Page 4 of The Biker Alien

“The other child…”

“Also placed up for adoption. I tried to find them, my half-siblings, but I wasn’t able to get anywhere with it. I hope they’re happy, and I hope you don’t mind my telling you all of this. Most people don’t ask me about myself, so when they do, I tend to open up.”

“You’re completely fine,” I assure her.

She snorts. “I’ve told you my entire backstory, and I haven’t even introduced myself yet, have I? I’m Teri Fletcher.”

“I’m Alec Atwood.”

We shake hands, her short black hair bouncing a bit. Her eyes are a light shade of blue, though, not brown, and I find that striking.

“For your bike… the amount of paint I’ll need… We’re looking at about a week’s time turnaround and…”

She names her price, which is a little more than a few of the other places I visited would’ve charged, but the difference in quality is such that she should probably charge even more.

“Do you want that in cash?”

“Cash or card is fine,” she says.

I reach for my wallet and pull out bills and start counting. “Here is what I have on me. I can leave and come back with the rest in an hour.”

“Oh, you only need to put a deposit down, and it doesn’t have to be this much,” she protests.

“I would rather pay you upfront,” I tell her.

I’m not going to complain about that!” She grins. “Thank you very much for trusting me with your bike.”

“I’m thrilled I found someone who can do what I want,” I tell her.

Teri walks around my bike to the back and stops.

My license place is “Armada.”

The name of my motorcycle club. I’m the president.

I wait to see if that’s an issue or if she even knows what that is, but she just turns to me and nods.

“Well, I’m going to get to work now, Alec. I just need your number or email so I can contact you when your bike is done.”

“Of course.”

I gave her my number, and I walk off, heading down the road. I’m meeting a few of my guys at the diner. They’ll give me a lift back to headquarters.

The guys aren’t at the diner yet. I had told them two, and it’s not quite half past one. Some of the stops at the other places had been real quick, in and out.

Opting to head inside to wait, I inhale deeply. The scent of the baked goods is almost overwhelming, and I order a bunch of baked goods for the club members back at headquarters. I have the order put into bags that can go in the saddlebags of the bikes. Jason and David better not eat any before we get there, though, or else there won’t be any that make it to headquarters.

On a whim, I order a few more just as Jason and David arrive.

I had them two of the three bags. “Take these and head on back. I’ll be right there. I have one more errand to go.”

They nod and leave, and I take the bike they dropped off for me right back to Killer Wheels. Teri is working on a different bike, so I just drop the bag off on her desk in her office. Before I climb onto the bike, I watch her work for a moment. She seems completely lost in it, but then she looks up at me.

I wave to let her know I was leaving, and it was only after I’m off and pass a bank that I realize she needs more money. Damn it. She’s going to think I dropped it off, and I didn’t yet.

I race to headquarters, get my money out of the safe—no, I don’t put my money in banks—and I return to Killer Wheels again.

“Did you leave me those muffins and cookies?” she asks.

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