I couldn’t remember the last time I worked out. Did walking to the mailbox count as exercise? Of course, I only remembered to get the mail about twice a week, so that probably didn’t count.
His arms were covered in tattoos. I could see them peeking out from the collar of his shirt and could only imagine what he looked like with his shirt off. Tattoos were my ultimate addiction on a man. Even one tattoo added at least 10 points to a man’s hotness. This guy was off the fucking charts.
My eyes locked with his after my fantastic voyage up his body, and I stopped breathing.
“Hey, Meg. See something you like, darlin’?” Lo rumbled at me with a smirk on his face.
Busted. I sucked air back into my lungs and tried to remember how to breathe.
Lo’s eyes were the color of fresh cut grass, bright green. His hair was jet black and cut close to his head with a pair of kick ass aviators sitting on top of his head. He was golden tan and gorgeous. The man was sex on a stick. Plain and simple.
“Uh, hey,” I choked out.
Lo’s lips curved up into a grin, and I looked down to see if my panties fell off. The man had a panty-dropping smile, and he wasn’t even smiling that big. I would have to take cover or risk fainting if he smiled any bigger.
“Thanks for looking after my ma for me. I’m glad I was in town today and not out on a run,” Lo said.
Ok. Get it together Meg. You are a 36-year-old woman, and this man has rendered you speechless like a sixteen-year-old girl. I needed to say something.
“Say something,” I blurted out. Good Lord did I just say that. Lo quirked his eyebrow, and his smirk returned.
“Ugh, I mean no problem. I didn’t do that much. No problem.” I looked at Ethel while Lo was smirking at me; Ethel had a full-blown smile on her face and was beaming at me.
“You were a life saver, Meg! I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here.” Ethel looked at Lo and grinned even bigger. “You should have seen her, Lo. She knew just what to do to help me. I could have sworn she was a nurse the way she took charge. She’s not, though, just has a good head on her shoulders and decided to help this old lady out.”
“That’s good, Ma. You got all your shit you need so we can get going? I got some stuff going on at the garage that I dropped to get over here fast.”
I took that as my cue to leave and ripped my eyes off Lo and bent over to get my basket and paper towels.
“Yes son, that’s my stuff right here. I just want to get Meg’s number before she leaves.”
“Why do you need my number?” I asked, as I juggled my basket and towels.
Ethel grabbed her purse off the ground and started digging through it again. “Well, you won’t let me pay you back for the snacks you got for me so I figured I could pay you back by inviting you over for dinner sometime. So, what’s your number, sweetheart?”
“I don’t eat dinner,” I blurted out. I was going to have to have a talk with my brain and mouth when I got home. They needed to get their shit together and start working in unison so I wouldn’t sound like such an idiot.
“You don’t eat dinner? Please don’t tell me you're on a diet.” Lo said as he looked me up and down.
“No,” I said. Lord knew I should be.
Lo and Ethel just stared at me.
“So, no, you don’t eat dinner?” Lo asked again.
“Yes. I mean no, I’m not on a diet. Yes, I eat dinner. I just work at night, so I meant that I wouldn’t be able to come to dinner.” I looked at Lo and blushed about ten shades of red. “Why is this so hard?”
“What’s hard, sweetheart? Can’t remember your phone number? I can barely remember mine too. Don’t worry about not being able to make it to dinner; I can have you over for lunch. You eat lunch right?” Ethel asked with a smirk on her face. Lo had a full-blown smile on his face, even his eyes were smiling at me. That smile ought to be illegal.
I could see where Lo got his looks from. With Lo and Ethel standing next to each other, I could totally see the resemblance. Especially when they were both smirking.
I had to get out of here. I’m normally the one with the one-liners and making everyone laugh, now I couldn’t even put two words together.
“Lunch would be good.” I rattled off my number, and Ethel jotted it down.
“Ok, sweetheart, I’ll let you get your nap. I’ll give you a call later, and we can figure out a day we can get together.” Ethel shoved the pen and paper back in her bag and leaned into me for a hug.
I awkwardly hugged her back and patted her on the shoulder. “Sounds good. Have a good day, Ethel. Uh, it was nice meeting you, Lo,” I mumbled, as my gaze wandered over Lo again.
“You too Meg. See you around,” Lo replied.
I gave them both a jaunty wave and booked it to the checkout. Thankfully there wasn’t a line, and I quickly made my escape to my car. I threw my things in the trunk and hopped in. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and plugged it into the radio and turned on my chill playlist, as the soothing sounds of Fleetwood Mac filled the car.
Music was the one thing in my life that had gotten me through so much shit. Good or bad, there was always a song that I could play, and it would make everything better. Right now, I just needed to unscramble my brain and get my bearings. Fleetwood Mac singing “Landslide” was helping.
I pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. All I needed was to forget about today. If Ethel called for lunch, I would say yes because she did remind me so much of mom, but I wasn’t going to let Lo enter my thoughts anymore. A woman like me did not register on his radar, he was better just forgotten.
When I was halfway home, I realized I forgot dog food and shampoo.
Shit.
======
Lo
I helped mom finish her shopping and loaded all her crap into the truck. I looked around the parking lot for Meg, hoping she hadn’t left yet so I could get another look at her. As soon as I saw her ass waving in the air as she struggled to stand up, I knew I had to be inside her.
It took all my willpower to not get a hard-on as her eyes ran over my body. Fucking chick was smoking’ hot and didn’t even know it.
“Thanks for coming to get me, Lo,” Ma said as she interrupted my thoughts about Meg.
“No problem, Ma. I’ll get one of the guys to bring your car to you later. Make sure it’s locked.” Ma dug her keys out of her huge ass purse and beeped the locks. We both got into the shop truck, and I started it up.
“Sure was nice of that Meg to help out. I don’t know what I would have done without her.”
“Yup, definitely nice of her.” I shifted the truck into drive, keeping my foot on the brake, knowing exactly where mom was headed with this.
“You should ask her out.” All I could do was shake my head and laugh.
“Straight to the point huh, Ma?”
“I’m old, I can say what I want. Meg is just the thing you need.”
“I didn’t know I needed anything.” I pulled out of the parking lot and headed to Ma’s house.
“You need someone in your life besides that club.” My mom grabbed her phone out of her purse and started fiddling with it.
“We’ll see, ma. Meg didn’t seem too thrilled with me.” She liked what she saw, but it was like she couldn’t get away from me quick enough when she saw that Ma was going to be ok.
“Well, you are pretty intimidating, Lo. Thank goodness you didn’t wear your cut.”
My leather vest with my club rockers and patches was a part of me. “What the hell is wrong with my cut? If some bitch can’t handle me in my cut, she sure as shit doesn't belong with me,” I growled.
“Not what I meant Lo. That girl has been hurt, you can see it in her eyes. You’ll have to be gentle with her.”
My phone dinged. I dug it out of my pocket and saw my mom had texted me. “You texted me her number, ma?”
“Use it, Logan, fix her,” she insisted.
I sighed and pulled into mom’s driveway.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to be fixed, ma. Maybe she has a boyfriend.”
“She doesn’t. Call her, or I’ll do it for you,” she ordered.
I knew my mom’s threat wasn’t idle. She totally would call Meg and ask her out for me. Fuck. “I’ll help you get your shit inside, ma.”
“I’ll make you lunch, and then you can call Meg,” Ma said, as she jumped out of the truck and grabbed some bags.
I watched her walk into her house and looked at the message she had sent me. I saved Meg’s number to my phone and grabbed the rest of Ma’s shit and headed into the house.
Looked like I was calling Meg.
=======
Take a ride with the Jensen Boys.
Meet Violet and Luke in the first chapter of DownShift!
DownShift
Skid Row Kings
Book 1
Winter Travers
Chapter 1
Violet
It was half past seven, and I should be on my way home already, but I wasn’t.
I watched the lone girl who was sitting at the far table and sighed. She came in every day after school like clockwork, stayed till five forty-five then left. Except today, she didn’t. The only way for me to get the heck out of here was to tell her the library was closing, but I didn’t have the heart to.
She appeared to be well taken care of, nice clothes, good tennis shoes and well groomed. But she was never with anyone when she came in. Even when other kids would come in to work on homework or such, she stayed by herself at the far table.
I glanced at the watch on my wrist one last time and knew I had to go talk to her. All I wanted to do was go home, eat dinner, and take a nice long bath with my latest book boyfriend. Was that too much to ask?
After I skirted around the desk, I hesitantly made my way over to her, not wanting to tell someone they had to leave. I wasn’t one for confrontation. “Um, excuse me.”
The girl looked up at me and smiled. She couldn’t have been more than thirteen, fourteen tops. Shiny braces encased her teeth, and black-rimmed glasses sat perched on her nose. “Yes?”
“The library closes at seven.”
She glanced at the watch on her wrist and hit her hand on the table. “Crud. Luke was supposed to pick me up over an hour ago. I’m really sorry,” she said, gathering her books and shoving them into her bag.
“Did you need to call him?”
“No, he probably won’t answer the phone. He’s only managed to pick me up once this week. He’s busy getting ready for Street Wars. He’s probably stuck under the hood of a car right now.” She zipped her book bag shut and slung it over her shoulder. “I’m really sorry for keeping you here so late. I know the library closes at seven, but I was so into my book I didn’t even notice the time.”
“It’s OK.” I had totally been there before. That was the whole reason I worked at the library, I got to be surrounded by the things I loved all day.
“I’ll see ya,” she waved and headed out the door.
I quickly flipped off all the lights, making sure everything was ready for tomorrow and walked out the door. “Shit,” I muttered as I got pelted with rain as I locked the door. I ran to my car, looking for the girl but didn’t see her. Was she really going to walk home in the rain? I glanced up and down the street and saw her two blocks up, huddled under a tree.
Whoever this Luke was who was supposed to pick her up was a complete douche monkey for making this poor girl walk. I assumed it was her father, but it was strange that she called him Luke.
I ducked into my car, tossing my purse in the back and stuck the key in the ignition. I cranked it up and reversed out of my spot. As I pulled up to the girl, all I could do was shake my head. What did she think she was doing? Standing under a tree during a thunderstorm was not a bright idea.
“Get in the car,” I hollered over the wind and rain. That was one of the drawbacks of the library, there weren’t many windows so I never knew what the weather was like until I went outside. “I’ll give you a ride.”
She shook her head no and huddled under her jacket. What was she thinking? It didn’t look like the rain was going to let up anytime soon. “I’m not supposed to ride with strangers.”
Well, that was all fine and dandy except for the fact me being a stranger looked a lot better than standing in the rain. “You’ve been coming into the library for months. I’d hardly call us strangers.”
“I don’t even know your name,” she said, her teeth chattering.
“It’s Violet. Now get in the car.”
She looked up and down the street, and it finally sunk in that I was her only chance of getting home not sopping wet. As she sprinted across the street, I reached across the center console and pushed open the passenger door.
“Oh my God, it’s cold out there,” she shivered as she slid in and closed the door.
“Well, it’s only April. Plus, being soaking wet doesn’t help.”
She tossed her bag on the floor and rubbed her arms, trying to warm up. I switched the heat on full blast and pointed all the vents at her. She was dripping all over, and I knew the next person who sat there was going to get a wet ass. “Which way?”
“I live over on Thompson, on top of SRK Motors,” she chattered.
I shifted the car into drive and headed down the street. “How come your dad didn’t come and pick you up?” I asked, turning down Willow Street.
“Probably because he’s dead.”
Oh, crap. Whoopsie. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled, feeling like an idiot. She seemed too young to have lost her dad.
“You can rule my mom out, too. They’re both dead.” She pulled a dry sweatshirt out of her bag and wrapped it around her hair, wringing it out.
OK. Well, things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. “So, um, who’s Luke? Your uncle?”
“No, he’s my oldest brother. I’ve got three of them. They all work at the garage together that Luke owns, he’s in charge.”
“So, your brothers take care of you?”
“Ha, more like I take care of them. If it weren't for me, they’d spend all their time under the hood of a car.”
“What’s your name?” Here I was giving this girl a ride home, and I had no idea what her name was.
“Frankie.”
“I’m Violet, by the way, if you didn’t hear me before,” I glanced at her, smiling.
“Neat name. Never heard it before.” That would be because my mother was an old soul who thought to name me Violet would be retro. It wasn’t. It was a color.
“Eh, it’s OK.”
I pulled up in front of the body shop and shut the car off. It was raining even harder now, the rain pelting against my windows. “I’ll come in with you to make sure someone is home.”
“I’m fourteen years old. I can be left alone.’
“Whatever. Let’s go.” She was right, but I didn’t care. I was pretty pissed off that her brother had left her all alone to walk home in the rain.
We dashed to the door, my coat pulled over my head, and I stumbled into the door Frankie held open. “Oh my God, it’s really coming down,” I mumbled, shaking my coat off. My hair was matted to my forehead, and I’m sure I looked like a drowned rat.
“I think Luke is in the shop, I’ll go get him.” Frankie slipped through another door that I assumed lead to the shop, and I looked around.
Apparently, I was in the office of the body shop. There was a cluttered counter in front of me and stacks of wheels and tires all around. Four chairs are set off to the side, which I assume is the waiting area, and a vending machine on the far wall.
The phone rang a shrilling ring, making me jump. I looked around, trying to figure out what to do when the door to the shop was thrown open, and a bald, scowling man came walking through. He didn’t even glance at me, just picked up the phone and started barking into it.
“Skid Row Kings,” he grunted.
I couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end, but I could tell Baldy
was not happy. I looked down at my hands, noticing my cute plaid skirt I had put on that morning was now drenched and clinging to my legs. Thankfully I had worn flats today, or I probably would have fallen on my ass in the rain.
“What can I help you with?”
My head shot up, baldy staring at me. “Um, I brought Frankie home.”
He looked me up and down, his eyes scanning me over. “Aren’t you a little too old to be hanging out with a fourteen-year-old? You’re what, sixteen, seventeen?”
“Try twenty-seven.” This guy was a piece of work. He was looking me over like I was on display and he thought I was a teenager.
His eyes snapped to mine, and his jaw dropped. Yeah, jackass, I’m older than you are probably. “What the hell are you doing with Frankie?”
“She works at the library. You know, the place you promised to pick me up from today?” Frankie said, walking back into the shop. She had managed to find a towel and was drying herself off. I would kill for a towel right now.
“Fuck,” Baldy twisted around and looked at the clock behind him. “Sorry, Frankie. Mitch and I were tearing apart the tranny on the Charger.”
She waved her hand at him and tossed the towel to me. Oh, thank you sweet baby Jesus. I wiped the water that was dripping down my face and squeezed all the water out of my hair into it.
“How the hell did you get so wet if she gave you a ride home?”
“Because I started walking home, Luke, until Violet was kind enough to stop and give me a lift.”
He watched me dry my hair, confusion on his face. “Violet?” he muttered.
“That’s me,” I said, sticking my hand out for him to shake. “I didn’t want Frankie to get sick walking home. Plus, it’s getting dark and someone her age shouldn’t be out then.”
“She’s fourteen years old,” he sneered. “I was out on the streets when I was twelve.”
“Oh, well. If that’s how you want to raise her.” Luke was a gearhead that was also an ass. I didn’t have time for this. My bath was definitely calling my name now that I was soaking wet. I tossed the towel back to Frankie and pulled my jacket over my head again. “You’re welcome for bringing your sister home.”
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