Page 50 of Feint

I paused mid-spray to look over at him and blushed a bit. Thankfully, the spray mask kept half my face hidden.

“Umm… a while now, more than half a year, and, no, I don’t think Kordell would be into sharing. He practically beat a friend of mine to a pulp once for hugging me.”

It was kind of a weird question for him to ask, but Kordell had mentioned before that the other girls who hung around the clubhouse usually slept with whomever they liked, so I guessed it wasn’t too far out there. The motorcycle club was just a different world than what I was used to.

“Shit, I don’t blame him. I’d keep a gorgeous thing like you to myself as well if you were my girl.” He laughed a loud, hearty laugh.

I turned my attention back to my work. I was just overthinking his question. I really needed to stop doing that.

He watched, and I worked in silence until I finished the rest of the bike. Then, I pulled off my paint gear and started to clean up.

“It’ll be a little bit longer for that paint to dry, and you can pay, and you’ll be good to go!” I was happy with how the job had turned out and excited to go home and start working on livery ideas for it as well.

“I got you. Cash fine to pay with? I don’t do banks.”

He started to reach into the inner pocket of his vest, and I nodded.

“Yep! We have a money counter for larger cash transactions. Dad knows that not every client has cards or checks to pay with, so we try to accommodate everyone we can. Just follow me up to the office, and we can get that all settled!”

I smiled, and we both walked up to the office upstairs.

I ran his cash through the machine just to be sure, and then printed him out a receipt for his work. We started to walk back down the stairs, and I began to talk about the next steps.

“Okay, so I’ve got a few ideas for the livery design. I’ll start working on them in the evenings this week, and I’ll give you a call once I’m done.”

I stopped by his bike and checked the timer, only fourteen minutes left to go.

“I don’t have a cell phone, so I’ll drop by and look at them, and then we can set a date. When should I swing by next week?” He leaned against the wall and tucked his big hands in his jean pockets.

I pulled out my phone to check the schedule. “Umm… let’s see… Okay, looks like I’ll have time on Thursday! So, come on by anytime that day, and I can show you what I have, and we can make changes from there.”

“Yeah, that works just fine. I’ll be sure to tell all of my buddies what good work you do. Rosalie, wasn’t it?”

He looked into the window to check his bike, and I nodded.

“Yep! That’s me! I really appreciate it! I haven’t done a lot of bikes yet, but the ones I have done were really fun and unique! I’d love to do more.”

I meant it too. Bikes were a totally different thing to work on compared to cars. You had to really think about what you could fit onto their smaller pieces, so liveries tended to go acrossmultiple pieces, and making them all fit together was really fun to me. It was a different challenge compared to a car or truck.

The timer went off, and I got his bike out of the paint bay and onto the show floor. Admiring how the deep flake color caught the light.

“Ohhh yeah, she’s going to turn heads now for sure!” I exclaimed.

He nodded and sat on the seat, pulling on his open-face helmet. “It’s nice. Well, I’ll be seeing you.” He started the bike and slowly rolled out of the shop, then revved it down the road.

I checked the time. Okay, I’d finish doing the last few cabinets of inventory tomorrow because it was past 7 p.m. now. I grabbed my things and locked the roll-up door. Setting the security systems, I started to walk over to my car.

“Hey, Rosalie. About that livery, I think we’re gonna have to put it on hold since your schedule just changed.”

I spun on my heel and came face-to-chest with the big biker who had left a little bit ago.

“Umm, what? I’m sorry, is that day not going to work for you anymore?”

I was sooo confused, but he had said he didn’t have a phone, so he’d probably turned around.

“No, it’s not going to work for you anymore. You’re going to be a little… tied up.” He held up his hand that had a long length of rope wrapped up in it.

My heart dropped. “V-very funny. But I’m going to go now, okay?”

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