you make it Thursday, buy the guys a beer on me.”
     
    Bud chuckled. “What do we get if we finish Wednesday?”
     
    “A kick in the ass for being lazy all the other times.”
     
    Bud burst into laughter. “I’ll let them know.”
     
    Merrick grinned. Bud ran his best crew. If anyone could get it done Thursday, this crew could. He sat down in his truck and started it to get the air conditioning going. He had one more stop to make to look at some rework, then he would call Taylor back. It wouldn’t hurt Taylor to sweat a little.
     
    ***
     
    “Taylor, Merrick Capra, calling you back.”
     
    “Thank you for calling me back, Merrick. Listen, I want to apologize for what happened the other day. I should have given you better instructions. Are you available to provide security again?”
     
    “Yeah. It’ll be two thousand a day.”
     
    “Two thousand! It was only fifteen hundred before!”
     
    “That was before you pissed me off. Now it’s two thousand.”
     
    There was a long pause. “Fine. Two thousand a day,” Taylor said, his voice flat.
     
    “Same agreement as before.”
     
    “Yes, but I want you to leave Poppy alone and treat her with a little more respect.”
     
    “I treated her the same respect I treated everyone else, from you all the way down to the guy who picks up trash when you’re done.”
     
    “Okay, then, treat her with more respect.”
     
    “I’m not going to let her push me around, Taylor. If you want some toady for her to shit on, find someone else.”
     
    “Merrick, that’s