Finding his old ladyat work was a matter of walking out of the clubhouse, across the compound, and into RockSteady Racing. They’d had their grand opening, finally, in April, with a fully-stocked showroom and a beautiful, undamaged sign above the doors. They also had a full staff, including, in addition to the Bulls, enough employees to actually work the place—and all that had happened, and smoothly, because of Siena and Lyra.
Those two women had done all the interviewing. They’d shepherded the stock through the complicated shipping process. They’d rearranged the whole damn shop and made it something actually attractive.
When it came time to hire a manager, Siena hadn’t asked for the job. She hadn’t decided yet if she wanted to work again. Cooper hadn’t thought it up first.
Reed was the first to bring it up. At first, Cooper had brushed it off, not wanting to give Siena work if she didn’t want it, but Lyra had said she thought Siena should have the option to take it or turn it down.
She’d taken it. And she was great at it. She’d dived into studying up on cars and racing, learning about everything they sold, peppering the Bulls with questions. She loved being the boss, and all her years of beingnotthe boss in the service industry had made her a really good one.
Geneva, now fifteen and already reminding everyone she was almost sixteen, spent part of her days at the shop with Siena, studying geometry and learning about cars and bikes, and doing a few hours of work for spending money. She did a lot of her schoolwork on her own, in the clubhouse or in the bunkhouse she’d claimed as her own. She also had a tutor for science. And Cooper was teaching her Spanish.
Even in the summer, she kept studying. She was already into senior-level work for English and history. At the rate she was going, she’d be ready to take the test to graduate more than a year early. They were starting to talk about college.
And that girl washappy. She’d bloomed like a goddamn flower.
So had he.
In Tulsa, for his whole life, Cooper had been alone. Even in the middle of that clubhouse, surrounded by brothers, men he liked and considered friends, he’d been alone without realizing it. Here in Laughlin, in this clubhouse, he finally had a real family. Not only in name, but in truth—and that family was bigger than Siena and Geneva, though they were its heart. His brothers here were his family. Their loved ones were his family. Jesus, he was even kind of adad.
There were several cars and a couple of bikes parked in front of the shop. They were doing a good business so far—their grand opening had been huge, in fact, probably more successful because they hadn’t rushed it. It seemed like every race enthusiast for a hundred miles around was already calling out RockSteady as the place to go for high-end gear.
With the shop open, and being advertised online, on TV, on the radio—thanks again to Lyra for all that—the club had been drawing more hangarounds and girls as well. They were, in fact, thriving.
The Tulsa crew had ridden in twice now with a handoff, and Cooper’s crew had ridden it safely to its southern destination. That was a tense run, taking their kind of cargo across the border into Mexico, but Cooper liked that rush. A bit less now, with his girls waiting for him. Still, he liked being good at the work. He felt alive solving problems or avoiding them entirely. Being ready for trouble and glad when it didn’t come.
Leading. He liked leading. Who’d’ve figured that?
Cooper went through the doors of the shop, back into the air conditioning, and sighed with relief. He’d only walked about fifty yards, but July in the desert was no joke. Still, desert weather meant he hadn’t had to buy a cage for himself. He could ride every single day.
He’d bought Siena a brand new, shiny red Ford Edge. She loved that thing—even named it. Floyd. She’d named it Floyd. There was a playful side to his lady that hadn’t had a chance to stretch out and breathe for a long time.
Right now, though, she was all business, talking to a couple of twenty-something racer bros about tires. A few people were browsing. The other employee on the clock, a pretty steady hangaround named Jordan, was checking out a young woman in leather pants.
It took a serious commitment to the look to wear leather pants in Laughlin in July.
Jordan was also doing a fair amount of flirting with his sales transaction.
As yet unnoticed, Cooper stood back and studied the scene. He loved to watch Siena work, but right now, his chief interest was Jordan. The kid was about twenty-three, twenty-four. Siena considered him her best employee—and that counted all the Bulls. He went over to the clubhouse after just about every shift, and was willing, even eager, to help out over there. Like he was angling to be a prospect.
That was a hole they still hadn’t filled. They had hangarounds, but they hadn’t even talked seriously about prospects. It was important. But it felt too soon.
Cooper thought maybe Jordan would make a good one, though. He’d bring it up in church.
Siena turned from the tire folks and saw him. Her expression lit up brilliantly. When she headed his way, he went farther into the shop and met her halfway.
“Hey! Looking for some extra work?” She grinned coyly as her arms slipped around his waist.
He bent and put his lips on her throat. A few inches down, under her shirt, taking the space between her warrior angel’s wings, was a flaming heart held on two hands. His name through the heart.
Filling in one of the few bare spaces on his chest was a blackwork heart that looked at first glance like lace, but it was interlinked words. Three of them: Siena. Geneva. Andcorazón.
She hummed contentedly at the touch of his mouth, but pushed him gently off. “Don’t tempt me to be bad. Shop’s open for another hour, and you said you’d pick Geneva up for me.”
The nerdy little gaming club Geneva helped out with at the junior high had continued on into the summer; they met at the library now. It was the highlight of Geneva’s week. She had friends again. Good friends. They were younger than she was, but not so much it was weird. And for Geneva, younger friends were better.
“I am heading out to pick Geneva up right now. But I was thinking you could let Jordan close up, and we could take Floyd and go together to pick her up.”
“I need to do the totals and everything after closing.”