Chapter 1
Brooke had been waiting all week for this day to come. She’d been hoping to expand her bookstore for months, but the space beside it had been consistently rented out. Last week she’d heard that the current tenant would be moving out and that the space would be available. Brooke had immediately called her landlord, Mr. Myers, to talk about the bookstore expansion.
She had spoken with Mr. Myers about her desire to expand a few times, but today it might become a reality. Mr. Myers had agreed to meet with her and listen to her proposal. Brooke walked up the stairs of an old office building near downtown Nashville. The building was showing its age but would still have been considered to be in a trendy location by most. The stairs seemed to stretch on forever. Above her she heard a door slam shut and heavy footsteps thud down the stairs ahead of her.
A woman wearing stylish thick-soled boots, dark leggings, and an over-sized black t-shirt ran past her.
“Sorry,” the woman called out as she almost bumped into Brooke.
“No problem,” Brooke responded.
The woman looked up, meeting her eyes and smiled. Brooke took note of the light honey color of her eyes and the way her lip lifted a little more to the left for the smile. It only took a moment for the woman to pass her on the stairs, but the minutes seemed to stretch. The woman had several tattoos on her arms, and she thought there was one on her neck pushing up through the fabric of her t-shirt. Just one moment and the woman was gone; Brooke continued her trek up the stairs.
Mr. Myers was a balding man in his late fifties. He had always seemed to have a permanent smile fixed to his face, though Brooke couldn’t tell if the smile was always genuine. Today Mr. Myers sat with a broad grin in his office chair. He acknowledged Brooke and directed her to sit in the other office chair. Brooke sat, but before she could begin speaking, Mr. Myers interrupted her.
“I know you’re here to speak about the extra space beside your shop, but there’s really no need. I’ve decided to rent the space to my niece Drew.”
Brooke’s jaw almost dropped. Had she really just walked up a flight of stairs to be told no before she even opened her mouth?
“I know this will be a disappointment. It’s just that my niece has been needing a place to open her shop and this felt like the best way to help her out.”
Nothing Mr. Myers said past that point really mattered to Brooke. Her dream of extending her shop and including a tea shop vanished. She stood from her chair so quickly that it spun away. She could see from Mr. Myers’ face that he was surprised by the move.
“Thank you for your time,” Brooke forced a smile.
“I am sorry to disappoint you. But I think maybe you and my niece could be friends. You’re around the same age.”
Mr. Myers’s words fell on deaf ears, Brooke was already on her way downstairs. There was only one person she wanted to talk to and that was her best friend, Emily. Brooke sent out a quick text to her shop’s Pierce explaining that she would be out of the shop for most of the day. She knew that Pierce was more than capable of handling a little Tuesday store traffic on her own.
Brooke pulled into the parking lot for her friend’s bar, Spot on the Map. Emily had really built this place from the ground up. Brooke walked through the double doors and waved to her friend. Emily seemed surprised to see her but waved Brooke over.
“I wasn’t expecting you here on a workday,” Emily teased.
“Well, I had my meeting with the landlord today. It didn’t go well,” Brooke gave a tiny smile.
“I’m sorry to hear that. You’ve had big plans for that place ever since you leased it.”
“Apparently, my plans are going to have to wait. The landlord is letting his niece rent the place.”
“What’s his niece going to put in?”
“Some kind of shop. Probably boba tea or something trendy,” Brooke snarled.
Emily chuckled and handed her a beer, Brooke took a fortifying swallow.
“Try not to let this get you too down in the dumps. There will be other opportunities. Or you could move to a larger location somewhere.”
Emily was right and Brooke knew it. She wasn’t ready to let go of her annoyance quite yet. She took another sip. Her phone rang in her pants; the sound was so jarring Brooke almost dropped her beer. She answered her phone and found a frantic Pierce on the other side of the line.
“Brooke, you have to get to the shop,” Pierce explained.
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re everywhere.”
“Who is everywhere?”
“Bikers,” Pierce explained.
