Page 6 of Slow Ride

3

Five Years Later

Wren rubbed her stomach as she leaned back from the break room table at Hot Rides motorcycle shop and belched.She hoped her friend Devra took that as the compliment it was.“Damn.If my assignments had tasted this good when I was in school, maybe I would have given a fuck about them.”

Now that the fall semester had begun at their local college, Devra had restarted her coursework, double majoring in culinary arts and restaurant management.Being one of the woman’s designated taste testers was another unexpected perk of the employment agreement Wren had finally caved and signed about three months ago.

Quinn, one of Devra’s two husbands, had made Wren better offer after better offer until she literally could not refuse his generosity.Secretly, she hadn’t wanted to either.It felt nice to have some stability and a core group of people surrounding her again.Though she tried desperately to think of her employer, co-workers, and their zillions of friends and extended family as mere acquaintances, it was all a bunch of bullshit.

Despite her bad manners and social awkwardness, they’d gradually taken her in and made her one of them, for which she would be forever grateful.

“Oh, come on.You’re telling me you weren’t a straight-A student?”Trevon, Devra’s other husband, laughed at Wren.His golden eyes sparkled against the backdrop of his rich, dark skin.“You’re too much of a perfectionist to have been anything else.”

“Ah, well.Busted.But just because I did well in school didn’t mean I liked it.”She shrugged one shoulder.“More like it had been unacceptable to my parents for me to be any less than a model student.They still haven’t forgiven me for leaving home at eighteen, turning down acceptance letters to all the colleges they’d madegenerous donationsto, and paying my own way through trade school to be a lowly welder instead.Can’t say I’ve ever lived up to their expectations, especially not by being independent, which meant they couldn’t use their money as leverage to run my life anymore.”

“Yikes.Sorry.”Ollie, who was also newish to Hot Rides, knocked his shoulder into hers.The salvage man was cute, funny, and sweet.He hadn’t tried very hard to hide his interest in her either.If she were smart, she’d be attracted to him as more than a co-worker or a garage buddy.

Clearly, she hadn’t aced any relationship tests.

Despite the fact that Wren hadn’t returned his flirtations, Ollie hadn’t let things become weird between them.He was one of her favorite people to hang out with and ensured that she never felt like a third—or was that fourth?—wheel in Trevon, Quinn, and Devra’s powerful relationship.

Okay, so if she was being totally honest, some small part of her was jealous of their insane chemistry and the fact that Devra was living Wren’s fantasy life.Still, the trio never made her feel unwelcome.Besides, with Ollie around, plus the Hot Rods and their ladies coming over to talk shop or non-shop with her, she didn’t seem out of place.Even more than that, with their kids to play with and the warm welcome from Tom and Ms.Brown, who were quickly becoming like surrogate parents to her, the Hot Rides felt like family even more than friends.

Yeah, Wren wasn’t sure why she’d waited so long to become part of this gaggle of misfits.For the first time in her life, she really felt like she’d found her place.That had made the decision to give up her apartment in Middletown and move into the empty tiny home next to Devra, Trevon, and Quinn’s on the Hot Rides property that much easier.

Especially since Ollie had agreed to Quinn’s proposal that he scavenge parts exclusively for Hot Rides and their sister-shop, Hot Rods, down the road for a premium and the same shares in the garage that the rest of them got, too.Since then, he’d been parking his van in the grass near their tiny homes, camping out overnight before hitting the road again early the next morning, en route to whatever junk heap turned gold mine he wanted to explore next.They hadn’t realized at first that Ollie was a card-carrying member of the van-life club.She’d always assumed he used his rig for hauling his treasures home after a successful salvage.In actuality, he had a trailer for that.

The inside of his long white van was an immaculate tiny home, not so different from Quinn’s or the one she now occupied.Unlike her parents, everyone at Hot Rides was making it clear that having what made you happy didn’t have to mean having a lot of fancy shit.

The simple life was the best.

With the awning and propane barbeque Ollie had built into the exterior of the van, he had no trouble expanding his living space during the summer.Hell, he even had a pet hedgehog that was the cutest damn thing she’d ever seen.Now that they were heading into the cooler part of the year, he appreciated a spot complete with hot water showers and an electricity hookup to hunker down in.

And they all enjoyed having him around more.

No doubt about it.Ollie was exactly the kind of guy Wren should be looking forifshe was ever going to admit she might be ready to move on from the glorious disaster her love life had been for five no-fucking years.Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried to feel something for him below the belt, it just wasn’t happening.

Maybe she wasn’t as healed as she’d hoped.

Ollie mistook her extended silence for introspection about her parents instead of him and what might have been if she wasn’t so damn damaged.“Your folks obviously made you feel like your dreams weren’t valid—or that you weren’t as kickass as we know you are—if you didn’t do what they would have chosen for you, but at least they cared enough to try to help you in their own way.Maybe?”

He tried to put a positive spin on things, which was something she really appreciated about him.Nothing ever got him down, and he was willing to raise the people around him up when they could use a boost.

“I guess.”Wren cleared her throat.Someday she should probably attempt to smooth things over with them.She’d tried once, after things had imploded with Jordan and Johnny, making her realize that if she didn’t tell people important stuff when she had the chance, she might live to regret that decision.

It hadn’t gone well.The rumor mill had carried hints of her bad behavior back to her parents, disgracing them when she was romantically linked with two different men at the same time.She hadn’t had the guts to tell them that they had it all wrong.That she wasn’t frivolous or some kind of slut.She should have made them understand that she’d loved both men, even if she’d ended up with neither in the end.

Wren was different now.Stronger, she hoped.

That didn’t stop her from leaping up when the roar of two engines echoed up the long, winding driveway to Hot Rides.Small doses of this friend shit were enough for her right now.She was still getting used to opening herself up again, even if these men and women would never judge her for the things she revealed to them.

Considering their propensity for acceptance and the ménage Quinn, Trevon, and Devra had going, she might even get up the nerve to unburden herself about her past relationship…eventually.

For now, she was glad for the perfect excuse to slip away from their conversation.

It was dangerous, working here.Coming to care for the Hot Rides.

But she hadn’t been able to stop herself.She’d fallen in love with being part of their not-so-little family.Wren hoped they couldn’t tell how desperately she needed them.

“You guys keep eating.I’ve got this.”She had nothing else to do since the shop was still building their clientele and had only recently added her services to their menu of offerings.

Despite both Gavyn, the shop’s owner, and Quinn, the head mechanic and shop manager, telling her to call it quits early, she hadn’t gone home.Mostly because it didn’t sit right with her to take advantage considering the beyond-generous salary they paid her.Partly because she lived right out back so she was sort of home already.And a little bit because she was pathetic enough to crave her co-workers’ companionship given that she had essentially been a hermit these past five years.

“You sure?”Quinn asked around a mouthful of falafel.

She laughed and flashed him a thumbs-up, happy to help.

If Wren had only known what was coming, she might have changed her mind.In hindsight, the gut punch caused by meeting the man about to stroll through Hot Rides’ door would make the uncomfortable discussion they’d been having seem like Welding 101 versus TIG-welding aluminum.

Fortunately, she was a master of her craft and had a lot of experience suppressing her emotions.

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