Unfiltered & Unsaved

by Payge Galvin

  Cass tried not to think about that night at The Coffee Cave. It had only been two weeks ago, but she was repressing for all she was worth—she was pretty sure she would medal in it if it ever became an Olympic sport. She hadn’t been out front when the guy got shot. She’d been in the back, interrupting the growing argument between the two drunk girls and the young Republican who’d tumbled out of the bathroom on top of the hippie chick. A strange guy had been back there too, with his phone out, but what his business was, Cass hadn’t really cared.

  That was when she’d heard the gunshot.

  Sugar, the other barista, was on the floor. The guy was bleeding out next to her. Jess—a regular—stood nearby, with Sugar’s revolver clutched in her shaking hand. And then everything had gone to hell.

  They had all agreed to keep quiet and split the money Sugar had found in the dead guy’s trunk. One of the drunk girls was going to cremate the body, and the hippie chick was going to get rid of the car. The only reminder of the shooting and her part in covering it up was the money. She and Sugar had agreed to quit their jobs at The Cave, and they’d only spoken once since, and that was only for Sugar to tell Cass she was leaving town and Cass should think about doing the same.

  Cass had wanted to. She wanted to skip town and start somewhere else more than anything. She didn’t want to race for Wrex anymore; she wanted to go back to only riding her Superhawk when she wanted to, but her brother had nixed that idea when he refused to leave with her. So here she stayed.

  And now she was left dealing with both her own drama and the worries from that night at The Cave.

  Her collection of thin silver bracelets jangled as she put up a hand to rub her temple. The massive stress headache that had been building all day had just flared sharply, stabbing into her skull. Perfect. Cass sighed. “Do it. Whatever it takes. Just do it.”

  He didn’t reply.

  After a moment, she looked up. Dev was standing next to her, looking at her curiously. Cass didn’t want to meet his eyes, but she couldn’t help it. And when she did meet his gaze, she found she couldn’t look away. It both excited her and scared the crap out of her.

  “You okay?” he asked, a concerned look on his face.

  She brushed dark hair out of her face and nodded. “Yeah. It’s just not the news I wanted to hear, you know?” Cass gave him a shaky smile.

  Dev grinned back and Cass felt her knees go weak. This was quite possibly the worst time to get interested and invested in some guy. She had serious problems to deal with. A hot mechanic was not going to be among them.

  “You were looking a little green.” His gaze skimmed over her again.

  “It’s not easy, you know.”

  “What, being green?” He grinned.

  She rolled her eyes, groaning. “I left myself open for that one,” she conceded, lightly smacking his arm. “I meant, leaving without my bike.” She shrugged it off, trying not to sound like a sentimental idiot.

  “I’m more than happy to help you with a new ride,” a voice Cass knew and loathed interrupted.

  She turned, her mouth pressing into a hard line. Wrex and one of his heavies stood in the open bay’s doorway. As she watched, he took a step closer to her.

  Wrex was tall, slim, and handsome, his body all whipcord and bone. Dyed blond hair hung into electric blue eyes, eyes so bright and jumpy it looked like he was plugged into a wall socket. He wasn’t as big as Dev, but he was fast and mean and more than a little unpredictable. He twitched into the bay, a wide smile stretching his thin-lipped mouth almost too far, like a rubber band stretched to its limit. His leg-breaker stayed just outside of the garage.

  One night. One stupid, bad decision night. The image of Wrex’s naked back flashed into her memory. It had been a fling for her. She thought it had been the same for him. In the last six months of dodging his calls and avoiding his hands, she’d come to realize that it wasn’t so.

  Cass was the Queen of Bad Decisions.

  “Shame about your Superhawk.” Wrex nodded his head in the bike’s direction.

  Cass felt angry words rise in the back of her throat, but she swallowed them down. As much as she hated him, she couldn’t antagonize him. He came closer, close enough to touch her. She didn’t want to take a step back, but she sure as hell didn’t want his hands on her. Not ever again.

  Dev came up beside her, his presence a sudden comfort.

  Wrex raised an eyebrow, but backed off a few steps. “What’s up, Dev? Haven’t seen you at a show in a while, man.”

  Cass tried to keep the surprise from her face, but she didn’t think she did a very good job. Dev used to go to the sideshows? She had never seen him at one, so it must have been a year since he’d showed.

  “Got busy.” Dev crossed his arms across his chest, muscles rippling beneath his gasoline shirt. “What do you want?”

  “Ah, come on, man. That’s no way to greet a friend.” Wrex’s grin changed, turned harder, less pleasant.

  Dev didn’t say anything, but his expression made it clear that they were something, but friends wasn’t it.

  Before the silence could stretch out for too long, Wrex put up his hands, like he was placating the mechanic. “Just checking on my girl. Heard she was here. Wanted to make sure she got treated right.”

  “I’m not your girl,” Cass ground out, teeth gritted so tightly she was pretty sure she’d just cracked a molar. God, she didn’t want to Dev to think she was Wrex’s anything.

  His smile turned wolfish. “You drive for me, sweetheart. That makes you mine.”

  She dug her fingernails into her palms, wanting to snap at him. She raced for him, but that didn’t mean he owned her. Wrex’s proprietary gaze made her want to take a shower. With hydrochloric acid.

  “I’ve got work to do,” Dev said, his voice a rumble in his chest.

  Wrex eyed Dev. “That work her Superhawk?” He grinned. “You might want to reconsider that, brother.”

  “I’m not your brother,” Dev practically snarled. “And I haven’t decided yet.”

  The blond grinned, eyes blazing in the overhead lights. “Word to the wise, bro. You might want to think long and hard about the kind of work you take.” He winked. “Wouldn’t want to end up on the wrong side of something you’re better off staying out of.”

  Dev didn’t say anything, just speared Wrex with a level gaze. If he was bothered by the other man’s threat, he didn’t show it. “Be seein’ you,” he said in a tone that implied Wrex shouldn’t let the door hit him on the ass on the way out.

  “Count on it, Devlin.” Wrex signaled to his muscle. “Take it easy, Cass. Say hi to Liam for me.” He gave her one final grin before heading back out into the parking lot.

  “Tweaker,” Dev said, lip raised in a sneer. He began pick up stray parts and tools. “Why the hell are you with him?”

  “I’m not with him,” Cass hissed, feeling angry and trapped and stuck.

  “You’re racing for him! What the hell else would you call it?”

  Blackmail? Overdeveloped sense of responsibility? Crap luck? She discarded each smart ass answer as it came to her. “You don’t know a damn thing about it!”

  He flung a wrench into the box. “You’re right, I don’t. Find someone else to work on your goddamn bike. I don’t need this kind of hassle. Maybe Wrex or Liam or whoever else you’re in with can recommend a mechanic.”

  Who did this guy think he was? Her fury spiked, turning her insides to magma. He might be hotter than the surface of the sun, but he didn’t get to make assumptions about her and talk to her like that. No one did.

  “Liam’s my brother,” she snapped, her voice throaty and low from trying to keep a handle on her anger. “And before you go making any more assumptions about exactly who or what I am, understand that I am not one of Wrex’s skanks.” She’d slept with Wrex before she knew what he was really like. But that wasn’t something she was going to share. “My brother made some bad decisions, and I’m trying to get him out of it. End of sto
ry.”

  Dev rocked back on his heels, and eyed her. “Why are you telling me this?”

  Because you’re hot didn’t seem like a particularly good answer, even if it was true. Because I can’t stand you looking at me like I’m some kind of mouth-breathing imbecile, especially when I really want to see you naked was also a bad choice. Cass was running out of options here. Her hands clenched into fists in her frustration.

  “Hell if I know.” Cass turned on her heel and stalked out, intending to get Scott to help her load the bike back into his truck.

  She felt very tired all of a sudden. She’d have to find a new mechanic, and she wasn’t going to have the Superhawk fixed in time for the next race, which put her deeper in debt to Wrex. This day was turning into a suckfest of epic proportions.

  And it still wasn’t as bad as the night in the coffee shop. At least nobody had died today.

  Yet.

  “Hang on a sec.” Dev caught her hand in his and pulled her gently back into the garage bay. When she resisted, yanking her hand out of his, he held his up in a gesture of apology. “Look, I’m sorry I misjudged, okay? Wrex is bad news and so are the people he gets involved with.”

  As an apology it wasn’t much, but Cass nodded, considering it was the best she was likely to get. “Tell me something I don’t already know,” she huffed. She jerked her head at her bike. “Gimme a few minutes, and I’ll be out of your way.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  “Excusemewhatnow?” She clearly must have a hearing problem. Great. How much would those disappearing hearing aids cost? There was no way that sexy mechanic man just re-offered to fix her baby. Not after all of the drama of the last few minutes.

  “I’ll rebuild your bike.” He grinned at her confusion. He had a very nice grin. It was the kind of grin she could feel in between her legs. Cass didn’t know whether to be happy or embarrassed.

  “Are you serious?” Was he just jerking her around? “You made it pretty clear how you feel about anything having to do with Wrex.” She couldn’t help the suspicion that crept into her voice. Things that seemed too good to be true usually were.

  He shook his head. “Hey, I still think he’s an asshole, don’t get me wrong, but I’ll fix your bike. As an apology for jumping to conclusions. You can pay me in installments when I’m done.”

  “I’ve got the money,” she said, thinking of the cash in the backpack underneath her bed. She wasn’t a charity case. She didn’t expect a free rebuild, especially when nothing was ever free.

  He stuck out his hand. “Deal then?”

  Cass eyed it for a moment, and then took it. “Deal.” She sighed. One less thing to worry about.

  Dev’s expression turned serious. Pulling a pen from his back pocket, he rummaged around for a sheet of paper. He wound up finding a matchbook in the second drawer of the toolbox. Ripping the matches out of it, he scribbled on the inside of it and handed it to her. “This is my cell. I’ll call to give you updates on the rebuild, but if you want to check on it, just use that number.”

  He folded the matchbook closed and pressed it into her palm, closing her fingers over it.

  Cass swallowed, caught up in his nearness, unable to do more than clutch at the matchbook spasmodically. His body was close to hers, so close she could feel the heat of him, smell the scent of him. Her fingers clenched convulsively, crushing the matchbook in her hand. His face was close to hers, his eyes searching her face. All she wanted to do was lean forward to close the distance between them and press her lips to his. To slide her tongue into his mouth and wrap her arms and legs around him and feel the strength and warmth of him all over.

  His gaze lowered to her mouth. Cass licked her lips, watching him from beneath her lashes, anticipating his kiss. Dev’s hand slid around her neck, gripping the hair at the nape of her neck in a loose hold. She thought briefly of Scott, sitting in his truck and probably watching them, and then decided she didn’t care. She stepped into Dev, her own hands grabbing the sides of his shirt.

  The sound of a fist banging on metal made her jerk out of her hormonal haze. Scott beat on the side of his door once more, shouting, “Come on, Cass! I’ve got a bar back shift!”

  Dev pulled his head back slowly, but he didn’t let go of her hair.

  She stared at him, feeling the pull of his gaze like the tide feels the pull of the moon. “I should go,” she said, but made no move to leave.

  “Okay.” He didn’t let her go.

  They stood in the garage bay, still in a half-embrace. Cass didn’t know what the hell she was doing, but it didn’t matter. Her life felt like it had careened off course when she wasn’t looking; what did one more detour matter? If she had ordered a man from a menu, picking all of her biggest turn-ons, she couldn’t have done better than the man who had his hand in her hair right now.

  “Damn it, Cass! Let’s go!”

  Dev let go of her reluctantly.

  Cass took a shaky breath, feeling too full and not full enough, almost like she was on the edge of something. Insanity? Tears? Sexual frustration? A little from Column A and Column B? She didn’t know what she was doing anymore.

  She slid her hands down the plackets of Dev’s gas shirt. “I’m gonna go now.”

  Dev nodded, amusement in his eyes. As she took a step back, he said, “You use that number, you hear?”

  “CASS!”

  “Be right there!” she shouted back, rolling her eyes. “Thanks,” she said, flashing Dev a shy smile as she stepped out of the garage.

  “Your bike’s in good hands,” he assured her, hooking his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans. “No need to worry.”

  Her smile faltered, falling away completely as she climbed into the cab of Scott’s truck. Her bike might be in good hands, but now what was she supposed to race?

  —◊—

  Read the rest of Cass and Dev's story in Unfiltered & Unhinged, coming April 14, 2014 from Payge Galvin & Jane Lukas. If you want to be notified when future books in the series are released, sign up for the mailing list here.

  Acknowledgements:

  Thanks so much to my Unfiltered gal-pals for encouraging me to take the plunge into the deep end and write this book – it turned out to be an emotional, empowering experience and I am so grateful! Thanks also to the readers who are in for our Unfiltered journey, and to the reviewers for taking a chance on a bunch of new writers.

  Bridgette.

  Table of Contents

  About the Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  A Note From Payge

  Sneak Peek of Unfiltered & Unhinged

  Acknowledgements

  Table of Contents