“Go. To. Work,” Neva said slowly. “I’ve got this.”
“Let me just…. ,”
“Jamie. Go to work. This isn’t my first rodeo getting them rounded up and delivered where they’re supposed to be,” Neva said softly. “You’re nervous, I get that, but I can take care of the boys. You wanted to be there early, so go. It’s getting light outside.”
“I am so nervous,” I admitted. “So fucking nervous.”
“You’ll do great,” Neva laughed. “You’re one of the best out there, Jamie. You’ve proven that more than once already. Now, go show them your stuff.”
I gave her a quick hug then shoved my lunch into my backpack before I threw it over my shoulder and headed out the door. She called out a goodbye one more time and I waved over my shoulder as I hit the button to open the garage door. It looked to be a beautiful day out, but I didn’t want to be too showy, so I decided to take the car instead of my bike.
I hopped inside and tossed my backpack onto the seat beside me, then turned the key and listened to my little kitten purr.
“I can do this,” I told myself as I glanced in the rearview mirror.
I backed the car out of the driveway and then hit the button to close the door since Neva and the boys would be taking my Yukon to school drop-off this morning.
Once I was on the road, I stayed well below the speed limit through the neighborhood, but when I pulled onto the interstate that cut the town in half, I gunned the engine going from mom speed to stress relief.
There were a lot of things in the world that made me happy and filled my heart with joy. My boys were three, in no specific order usually, but Adam was steadily working his way to a more permanent spot at the bottom every time he opened his mouth to speak.
Coffee made me happy and so did sitting in my new sunroom feeding breakfast to Lola and Mojo, my two grey parrots. But speeding down an open road gave me pure, unequaled joy. Either the wind in my hair as I rode my Harley or feeling the vibrations in my steering wheel from my Camaro’s purr were at the top of my list of things that made me very fucking happy.
I liked orgasms, too, like the ones my asshole neighbor had handed out the other night, but I was not going to think about that right now, dammit.
I shook my head and thought about the day ahead. I’d be meeting my new boss and a crew of mechanics who probably thought I wouldn’t have any clue what I was doing. I was prepared for them to tiptoe around me for a little bit, then start with some snide comments before I had to bust someone’s chops and put them all in their place.
I wasn’t new to the garage life, so to speak. I’d grown up with my grandparents and gone to work with my grandpa in his very successful shop from the day I could hold a wrench. He’d taught me everything I knew, including how to handle myself around men who thought that the ‘little woman’ should be bringing them cold beers rather than adjusting a carburetor.
Fuck men like that. They changed their tune when they saw the engines I could bring to life.
I slowed down as I approached the exit on the highway and after just a few turns, I was in front of Kings Customs, the shop where I was now employed. I didn’t see any employee parking and didn’t want to assume anything by driving around back without invitation, so I parked in front of the office door.
The sign on the door said closed, but a few of the garage bays were open, so I turned to walk that direction instead. A really good looking man was rolling up one of the large metal doors as I walked up and he smiled brightly at me as I got closer. I noticed the patch on his coveralls said ‘Stoffer’ and I smiled to myself, thinking at some point I was going to have to nickname him Lasagna. At least in my head.
I couldn’t see all the way into the garage, but as I walked closer I saw a man’s boots and then jeans appeared in front of me. As I followed the body up to its face, I recognized the tattooed forearms just as my gaze traveled to the rolled shirt sleeves and I gasped in shock. Then I saw his face. His angry, asshole face.
It was my neighbor. Son of a bitch.
◆◆◆
JAMIE
After my neighbor, who I now knew was none other than Daughtry Forrester, stomped off and slammed his office door, the other two men in the garage stood there in silence staring at me.
I knew they hadn’t heard what I had said to Daughtry, since I’d been whispering and they were quite a distance away, but they’d seen his reaction to me. Not really the right impression to make on my coworkers.
“Hi, I’m Jamie,” I said with a smile as I walked toward the two men. The first, Stoffer, was the one who had been rolling the doors up. The second man’s name patch said, ‘Grady’, and when I put the two together I realized that these were some of my brother Eli’s friends from his motorcycle club. I had heard him talk about them quite a few times and he respected them both. “I’ve heard my brother Eli mention you guys. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Ma’am,” Grady drawled as he stuck his hand out to shake mine. “Pleasure.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” Stoffer said when he shook my hand.
I was pleased that both of them shook my hand like they meant it, not just that barely grasped, half-ass handshake that some men did when they were introduced to a woman.
“I guess that Daughtry is putting you in Bay 1 next to me,” Grady told me. “Did you bring your tools or do you have any?”
“I didn’t bring them today,” I told him. “I’ve got them in a trailer I can haul up here and unload tomorrow. Is there somewhere on the property I can park it? I’ve got some stuff I don’t use often and would like to keep locked up.”
“Don’t blame you,” Stoffer said. “We trust all our guys, but you never know when some fuckwit is going to try and break in or something. Grady and I have got a trailer we share and it’s parked out back behind a fence we keep locked. There’s good security here if you want me to show it to you and you can trust that your stuff will be safe. Well, as safe as it can be anywhere.”
“Sure,” I told him. “The email Jenna sent me said that today I’d need to fill out paperwork, watch a few safety videos, and then get a tour. She told me on the phone when I talked to her not to worry about starting until at least tomorrow. Apparently, there’s a delivery scheduled for a man who wants to restore his dad’s old truck?”
“Yeah, I saw that on the calendar. It’s marked off as a shared build between you and Daughtry, then Tucker’s scheduled to do the body and paint. It’s going to be a total custom job. We’ve already had the engine and transmission delivered. It’s back in storage waiting for him to get the truck here.”
“Sounds like something good to get started on. I’m excited,” I told them as I glanced over at Daughtry’s office. “When will Jenna get here?”
“She won’t be in for a while,” Grady said with a sad look. “She was in a car accident and is up in Colorado getting rehab while she learns to walk again.”
“Oh, damn,” I winced. “Well, I hope she gets better soon.”
“Yeah,” Stoffer said with a grin. “She’s a tough chick. She’ll do fine. All they have to do is tell her she can’t get any better and she’ll make it a point to walk out of that place flipping them the bird.”