Chapter One
Skip
The sun’s beating down on the cracked asphalt, making the lot shimmer like it’s sweating. The old garage sits squat and sun-bleached at the edge of town, a little rough around the edges. Just the way I like it. In a few hours, it’ll belong to the Iron Shadows. Our new bike shop. A clean front for the dirty money that keeps our engines running and our pockets full.
I lean against my bike, papers still warm from the lawyer’s briefcase tucked under my arm. The owner’s inside with his suit and tie, arguing numbers I already agreed to. I don’t mind waiting. Gives me a chance to watch.
A couple of mechanics hunch over an old Harley, grease up to their elbows, arguing about torque specs like it’s life or death. The kind of noise I grew up around. The kind that feels like home.
But it’s the guy standing off to the side that catches my attention.
He’s not working. Just… standing there. Hands in his pockets, staring at the ground like he’s trying to disappear into it. Short…five-seven, maybe. Broad shoulders but soft around the middle, that kind of cute roundness that makes you wanna grab him and pinch his cute chunky cheeks.
He looks so damn out of place here.
I push off the bike and saunter his way, slow and easy.
“You lookin’ for someone, sweetheart?”
His head jerks up fast, eyes wide. “M-me? No, I…uh…work here.”
That blush hits quick, crawling up his neck until it colors his cheeks before he quickly lowers his eyes back to the floor. Hell, he’s adorable.
“Didn’t mean to spook you,” I say, grinning. “Just didn’t figure someone that pretty belonged in a place this dirty.”
His mouth opens, closes, then opens again. “I’m not pretty.”
“Sure you are,” I murmur. “You just can’t see what I see, that’s all.”
He laughs softly, nervous. Fidgets with the hem of his shirt. “You always flirt with strangers, or am I just lucky?”
I shrug. “Guess you’ll have to stick around and find out.”
I don’t tell him that I’m about to own this place and planned to let everyone go.
Plans change all the time, after all.
He looks up at me then, and for a second, the world quiets. Those eyes…soft brown, uncertain, but with something deeper hiding there. Something that wants to be seen.
Then I notice it. The color drains from his face. His lips go pale, and his knees wobble.
“Whoa, hey,” I say, reaching out just as he sways.
He’s gone before he can answer, body going limp. I catch him mid-fall, one arm under his back, the other cradling his head so he doesn’t crack it on the concrete.
“Easy there. I got you.”
His skin’s clammy, breath shallow, but his pulse is steady under my fingers. I crouch, keeping him propped against me, murmuring low. “Breathe for me, okay? In… and out.”
A minute passes, maybe less, before he stirs. Eyes flutter open, confusion swirling there for just a moment before he sighs.
“I… fainted, didn’t I?” he whispers.
“Yeah,” I say, grinning down at him. “Scared the hell outta me for a second. You okay?”
He groans, tries to sit up. “It happens sometimes. My doctor calls it Vasovagal something-or-other. I’m fine.”
“Well, now, that’s a shame.” I can’t help it…the smile tugs at my lips. “’Cause here I was thinkin’ you just fell for me.”
