Nashville Scars (Nashville Love #11)

Chapter 1

Brooke had been waiting all week for this day to come.

She’d been hoping to expand her bookstore for months, but the space beside it had been consistently rented out.

Last week she’d heard that the current tenant would be moving out and that the space would be available.

Brooke had immediately called her landlord, Mr. Myers, to talk about the bookstore expansion.

She had spoken with Mr. Myers about her desire to expand a few times, but today it might become a reality.

Mr. Myers had agreed to meet with her and listen to her proposal.

Brooke walked up the stairs of an old office building near downtown Nashville.

The building was showing its age but would still have been considered to be in a trendy location by most. The stairs seemed to stretch on forever.

Above her she heard a door slam shut and heavy footsteps thud down the stairs ahead of her.

A woman wearing stylish thick-soled boots, dark leggings, and an over-sized black t-shirt ran past her.

“Sorry,” the woman called out as she almost bumped into Brooke.

“No problem,” Brooke responded.

The woman looked up, meeting her eyes and smiled.

Brooke took note of the light honey color of her eyes and the way her lip lifted a little more to the left for the smile.

It only took a moment for the woman to pass her on the stairs, but the minutes seemed to stretch.

The woman had several tattoos on her arms, and she thought there was one on her neck pushing up through the fabric of her t-shirt.

Just one moment and the woman was gone; Brooke continued her trek up the stairs.

Mr. Myers was a balding man in his late fifties.

He had always seemed to have a permanent smile fixed to his face, though Brooke couldn’t tell if the smile was always genuine.

Today Mr. Myers sat with a broad grin in his office chair.

He acknowledged Brooke and directed her to sit in the other office chair.

Brooke sat, but before she could begin speaking, Mr. Myers interrupted her.

“I know you’re here to speak about the extra space beside your shop, but there’s really no need. I’ve decided to rent the space to my niece Drew.”

Brooke’s jaw almost dropped. Had she really just walked up a flight of stairs to be told no before she even opened her mouth?

“I know this will be a disappointment. It’s just that my niece has been needing a place to open her shop and this felt like the best way to help her out.”

Nothing Mr. Myers said past that point really mattered to Brooke. Her dream of extending her shop and including a tea shop vanished. She stood from her chair so quickly that it spun away. She could see from Mr. Myers’ face that he was surprised by the move.

“Thank you for your time,” Brooke forced a smile.

“I am sorry to disappoint you. But I think maybe you and my niece could be friends. You’re around the same age.”

Mr. Myers’s words fell on deaf ears, Brooke was already on her way downstairs.

There was only one person she wanted to talk to and that was her best friend, Emily.

Brooke sent out a quick text to her shop’s Pierce explaining that she would be out of the shop for most of the day.

She knew that Pierce was more than capable of handling a little Tuesday store traffic on her own.

Brooke pulled into the parking lot for her friend’s bar, Spot on the Map. Emily had really built this place from the ground up. Brooke walked through the double doors and waved to her friend. Emily seemed surprised to see her but waved Brooke over.

“I wasn’t expecting you here on a workday,” Emily teased.

“Well, I had my meeting with the landlord today. It didn’t go well,” Brooke gave a tiny smile.

“I’m sorry to hear that. You’ve had big plans for that place ever since you leased it.”

“Apparently, my plans are going to have to wait. The landlord is letting his niece rent the place.”

“What’s his niece going to put in?”

“Some kind of shop. Probably boba tea or something trendy,” Brooke snarled.

Emily chuckled and handed her a beer, Brooke took a fortifying swallow.

“Try not to let this get you too down in the dumps. There will be other opportunities. Or you could move to a larger location somewhere.”

Emily was right and Brooke knew it. She wasn’t ready to let go of her annoyance quite yet. She took another sip. Her phone rang in her pants; the sound was so jarring Brooke almost dropped her beer. She answered her phone and found a frantic Pierce on the other side of the line.

“Brooke, you have to get to the shop,” Pierce explained.

“What’s wrong?”

“They’re everywhere.”

“Who is everywhere?”

“Bikers,” Pierce explained.

“Bikers?” Brooke asked.

“The new shop owner is moving things in. And now there are bikers all over the parking lot.”

Brooke shook her head, still rather unsure what to make of this phone call.

“I’m on my way,” Brooke insisted as she hung up the phone.

She turned to Emily with a look of concern.

“Guess you better go find out who this new shop owner is,” Emily suggested. Brooke could only nod her agreement.

When Brooke pulled into the parking lot of the Electric Pear, she found it in complete chaos.

Motorcycles were indeed parked everywhere.

Men and women wearing leather biker jackets meandered through the parking lot.

Brooke managed to successfully pull into a spot on her side of the reserved spaces.

Pierce met her in front of the store. Pierce had always been the nervous type.

The scene in front of them didn’t seem to be helping Pierce’s nerves.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” Pierce stammered.

“It’s okay. Why don’t you go clean up the back of the store. I’ll go have a talk with our new neighbor,” Brooke suggested. She could only hope that her words sounded more confident than she felt. Pierce gave a half smile and hurried inside.

Brooke hated confrontation. She couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person this new woman would be.

Brooke squeezed through a group of bikers in the front of the store and inside the threshold.

There was a woman standing behind a newly installed counter.

She was hanging up what appeared to be tattoo drawings.

A couple of people were setting up what appeared to be equipment and workstations.

Brooke approached the woman and cleared her throat.

The woman turned and Brooke recognized her immediately.

“Oh, it’s you. The woman from the stairs today,” the woman smiled. Brooke felt a tiny flicker low in her gut and smiled in spite of herself.

“It is. My name is Brooke.”

Brooke extended her hand. The woman studied her hand for a moment as if waiting for it to grow claws. When she deemed the gesture safe, she took Brooke’s hand and shook it.

“I’m Drew,” the woman introduced.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Brooke said politely.

“What can I do for you?” Drew asked.

“You could start by moving some of your bikes,” Brooke offered in what she hoped was a pleasant voice. Drew arched a dark eyebrow, her honey-colored eyes sharp with amusement.

“It’s just that half of this parking lot is for my customers and they’re having a hard time pulling in,” Brooke rushed to finish her sentence. Drew sighed and lowered her eyebrow.

“Guys, I told you to park on this side of the building. Can one of you go out there and check on the state of the parking lot?” Drew demanded.

Brooke was surprised when two large men moved in the direction of the parking lot. Brooke felt a near immediate sense of relief. Drew seemed to be well meaning if nothing else.

“Anything else I can help you with, Tomes?” Drew asked.

“Tomes?” Brooke asked.

“Yeah, we bikers love a good nickname. You own a bookstore, right? So, Tomes seemed to fit.”

Brooke bristled a bit under the surface. She wasn’t sure if Drew was attempting to make fun of her, or if the woman saw the nickname as a good thing. Drew seemed to sense her inner conflict.

“You’re welcome to come up with a nickname for me if that helps,” Drew smiled genuinely.

“Maybe I will. What is this place going to be?” Brooke asked. She gave the shop a glance around.

“This is the Electric Pear. My new tattoo parlor,” Drew announced.

Brooke wasn’t sure what to say. She’d never expected her store to be beside a tattoo parlor. She looked around again; her eyes landed on the drawings up on the wall. The artwork was beautiful.

“Are those yours?” Brooke asked.

“They are,” Drew smiled.

“They’re nice,” Brook said, her words quiet.

“Thanks, Tomes.”

Brooke bristled again, still not sure how she felt about this new nickname.

“I should get back to my store. I hope you have a good opening,” Brooke offered with a shy smile.

“Thank you. You’ll have to come over for the grand opening.”

“I’ll try and stop by,” Brooke smiled.

She definitely wasn’t going to come for the grand opening.

Even being here now was too much. Too many people with too much noise.

She offered Drew a smile and wave as she left the shop.

Brooke was determined to spend as little time in the Electric Pear as possible.

Even walking through the doors was a reminder that her dreams for the space would never be a reality.