AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After Nick left, Colton followed me into the garage, settling onto the rolling stool in the corner of the workshop. The Honda I was working on this morning was already in position to be lifted on the hoist, the other bay empty for the moment. I expected Mrs. Bonville to come in soon with her 1974 Cadillac Seville for its “quarterly checkup.
With the rhythmic hammering coming from the office as the door was fixed, I got on with my work, Lucifer by my side and with the world outside the garage roller doors continuing to roll on by.
About an hour later, Bliss showed up to the garage, checking out the silent sentinel in the corner of the room with a curious look. “What’s with the scary biker man?” she asked, thumbing at him over her shoulder.
I glanced over at Colton, who was doing his best to ignore us. “Just a precaution,” I told her. “Nick…” I stopped, unsure how to even finish the sentence. I cleared my throat. “What are you doing here?”
Bliss shot a wink in Colton’s direction, then said, “Oh. Well,” she began, pulling at the end of her braid. “I was wondering if I could stay here tonight. Possibly tomorrow night, too?”
Grabbing a clean rag from my back pocket, I wiped my hands, running my eyes over her. She’d never asked to stay with me before. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah… Maybe not…” Her shoulders slumped. “No.”
“What’s going on?”
Bliss leaned against the front quarter panel of the Cadillac, and I shot her a warning look. Mrs. Bonville would know in an instant that someone other than me had touched it. She put her hands up in surrender, flashing me a repentant smile.
“What’s going on, Bliss?”
“It’s my roommate,” she whined. “Her boyfriend is visiting from college for the weekend, and I can’t stay in that apartment with them. Ican’t. They bang it out like bunnies, which I am all for, except when their banging disrupts my sleep. Think I can stay here until Monday? I can take the couch. You won’t even know I’m there.”
My eyes shifted over to Colton, knowing he was listening to everything that was being said. Helping Bliss out was a no-brainer. I wasn’t staying here anyway, but…
I turned to Colton. “Will my shop be watched twenty-four seven?”
“Twenty-four seven,” he repeated.
Safe in the knowledge that Bliss would be protected while staying in my apartment, I said to her, “Of course. I’m staying with Nick this weekend anyway, so you’ll have the place to yourself.”
Bliss squealed, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing tightly. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Urgh, you have no idea what this means to me.” She ducked outside for a moment, and when she returned, she had a small bright-pink wheelie suitcase dragging behind her, and a pillow tucked under her arm.
I asked her retreating back, “What if I’d said no?”
She threw a wink over her shoulder. “You wouldn’t have.”
Chapter 25
Nick
My blood was pumpinghot and frantic in my veins as I flicked the lit match to the ground. That small flame grew, morphing from something tiny and fragile into a monstrous force that had the ability to cause so much destruction. And it would. It would take down this entire warehouse of acetone and lithium batteries that belonged to the Devils. It would fuck up their puppet club’s production of meth, and it would be another strike against us once La Croix found out.
But even with all the savage mayhem around me, Alex still took up most of my headspace. Wondering if she was okay. Wondering if she left the garage at midday like she said she would. Wondering if I’d pressed a little harder, then maybe she wouldn’t have gotten hurt.
Maddox was another problem I hadn’t anticipated. Whoever he was, he knew a little too much about me to be comfortable. Did he have contacts inside Rookwood? Had he seen me with Alex before and decided to do a little digging? Whatever the circumstances were, it was clear that he was a problem I needed to take care of.
Gunnar let out a triumphant whoop beside me and slapped me on the shoulder a little too hard. “Did you see how fast that went up?”
I couldn’t share his enthusiasm when all I wanted to do was be back with Alex. Digging inside my pocket, I pulled out my phone when it started to vibrate with an incoming message.
Silas: We need backup at the abandoned school in The Eye. Got some Devils cornered.
Me: On our way.
I relayed the message to Gunnar, who grinned with maniacal glee. “We’re going to fill up our fucking Dead Wall.”
Back in his Mustang, he accelerated away from the curb, the backend fishtailing out of control for a moment before reining in all that power. As we moved through traffic, I could feel Gunnar’s eyes on me.
“You got something to say?” I asked, turning to him.
