Chapter Fourteen
ICOULDN’T BELIEVE SHE’D coped so well in the coffee shop, and I was hoping that’d bode well for whatever we walked in on when we got back to my place, and as luck would have it, there was no carnage. No bodies. No screaming or yelling. Nobody was even bleeding.
“Whoa. I feel like I stepped into a parallel universe,” I said as I walked in to see Grease and Jamie standing at Rocket’s bay, flipping through his photos.
“It’s okay,” Jamie said, smirking at Grease, “they haven’t even punched each other yet. It’s oddly dull.”
Grease hip bumped her, and pointed at the folder, and I realised I couldn’t see Rocket anywhere. I set down the drinks, and showed Caroline where to unload the food.
“Where is he? If you killed him, I’m gonna be pissed off. Who’ll tidy up all his shit?”
“He’s in the bay chatting with a customer.”
Huh. A customer of mine? Or one of his? I wanted to storm out there and make sure he wasn’t pissing off a regular of mine, but then wasn’t the whole point of this for him to meet my clients and sell his service to them?
“Does he need me out there?”
Grease closed the folder and returned it to Caroline’s desk, where she immediately started flicking to find her place again.
“It was some guy looking to get mods done, but I don’t know if it’s cosmetic or not. You might wanna check.”
“What food did you bring? Something smells amazing,” Jamie said, heading for the bag.
“Caroline, can you show them what’s going spare, while I check on Rocket?”
No response. Frantic flipping of pages was my only indication that she was even in the room. I rested my hands gently on her shoulders, and she flinched ever so slightly as she looked away from the folder.
“Food. Can you help Jamie and Grease find theirs? I need to see to a customer. Please.”
She blinked, her eyes darting back to the folder, but then she took a deep breath and nodded.
“Don’t let them eat mine. If you don’t watch Grease, he’ll eat everything.”
“I heard that, prick.”
I headed into the bay, watching them from the corner of my eye as I walked, just to make sure Caroline was comfortable. She was already giggling over something with Jamie, so I figured she was okay for a moment.
“Hey, we’re back,” I said as I poked my head around the corner into the bay. Rocket was standing with a man I recognised. A client who’d been in a few times in the last year. They were standing over a pretty bog standard V-Max, which looked exactly like a blank slate, and I loved working on those.
“Hey, Dennis, new ride?”
He nodded, reaching out to shake my hand.
“Sold the other when I saw this one. I wanna trick it out, man. You down?”
I moved around it, bending to check it over. It was in good condition, but it desperately needed some fine tuning, and some tarting up. All things I’d love to work on for him, and it presented a perfect opportunity for my new partner in crime, didn’t it?
“Rocket been filling you in on his side of things? He could make it look really fucking sweet for you.”
I caught Rocket’s surprised gaze, before he turned back to our customer. I was glad it was Dennis of all clients, who might be his first. The guy seemed to have money to burn when it came to motorcycles, and regularly sold them on when they were perfect, just to start from scratch again.
“Yeah, he was just talking me through some ideas.” The older guy scratched at his bushy beard.
“We’re thinking black and silver maybe, right?” Rocket deferred to Dennis, who grinned, nodding as he pointed at the tank.
“Yeah with ghostly flames here.”
Nice. I stood up again, and smoothed my hands down my jeans.
“You wanting to get booked in for anything today?”
Dennis nodded, opting for some of his favourite early stages.
“If you’re replacing this, I can get started on spraying the new piece for you. I’ve got designs in the shop, and we’re going online with those.”
“Why not give me the link, and I’ll take a look at home?”
See? It was already working.
Caroline
JAY, AS SHE’D INTRODUCED herself, seemed really nice, a little sharp with her man now and then, but he seemed to relish every snippy response, even encouraging them, I thought.
“Look, little pain, you know you can’t get your mouth around it, so let me have it.” For the record, the ‘it’ they were discussing was the last sausage roll, and yet I was blushing, because his words were delivered in an overtly sexualised manner.
“Grease, quiet. I’m talking to Caroline.”
“He calls you little pain? Is it a threat?”
They both laughed, eyeing each other in a way that also felt a little too intimate for a public place, and in front of a stranger.
“I used to call her PC Pain, as in pain in my ass, but then she came over to the dark side with me.”
She slapped his chest. “Stop telling it like that! That’s not how it happened. We’re working as security consultants now. My police knowledge, coupled with his intrusive skills, and criminal awareness, seem to be a good combo.”
“You say the sweetest things, little pain.” He swiped the last half of the sausage roll from her fingers and popped it in his mouth.
“Asshole!”
“Everything okay in here?” Harley reappeared, with Rocket and a strange guy behind him, moving straight to his tablet and tapping on it as he arranged things with the customer.
Rocket grinned at me. “Our first customer who’ll use the online thing you’re building,” he said proudly, and I gasped. It wasn’t ready. It was nowhere near ready, and here I was slacking on the job.
I started to move and his hand shot out, catching my wrist gently, but that part didn’t matter. He was a man I hadn’t permitted to touch me, and I hated it the instant his skin touched mine. I gasped again, wrenching my hand out of his grip, and Harley stepped closer, and pulled me to his side.
“It’s okay. He didn’t mean any harm, right, Rocket? You’re not gonna touch her again, are you?”
I ignored the low murmur of Rocket’s agreement, because I was fighting the need to run, to hide, to wash away his touch, because it felt foreign. I could still feel the warmth of his calloused fingers against my skin. His touch was still there, lingering like a brand against my flesh.
“Caroline?” Harley turned me, and rested warm hands against my face, tilting it up to stare into my eyes.
“Just breathe, darlin’. You’re safe here, I promise. I’ll punch him for that later.”
“I can do it right now, if you like,” I heard Grease offer, and their normal banter, and the way the room felt relaxed and easy, helped a little of my panic to ebb away.
I still wanted to wash away the residual feel of his fingers against my skin, but I wasn’t already running.
Harley was helping to centre me. He leaned closer, pressing his lips gently against my hair, and my breath caught.
It was sweet and protective. It was like his approval washing over me.
He was making me his, did he even realise that?
Did he realise that every touch from him was becoming addictive?
He stared at me a moment longer, and smiled.
“You want to get back to your project?” God yes.
I wanted that. I wanted to focus, and get back into the comfortable repetition of scanning, saving, and uploading.
He understood me so much better than I’d expected anyone to.
I nodded and he chuckled, pressing another kiss against my hair before he released me.
“Go crack on, little lady. Thank you for taking a break with me.”
I practically scurried back to the desk and sat down, getting back into the flow in seconds.
I heard a low murmured apology from Rocket as he passed me, but by then I could have been alone in this space because the whirr of the scanner, and the comfort of the activity, eased the last of my panic, and kept me in my little zone of safety.
I didn’t even hear the customer leave, or any of the conversation behind me, except for catching a low hum of noise now and then.
I knew Harley would keep them back, and let me work, and I let that faith in him add a protective barrier around me.
Every now and then a drink would appear next to me.
More coffee. A bottle of water. He kept me hydrated, and let me relax into the project.
As I heard Rocket leaving, I turned to try and update him, because I’d finished one whole quarter of his folder, and it was already uploaded. I even had a URL to give him for it.
“Hey, there you are,” Harley said lightly as he came to crouch beside me.
“What time is it?” It was already dark outside, but it was late autumn, so that was normal for four thirty onwards most days.
“Almost five. I was thinking of closing up for the night, how’s that with you? Do you need more time?”
I did. I really did, but I was also hungry and tired.
“I can come back tomorrow, right?”
Harley nodded, leaning an arm on the desk.
“You’re always welcome here, Caroline. You could come in every day and I’d be happy to see you.”
I could see the sincerity in his eyes as he spoke, and it felt like the kind of moment where two people would kiss. A proper kiss. Not like what I tried the other day, where I blundered in with no idea what I was doing.
Harley cleared his throat. “I was wondering if you’d help me with another project actually. A paid one, obviously. Not looking for freebies.” The moment was gone, but this new one felt good too.
“I… sure, you need a website or something? An upgrade?”
He frowned. “My website’s not good? I paid a guy to do it.”
Oh god. I shook my head. “I… I’m sure it’s fine. What did you want help with?”
He scratched his jaw as he stood up, edged my chair back, and rested his butt against the edge of the desk, facing me.
“Kinda thinking I need help with my website now… maybe I have two jobs for you.” That easy grin returned, and I found myself smiling back.
His new position put us closer than I’d realised at first. His legs were almost touching mine, and his body…
it was right there. Barely any space between us at all.
I swallowed hard and waited for him to speak again.
“I told you I’m in a club, yeah?” I nodded, and he continued. “We’re looking at maybe razing the place, and starting from scratch. I wanted to put some ideas to them, you know, designs or whatever, but apparently my art skills… hmmm what was the term they used? Oh yeah, they suck.”