I found myself pulled into a hug by a younger, taller version of Vic. Isaac Morales had been my little sister’s shadow for most of their lives. It surprised me that this was the first time I’d seen him since I’d been home.
“Where were you the other night?” Genuine surprise and happiness colored my voice. Isaac was one of the familiar faces I’d expected to see at the races but hadn’t.
“I was there. I saw your little ass go all Amazonian on Slater.” He mussed my hair.
When had he gotten so tall? He was as tall as Aiden now and handsome with a ready smile. My heart swelled with pride. If Vic was like a big brother to me, Isaac was like a little one.
“I didn’t see you!” Usually, Isaac would have been with us or Hunter’s crew. He was as much a chameleon as his brother, able to slide from clique to clique without anyone seeming to care.
“Because he’s on a rapid descent into madness and it makes my eye twitch.” Breanna sashayed through the door and rubbed her right eye. When she moved her hand, it twitched.
I followed her twitchy gaze to the car my brother was pulling onto the dyno machine. It was a Honda on small tires used for street racing to give maximum grip to the asphalt. The small tires made the car sit low to the ground. The spoiler on the back, with its obnoxious yellow paint and green graphics, was a sight to behold.
Slowly, my eye started to twitch too. “Where did we go wrong with you, Isaac?”
“See what I mean?” Breanna pursed her lips in commiseration. My sister was back. At least for the moment.
“Come on now.” Isaac spread his hands. “Imports are as good as domestics. Hell, I’ll put my Honda up against any Street King.” The Street Kings were my brother’s friends and the guys they raced with. In Arkadia, they were the biggest show in town, everyone in the racing community throughout the state knew their names.
“Jordan?” My sister raised a brow. “Hunter East?” “Jesus, that’s like throwing Daniel immediately to
the lions.” Isaac made a face.
“You said any Street King.” I wagged my finger at him.
“Yeah, but nobody jumps straight for the top.” He raised a valid point. “I was thinking more along the lines of calling out my brother or Devin.”
“You totally should.” Breanna urged a little too happily, sarcasm oozing from her smirk.
“I’d smoke D-Mac.” He rolled his eyes at her. “Aiden’s right through that door, make it happen.” “Oh, I will. Bet. A hundred bucks of your money,
Breanna, says I drag his ass.”
Her hand slapped into his almost immediately. “You’re on.”
Isaac swept out of the shop like a man with a purpose, heading straight for my brother.
“You just hustled him.” Hadley mused with a touch of awe.
“Yes, yes I did. But, my twitch is gone.” Her eye had stopped twitching completely.
It wasn’t long after Breanna left for another delivery that curiosity got the best of Hadley. “Like an Amazon? That sounds like a story.”
“Yeah, apparently.” Jordan invaded my mind again, whether I wanted him to or not, pulling me back to the way his eyes had flashed with anger and how his jaw had clenched. It wasn’t fear that threatened when I recalled that night, but something more dangerous. I swallowed back the whisper of arousal.
“Which means you’ll have fun with this.” She set a full nitrous bottle down by the counter.
“What?” I couldn’t help but groan when I read Jordan’s name on the label.
“He should be here after four to pick it up. That gives you plenty of time to tell me the story.” She gave my back a friendly pat.
After four, which meant after work. He contracted, did granite counter tops and fireplaces. He’d tried jobs where he worked for other people, even here with Aiden and my dad. Those jobs never panned out. Jordan wasn’t the sort of guy to take orders from someone else.
I leaned my face against the cool steel of the bottle. “Do you know Hunter East?”
She gave her eyebrows a wiggle and winked. “Oh yeah, he’s a looker. Sweet, too.”
“Yeah, well, we dated when I was in high school. So, after the race Saturday night he was talking to me. Jordan comes over throwing his weight around, Hunter wasn’t going to back down. They were about to start swinging.” I put a hand to my stomach. “I hate stuff like that, ya know? Especially when two big guys act like the only way to prove their manhood is to smash each other’s face in.”
She put a hand up. “I can see why Breanna had her panties in a bunch today. She was annoyed this morning because you didn’t let it go down. I doubt she understands why that bothers you or why you don’t like that attention, because she likes drama.”
“She’s young still, I hope she never finds out why that sort of violence really isn’t all that exciting.” I absently brushed my fingertips across my throat. “I couldn’t stand there and watch it happen, especially since it seemed to center around Hunter talking to me. I’m not Jordan’s property, I’m—”
“Your own woman. Girl, I feel ya on that one.”
I moved away from the bottle, as if it would put more space between Jordan and my thoughts. “I jumped in between them and did better at breaking it up than Devin and Aiden.”
“Bullshit.” Aiden slipped through the door with another nitrous bottle and placed it beside the one on the counter with far more ease than Hadley had. “We had it, she just likes to show off.” He flexed his muscles at me. “She’s stronger than she looks.”
The flexing wasn’t for my benefit. I stopped just short of a full eye roll. The charming way she tried to not watch him earned her a genuine flash of a smile from Aiden. Me? I socked him in the shoulder.
“Ow! See, I rest my case.”
****
I was laughing with a customer when Jordan made his appearance. I was still smiling when I turned to see who had come in, jangling the bells that hung on the door. I’d lost track of time, got busy enough that I’d finally stopped thinking about those two nitrous bottles sitting on the counter. My smile slipped away. There was a sharp, stabbing pain in my soul as his face hardened at the sight of me.