I was doing an oil change on a Dodge Challenger when a man came stalking up. He looked vaguely familiar, as though I might’ve seen him at the garage before. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah, you’re the fucker who screwed up my car.”

“Excuse me?”

“The transmission is shot to hell now. I realize you’re new and everything, but I don’t know how the fuck you managed to screw it up so bad.”

“Sir, your car was fine when you left. I don’t know how you could possibly think I did something wrong.”

The man’s face darkened. “I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think. Get me your boss. Now.”

I bit my tongue to tell the man he could go fuck himself, which would have been the way I once handled the situation. But since I was trying to turn over a new leaf, I grumbled, “One second.” I brushed past Marley, who had come out from underneath the car he had been working on. Knocking on my boss’s door, I called, “Rick?”

He glanced up from a pile of invoices. “Yeah?”

“There’s a dude who wants to see you.” When Rick raised his eyebrows questioningly, I sighed. “He thinks I fucked up his car.”

“Did you?”

“Hell no. It was just a standard oil change and tire rotation. When I told him his check-engine light was on, he told me it was because of the oil.”

After grunting in frustration, Rick rose out of his chair. I stepped aside for him to come out the door and then I followed him down the hall. Once the man saw him, he started ranting and raving about how during the oil change I had screwed up his transmission.

He was halfway through his tirade when Marley stepped forward. “You’re full of shit.”

The man’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?” he demanded.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Marley said, “There’s no way in hell Bishop could have done the damage you’re talking about.”

“Is that so?”

Marley nodded and then looked at Rick. “The guy came in here with a car wheezing like a two-pack-a-day smoker. Anything wrong with his transmission was already there, with the car wheezing like that.”

Rick glanced from Marley to me. “Did you notice the noise, too?”

I grimaced. “No, I didn’t.”

“In Bishop’s defense, he was in the back when the guy pulled up. He wouldn’t have been able to diagnose that,” Marley said.

It was my turn for my jaw to drop at Marley stretching the truth for me. Yeah, I had been doing inventory, but I still should have heard the noise when the guy drove away. I didn’t know where in the hell my head had been that day to miss something like that. When I met Marley’s gaze, he cocked his head at me as if daring me to go against his story. I bobbed my head in agreement.

The man sputtered with indignation. “That doesn’t mean shit. He still fucked up my car!”

Rick narrowed his eyes. “You must think I’m an idiot if you really think you can screw up a transmission that bad through a simple oil change. Get the hell out of here, and don’t ever come around here trying to scam me again.”

After the man left and Rick went back to his office, Marley and I were alone. When he started to go back to work, I stopped him. “Why did you lie for me?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it lying—it was more like stretching the truth.”

“Then why did you stretch the truth for me?”

Marley smiled. “We’ve all been the new guy once. Yeah, you probably should have noticed the wheezing when he pulled out of here, but maybe you were just having an off day. Maybe your mind was somewhere else. Hell, maybe you had to take a leak or a dump really bad and couldn’t think of anything else.”

“Hey, now.” I laughed.

With a chuckle, Marley added, “That one little fact doesn’t mean you aren’t a damn good mechanic who knows his cars.”

“I never would have fucked up with a motorcycle,” I grumbled.

“That’s probably true, considering what a hard-on you have for bikes, but I guarantee you’ll never miss a transmission issue ever again.”

“Fuck no.” I held out my hand to him. “Thanks, man. I owe you one.”

He pumped my hand up and down. “You’re welcome.” After dropping my hand, he started back to the car he had been working on. Staring at his back, I thought about what kind of man he was and couldn’t help thinking he would make a great member of the Raiders one day. After everything that had gone down with Mendoza, we were actively looking to bring in a few new guys to steady things until the heat wore off. We were still slowly and surely moving toward being legitimate, and Marley’s character would certainly fit in with our new direction.

All it had taken was a call to my brother during my next break. Rev had answered on the third ring. “What’s up, B?” he’d asked.

“I wanted to run something by you.”

“Shoot.”

“I think I got a lead on a good hang-around.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Then I’d given Rev the lowdown on Marley. “Think it’d be okay to invite him to a party so we can feel him out?”

“Sure. Why not? We’ll put Archer on his ass pronto. You know how he thinks he can sniff out rats.”

I laughed. “Okay. Sounds good.”

After I’d hung up with Rev, I put my phone back in my pocket and went inside. Marley was underneath a car that was up on the hydraulics.

“Hey, you ever think about joining a motorcycle club?” I asked.