15. Sienna
Chapter 15
Sienna
I kick some loose gravel around the back of the shop, and it clinks against random pieces of metal tossed about.
Breaker’s Isle might be surrounded by water, but this place? This place is surrounded by pure chaos.
“Freakin’ Levi with his freakin’ control issues,” I mutter. “It’s no wonder his crew quit on him before. The man is impossible .”
A rusted bike's old frame leans against a crooked stack of pallets.
This place has seen better days. And that’s what drove me to want to help.
I know how to run a shop. I’ve done it for the last three years. But right now, I don’t know if this is worth it. If I’m fighting with Levi at every turn, how am I going to make a dent?
I pace, breath still ragged, cheeks burning from the fight. From the way he snapped at me in front of everyone.
In front of Josie.
“Why can’t he just trust me?” I groan, dragging my hands through my hair.
Baaaah!
I jump nearly a full foot into the air at the fright. My heart’s still hammering when I spot it: a little black and white goat perched like an angel at the edge of the fence, staring at me like it knows all my secrets.
“Oh my God,” I breathe. “Look at you.”
It bleats again, like finally , someone with sense.
“Wait…” I walk closer, squinting. “Are you the goat the note said not to trust?”
Baaaah.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
It starts chewing on the chain-link fence like it’s offended by boundaries.
“Oh, let’s not do that.” I glance around dramatically. “There’s a beast in these woods, didn’t you hear?”
The goat actually pauses. Looks around. Like it’s playing along.
Okay. I’m officially obsessed.
“You’re just a baby,” I murmur, crouching by the fence. “Nobody warned me there’d be cute ass baby goats on this island. I guess I can’t leave even if I wanted to, now.”
“Don’t get too attached,” a voice says behind me.
I turn to see Benji— or Gramps, as everyone calls him —walking over, already grease-stained and grinning, and holding a mug in each hand. He comes up to me and hands me a steaming cup.
“Thanks. Whose is it?” I ask, nodding at the goat.
“Dunno,” he says. “Just showed up one day. Walked right into the garage like he owned the place. Levi’s been pretending he’s not charmed ever since.”
I snort.
“Let me guess, it drives him crazy, too.” Turning to the goat, I say, “The best of us do.”
I reach through the fence to scratch behind its tiny horn nubs.
A-freakin-dorable!
Benji chuckles, and for a second, it’s quiet. Calm. I can see the appeal of Breaker’s Isle.
Somewhere nearby I hear waves crashing against a rocky wall. The wind softly rustling the trees surrounding the shop.
It almost feels like Mom is here with me. Paying me a quick visit. I welcome her as I breathe it all in and take a sip of my coffee. A small gesture from Benji, but it speaks volumes when you feel like everyone is against you.
“Y’know,” Benji says after a beat, “this place? It’s not perfect. Hell, most days it’s held together with duct tape and spite. But you stick around long enough… it grows on you.”
I look at him, curious.
“You talking about SKC… or the island?”
He shrugs.
“Both. People don’t usually stick around long enough to see what this place really is. And the ones that do stay always seem to be running away from something.”
My chest tightens.
“What if they’re running to something?”
He shrugs.
“Are you?”
“I thought so. But now that I’m here, it feels like I’m trying to prove my worth and none of it is seen.”
“By Levi?” he asks.
“And the crew,” I add. “I’m the outsider here. The one nobody trusts. Just like this sad, little goat,” I point to it and it bleats again, probably in agreement.
Benji exhales, eyes scanning the horizon.
“Levi’s been trying to hold everything together for so long, he doesn’t know how to not be the guy with all the answers. He’s stubborn. Pissed off at life. Haunted by a few things he won’t talk about. But he’s not heartless, Sienna. He’s just scared.”
“Of what?”
“Of failing. Of losing the people who count on him. Of needing someone and watching them walk away.”
That hits harder than I expect.
“He’s got a weird way of showing it.”
Benji shrugs.
“He’s a broken guy. Doesn’t mean he’s not worth getting to know.”
I glance back toward the shop, heart still sore but softer now.
“And as for the crew…” He slips a hand into his front shirt pocket and offers me a folded-up piece of paper.”
“What’s this?” I give him my mug to hold as I unfold it.
It’s an announcement for a nationwide custom build competition.
One that I’m very familiar with given that the crew at my last bike shop were preparing for it over the previous year.
I look at Benji for more.
“If anyone can convince Levi that we’ve got what it takes… it’s you,” he says, confidently.
“You want me to get you guys into this competition?”
“If we win–and we can win–the grand prize is enough to pay off some debts and keep the lights on here.
I look back down at the paper in my hand. The grand prize is $500,000.
Holy shit.
I look up at Benji, whose eyes are shimmering with hope.
“What makes you think I have any chance of getting him to agree?” I deadpan.
Benji chuckles and hands me back the mug. “You know, he’ll never admit it to anyone. But as much as Levi hates this damn goat. I’ve seen him come out here and bring it food and water when he thought nobody was looking.”
The baby goat bleats at being the topic of conversation again.
“Okay…”
“What I’m saying is, just because someone pushes something away, doesn’t mean they don’t care about it.”
“Am I the goat in this analogy?” I tilt my head at him.
He laughs again and pats me on the shoulder before turning to head back into the garage.
“You and that goat have more in common than you know,” he calls over his shoulder, before disappearing through the back door, leaving me to my thoughts.
I turn back to the baby goat, who’s back to gnawing at the chain-link fence with even more fervor.
“Is that why you stick around? The big bad boss keeps you fed and hydrated?” I ask it.
The baby goat ignores me. It’s now on a mission to bring down the fence.
“Well, we both might need to raise our standards,” I tell it, before chugging down the remainder of the coffee.
I look down at the paper that is still in my hand.
It does feel good for someone else to believe in this shop as much as I do. And Benji’s right, SKC can win this thing.
Maybe the money will relieve some financial stress on the man who carries the world on his shoulders.
I’ve sifted through his desk. I’ve seen the invoices. The past due notices.
He probably won’t say it, but SKC is going under and fast. It’s no wonder he’s lashing out. I would, too, if the thing I built from the ground up was going up in flames.
But I’m not going to let that happen.
With renewed strength, I march myself back into the building and claim my place.
I belong here, whether Levi Steele can see it or not yet. I’m going to see this through.
The day goes by in a blur of phone calls, machinery whirring, and the lingering smell of fuel as the crew works their shift and knocks out some of the menial work that’s been put off for a while.
I wish we had time to shower, but by the time the shop gets closed up, we have to get going to the game.
The black SUV that pulls into the lot is glossy and looks obnoxiously expensive. The kind of car that doesn’t belong anywhere near tools or dirt or the baby goat now chewing on a tire in the corner just outside the shop.
Levi will be so pleased .
I chuckle to myself at the sight of it.
Julian whistles low next to me.
“Your dad sends a car. My dad sends me passive-aggressive texts.”
I roll my eyes, but can’t fight the tightness in my chest.
I haven’t seen Brody since I visited him and he hired me for this job.
Has he really accepted this?
The notion that I am his daughter, even if he doesn’t know me from the guy down the street? Actually, in this place, he probably does know the guy down the street.
But I’d at least be insisting on a paternity test if I were him. Instead, I’m getting invited to his place of work. To meet the people he sees regularly.
And he wants to get to know mine.
Brody definitely wins some points in my book.
Levi emerges from the shop with his jaw tight and sunglasses on even though it’s cloudy. He must’ve brought a change of clothes because he’s out of the work jeans and t-shirt and is now wearing a clean white shirt that hugs him in all the right places.
The pants he’s wearing are working extra hard to keep him in, as I work extra hard not to look too closely.
The man is muscle and mass, and my throat dries instantly at the sight of him.
Earlier, Theo swung by in his jeep to pick up Josie and take her back to their place.
The exchange between father and son was short and clipped. Josie oblivious to the tension surrounding her.
Levi looks over at the baby goat and mutters, “Fucking goat.”
I can’t help the smirk that stretches across my face.
Julian, ever the asshole, throws a grin over his shoulder as he bounces up to the car and shouts, “Shotgun.”
Which leaves the back seat to Levi and me. Alone.
Great.
Levi steps up to the back of the car and holds the door open, motioning for me to go first.
“Thanks,” I mutter.
I might be more resolved about staying here, but Levi is still on my shit list for the way he spoke to me earlier.
He slides in next to me without a word. Our thighs barely brush, but it’s enough to make my pulse throb.
The small space fills with his presence and the smell of him.
“So, how far are we from the Thunderhawk Arena?” Julian asks the driver.
“Just half an hour or so,” the man says. “We might catch some traffic just outside Savannah, but not to worry, I know my way around.”
He winks at us through the rearview mirror.
The ride is silent and tense in the back seat, but up front, Julian fills the silence with excited chatter, which helps until he dozes off against the window halfway through.
Maybe the excitement was too much for him.
I sneak a glance at Levi, who’s staring straight ahead like he can’t afford to look at me.
I guess this is what I can expect for the rest of this night. Awkward silence from him.
Then suddenly he says, “I’m sorry about earlier.”
My heart stutters.
“There’s just been a lot going on lately,” he adds, his voice rough. “And I took it out on you.”
“I was just trying to help,” I say, my voice barely above the hum.
“I know.” He finally looks at me. And for the first time since the fight, I see the real Levi
. Softened. Raw. Regret bleeding through the cracks.
“I don’t know how to do this,” he admits. “With you.”
“Do what?”
“This,” he motions between us softly. He’s speaking low enough that the music coming from the front is drowning us out. “It’s killing me to pretend nothing happened between us that night. To pretend like I can just move on.”
His lips are moving. But the words he’s saying aren’t registering in my brain. Does he resent me working for him because of how he feels about me?
That can’t be right.
“It happened,” I say. “But now circumstances have changed.” I clear my throat because I’m fighting my own body’s need to be close to him.
He leans his head back against the cushion, a long exhale leaving him.
“That’s the problem, Sienna.”
I shift closer to hear him better. The words are coming out softer and softer each time he opens his mouth.
He doesn’t continue right away. He just watches me. Eyes flicking to my mouth like he’s already reliving the taste of it.
“Because I know the second I let my guard down…” he murmurs, “I won’t be able to help myself around you. Consequences be damned.”
“What are you saying?” I ask in a whisper.
The car bounces as we leave the island pass, jolting us just enough to send me off balance.
His arm shoots out, catching me. And once I’m stable, he pulls it back like I’m a hot stove and he’s not wearing any mitts.
“I’m saying you do something to me that I don’t understand.” His eyes flash with heat and intensity. “And the best thing for me to do is to stay way the fuck away from you.”
I swallow past a lump in my throat.
Is he pre-firing me?
“You don’t plan to keep me on past the thirty days,” I say, catching his drift.
He sighs.
“It’s for your own good. Trust me.”
I push away from him and look out the window as beautiful, quaint historic homes zoom by.
The actual nerve of this man.
Okay, maybe I can’t keep my crush on him a secret.
Maybe he notices everytime I watch him from across the room.
Maybe he senses the way my heart beats just a little bit faster when he says something to me while we’re working.
Maybe I’m doing a shitty job at keeping my adoration at bay. But for him to think he knows what’s good for me?
No. Been there, done that. Dumped the fucker. I’m not playing that game again.
“That’s fine, Levi. You can fire me.” I turn to face him head-on. “But I’m going to make it damn hard for you to do so,” I say in warning.
He shakes his head with a slight eye roll and looks out the window in thought.
No. He’s not getting rid of me that easily.
Not without a fight.