Page 12 of Slow Ride

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Afew minutes later, a soft knock came on the steel door of the bathroom, startling Wren.She furiously swiped the moisture from her cheeks before patting her face dry with her sleeves.Bawling in the bathroom wasn’t going to help her reputation as a badass welding bitch.

Fortunately, when Wren unlocked the door it was Devra who peeked in sheepishly.“Do you want me to go away and forget I saw any of that?”

Because she asked, Wren knew it wasn’t necessary.It was new and fresh to have someone, especially a female friend, she could open up to about some of these things in her past that had been weighing her down for far too long.“No.Would you sit and talk with me for a minute?”

“Of course.But come on out of the bathroom, okay?I don’t know youthatwell…yet.And let’s be honest.The guys aren’t always the neatest.”Devra wrinkled her nose, succeeding in making Wren laugh, which was a miracle in itself.

Wren blew her nose on a scratchy brown paper towel before emerging into the break room.Devra rushed to her side.Before Wren realized what she was about to do, she’d wrapped her arms around Wren and squeezed.“I’m sorry you’re hurting.”

Was she, though?Not really.Not in the sharp and unbearable way she had in the past when something reminded her of Johnny or Jordan and the time they hadn’t gotten to spend with each other.It was more of a dull ache that throbbed deep in her chest now, somewhere in the area her heart had once occupied.

She ran her fingers over the autographed backstage pass and smiled, remembering Johnny dancing in only his underwear, softly singing along out of key as he cooked breakfast for the three of them after one of their wild nights together.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop…”

Wren waved Devra off.The woman had endured enough of her own issues recently.Wren had been front and center when her shit hit the fan, so it only seemed fair that Devra knew about Wren’s past, too.Especially since Jordan had been involved in Quinn, Trevon, and Devra’s mess and had actually done a decent thing to help them out.

Here at Hot Rides—and Hot Rods, too—there would be no judgment.None of them had led easy lives.All of them had overcome loss, and failures, and terrible odds to be there.

“It’s fine.It’s old news.”Wren pulled out one of the metal folding chairs and plopped onto it.“What do you want to know?”

“What you told that man, the singer, is it true?”Devra perched on the chair opposite Wren, leaning in close.“You lost someone you were seeing?”

Wren nodded.

“I’m so sorry.I know how hard it is when someone you love passes away.”Devra reached out and took Wren’s hand, almost certainly thinking of her own father, who had been murdered.Wren squeezed Devra’s hand in return.“I know this is dumb, but for some reason, I thought Agent Mikalski…”

“Jordan.”Wren tried not to snarl his name.That traitor.How could he ever have loved her if he’d simply walked away?She never could have chosen to leave him, not even after Johnny…

“Yeah.Well, I sort of thoughthewas the man who’d broken your heart and the reason you keep yourself so…isolated.”Devra winced when she said it, but it was the truth.

“He did.He is.Partly.”Wren looked away then.She might be making some progress, but it was still hard.Nearly impossible to express how deeply she had been scarred by loving and losing.

“You were in a polyamorous relationship, too.Weren’t you?”Devra asked.“Quinn told me that you once told Jordan it was okay to be frank in front of the Hot Rods gang because they were like you two.That’s what you meant, isn’t it?”

Wren nodded.“I was lucky enough to find a pair of guys I thought were perfect for me.Just like you actually have.”

“So what happened?”Devra bit her lower lip.“You know that’s my worst fear.Ever since they tried to deport me.When I thought I’d never see Trevon and Quinn again… It was…”

Devra might be the only person who truly could understand Wren and her suffering.So she said, “Johnny and Jordan were partners at ICE.Both agents.One time, Johnny didn’t make it home, and Jordan…”

She shrugged.

Truth was, she didn’t know what the fuck his problem had been because he hadn’t told her.Was it Johnny’s death he couldn’t handle?Or was it that he’d only been with her to get closer to Johnny?He’d cut her to the bone with his betrayal and it still had the power to level her.“After Johnny died, he came home for one parting fuck.But that was it.He didn’t even have the balls to admit he was leaving me.Said he was going to the store.I guess he had a really big list of shit to buy since it’s been five years and he hasn’t come home yet.”

“What?Are you kidding me?”Devra stood up then, slapping her palms on the table.“That asshole!That’s not the kind of man I thought he was at all.Should I knee him in the nuts for you next time I see him?”

Behind Devra, her guys and Ollie were peering into the break room nervously.

“Uh, at the risk of getting our balls smashed too, can we come in?”Ollie asked.

Wren rolled her eyes and waved them in.There was no use hiding anything around here.She understood that when you had the kind of relationship Trevon, Quinn, and Devra shared—the kind she thought she’d had once—there could be no secrets.They might as well hear about her situation direct from her.

“Everything okay in here?”Quinn asked.

Wren nodded yes as Devra shook her head no.

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