On the rideover to Lucky Strike, I tried weaseling more information out of my angels, but they weren’t going to spill. Eventually, I gave up the chase, watching the Valemont streets grow grungier with each block we drove toward downtown.
Fine, be like that. I’ve already seen plenty. It’s only a matter of time before one of you slips, anyway.
From the little I’d seen, I already learned a lot. They were quite cozy with the DA and her kid for a bunch of delinquents. According to Kennedy, they had matching tattoos to prove it.
But between The Hollow and all the extra time I’d been spending in the shop, I would have remembered seeing Kennedy. And if they weren’t Violence…
Their connection must be through The Oracle.
I doubted Veronica Burns took open meetings with charged criminals. If they weren’t in any trouble, then it was pretty clear to me that the DA was helping them cover something up.
Or maybetheywere the ones helpingher.
Either possibility sent a chill down my spine. Clearly, I’d underestimated how powerful and well-connected these bikerswere. Which would only make regaining my freedom that much harder.
As if my messy feelings for my angels won’t make that hard enough.
When we finally pulled up to Lucky Strike, the garage door was already open, as if the Romeo was expected. Leo pulled through, parking her baby in the back of the shop far away from anything that might ding the car.
But while she took her time getting the car perfectly situated, my eyes drifted out the tinted window to Dom. She’d beaten us to the shop by a few minutes and was hovering beside a mud-crusted car in the center of the shop.
Just like everything else in the shop, it was definitely a luxury car. But I could hardly tell what kind through the thick coating of grime splashed over the hood and sides. What little of the navy paint showed beneath the dirt looked scratched to shit, and there was a huge dent in the rear bumper.
“God,” I muttered. “Did they take that thing mud wrestling?”
Grasping the back of Leo’s headrest, Spencer turned back to me with a wink. “If you think that’s bad, you should see the other guy.”
Dom nodded along thoughtfully as Sam, one of Lucky Strike’s most tenured mechanics, pointed toward a pile of muddy seats in the corner. Presumably they’d been pulled from the wreck before we got here.
It was rare to see Dom unguarded like this. Running the shop, she seemed totally in her element. But the second Sam walked away, Dom’s gaze shifted to the back of the car, locking on me through the tinted windows.
There goes that fucking snarl.
As Leo killed the engine, I tried to steel myself before I swung the door open for Hurricane Dom.
It’s fine. She’s all bark…
But that thought was swiftly corrected with memories of being carried up the stairs and pinned over the kitchen counter.
Okay, mostly bark.
I sucked in a deep breath and stepped out of the car, refusing to cow to her bad temper. It was like she could smell the challenge, though. As soon as my feet touched the pavement, she curled one finger, beckoning me over with a lethal glare.
“How am I already in trouble?” I muttered.
Spencer shrugged while Leo shook her head. “Just go. We’re going to be right here watching.”
Comforted that my guardians didn’t plan on leaving me totally alone with the beast, I rolled my shoulders back and strode across the shop with as much confidence as I could muster. Dom didn’t bother waiting for me. She was already digging through a tall cabinet beside the muddied car.
I came to a stop just a few feet away from her, forcing my chin up. “You wanted to see me?”
“Want is a strong word.” Dom grumbled, letting a wet-vaccuum clatter to the ground a few inches from my feet.
It took all of my effort not to roll my eyes. I couldn’t stop her from making bitchy comments, but I could deny her the satisfaction of my reaction.
“Did you need something?” I did my best to keep my tone level.
Finally whipping around from the cabinet, Dom shoved something hard into my hands: a bucket with a bottle of cleaning solution and a small drill brush tucked inside. “It’s time for your first initiation task. Get to work.”
