Unfiltered & Unhinged

by Payge Galvin

  But he hadn’t.

  She had green eyes. And a tight body that made him want to peel those jeans off of her and make her scream his name.

  So he’d said yes.

  He was such a dumbass.

  Dev threw his ratchet into the rolling toolbox and slammed the lid of it shut. He already regretted his decision, no matter how fine she’d been. Cass. He mouthed her name, like he was tasting the syllable of it to see how it felt on his lips. When he realized what he was doing, he kicked the rolling rack across the bay in frustration.

  She was in deep to Wrex. That was reason enough to tell her to take her bike somewhere else. Dev wasn’t scared of the guy, but he didn’t need the crap that anyone dealing with the psycho brought with them. Wrex was dangerous: he had money and muscle and no real compunction against using either of them to get what was owed him. Wrex was like Typhoid Mary, spreading his poison wherever he went. Dev wanted none of it.

  But Cass was helping out her brother. He ran a hand through his hair as he remembered what she’d said. Dev understood wanting to help out family; he’d gone to the mat for his sister more times than he could count. He knew what it was like to put family first, even before your own safety and happiness. He could relate. He’d been doing that with Rhona and her son for the last couple of years, ever since her boyfriend had left her knocked up and alone.

  He wanted to help Cass. So he’d said yes.

  “Hey man,” Baron, the mechanic in the next bay over, said. “You heading to The Blind Tiger later?”

  Dev shook his head. “Not tonight. I’ve got something else going on.”

  Baron grinned. “That girl from earlier?”

  “Naw, man! I’m just doing her rebuild.” He jerked his head to the bike in his bay.

  Baron walked over to take a look at the damaged machine. “Someone had it out for this one.”

  “Wrex.”

  Baron met Dev’s eyes. The other mechanic had been around long enough to have heard of Wrex and his sideshows—and the betting that went on there. “What’s a girl like her doing within ten miles of that guy?”

  Dev shrugged. Even if he didn’t know, he wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing a client’s personal business. It wasn’t his place. “Wrong place, wrong time maybe.”

  “You can say that again.” Baron ran a light hand along the shattered fiberglass side panels. “She must have really pissed him off.”

  “He showed up here,” Dev said, voice quiet. Wrex wasn’t good for business. Dev wanted all of the other mechanics to know to keep an eye out for him, especially since he seemed so interested in Cass’s bike. “Said he wanted to check on her.”

  Baron rubbed the back of his neck, a thoughtful expression on his dark face. “We don’t need his psycho ass hanging around here.”

  Dev nodded. “No kidding.”

  Baron would get the word out. He wasn’t worried that Wrex would make a habit of stopping by where he wasn’t welcome, but the guy had been more than a little territorial with Cass. Dev wondered what was between the two of them; it sure seemed like a helluva lot more than just racing. Not that it was his business. He was only handling her rebuild. Dev didn’t need to get involved in whatever else she had going on with Wrex.

  “I’m out,” he told Baron, clapping him on the back. “See you tomorrow.”

  “If you free up, you know where to find us.”

  Dev left the closed confines of the garage, and walked around the building to the back lot. His motorcycle—a restored Indian—was waiting for him, black and chrome and so gorgeous it made his pulse pick up. He swung his leg over it, levering it up so he could start the engine. As soon as the motorcycle snarled to life beneath him, he felt the tension he hadn’t known he’d been carrying slough away like dead skin. Riding always did that to him. It was the only time he could really clear his head.

  He pulled out onto the street and headed toward the highway. Dev did have other plans, just not with a girl like Baron thought. He preferred to keep his private life private and away from the garage if he could manage it. Besides, he knew Baron and the other grease jockeys wouldn’t believe him if he said he had babysitting duty tonight.

  The highway stretched out before him like a river of asphalt, ready to carry him to new places if he would only let the current of it take him. This was his favorite time of day—early evening, when the world was shading into dust and fire. The heat of the day was still there, but a cool breeze sang of the coming night’s relief. He rolled the throttle and the Chief leaped forward, howling down the highway.

  He arrived at Rhona’s place too soon. Dev thought about riding for a few more minutes and circling back, but decided it wasn’t worth it. Jake was waiting. He pulled the Indian into one of the spaces reserved for Rhona’s apartment, and then killed the engine. He sat for a few minutes more, listening to the faint metallic tinks the engine made as it cooled.

  “You gonna sit out there all night?” Rhona’s voice called from the open door of her apartment. “Jake’s waiting.”

  Dev swung clear and tossed his saddlebags over his shoulder. Rhona didn’t live in a bad neighborhood, but he preferred to be careful. No need to tempt anyone.

  At the doorway, he stopped and gave Rhona a peck on the cheek. “You okay?” he asked, noting the bluish, almost bruised, circles beneath her eyes.

  She nodded, but her bowed shoulders gave him a different answer. “Just tired. These shifts are wreaking havoc on my internal clock.”

  Dev wrapped an arm around her, leading her back inside the apartment. She was doing her best by Jake, and Dev helped where and when he could, but it was still a hard road for her. “It’ll get better,” he assured her, even though he wasn’t the one to make good on those promises. He wasn’t even sure if things would get better for his sister, but he had to keep her spirits high. He owed it to Jake.

  Jake sat on the floor, surrounded by Legos. He sprang to his feet as if gravity was for other people, and launched himself at Dev. “Uncle Dev!” The boy latched onto his leg like a limpet. “You’re keeping me tonight?”

  Dev nodded, feeling a smile curl the corners of his mouth. He couldn’t resist Jake. The boy’s biological father may have cut and run, but Dev was Jake’s from the moment he saw the baby in the nursery. He pried Jake loose and waved him back to his construction project. “I’ll be right with you, kiddo. Just need to talk to your mom and then I’ll help you build.”

  Dev joined Rhona in the kitchen, where she was packing plastic containers of leftovers into her lunch bag. “Anything I need to know?”

  She zipped up the bag, and then rubbed at her tired, red eyes. “He’s been fed, and he’s done all of his schoolwork. It’s just bath and bedtime.” She shoved everything into her tote. “There’s food in the fridge. Help yourself.”

  “And what do you need done?” Dev scanned the apartment, looking for ways to help out his sister.

  “Nothing, don’t worry about anything but Jake.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I owe you for this one, big brother.”

  “You owe me nothing. Family first,” he said, giving her a smile. When she didn’t smile back, he reached down to give her hand a squeeze. “See you when you get home.”

  He waited in the kitchen while Rhona hugged Jake good-bye. He busied himself inspecting the contents of the fridge, eventually settling on the meatloaf. Dev fixed himself a sandwich, then took it out to the living room once he heard the door shut and lock.

  “Whatcha building, kiddo?”

  ‡

  Dev propped his feet on the scarred coffee table and leaned his head back against the sofa cushions. Jake had gone to sleep pretty easily once he’d finally closed his eyes. Before that, though, there’d been Lego cities built and destroyed, a rival submarine crew to outwit in the bathtub, and more stories than Dev had thought possible.

  He reached over to the arm of the sofa so he could fish his phone out of his jacket pocket. Dev scrolled through his calls. There was one number he didn’t rec
ognize. And he had a message waiting.

  Could Cass have called him already?

  He logged in to his voicemail, cursing when he heard Wrex’s voice. How had the guy gotten his private number?

  “Sorry to bother you, Devlin,” Wrex said, in a voice that made it clear he was anything but sorry. “I just wanted to give you a chance to make some extra cash the easy way. Whatever you think it will cost to fix that Superhawk, I’ll pay you that much more not to fix it. Think it over. I’d hate to discuss the hard way…”

  Dev erased the message before Wrex could give his number, feeling a slow anger build inside him. Where did this guy get off telling Dev what work to take? Nobody dictated the jobs he took, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to start allowing it now.

  If he hadn’t already accepted the work on the Superhawk, he would have done so now just to piss Wrex off. There was something going on here, more than what Cass was telling him. He believed what she’d said about helping her brother, but there was something more going on with Wrex than just the racing.

  He dropped his phone onto the table and tried not to think about the girl who’d dumped a heap of trouble into his lap, but found it impossible. Cass had gotten under his skin already. Dev itched to run his palms down her back, to lift her lithe body in his arms and hold her against him. He wanted to see the expanse of her naked skin laid out before him. He wanted to see her ride her bike. Hell, he even wanted to see her eat breakfast. There was just something about that smart mouth, confidence, and take-no-shit attitude all wrapped in a hot little package.

  He moved to lie flat on the couch, checking his watch. He still had hours before Rhona was home from her shift. It would be early morning by then, so early that it didn’t make sense to go home at that hour. Dev pulled the blanket from the back of the sofa and wrapped up in it. He set the alarm on his phone so he could be sure to get Jake up for school so Rhona could rest. He left himself a note to call Cass and tell her what Wrex had offered him. He intended to find out why. If he was going to go to bat for the girl, he wanted to know just what he was getting into.

  Chapter 4

  Cass took the bus to the garage. Dev had said she could check on the bike whenever she liked. It had been less than a week, but she couldn’t stop thinking about her Superhawk. This was the longest she’d ever been without it. It was like her big, metallic security blanket.

  Oh, who was she kidding? She also couldn’t stop thinking about Dev. About his hands, his mouth, his eyes. And his body. Especially his body.

  She told her imagination to leave her alone. She was here to see if any progress was being made on her ride. If the work wasn’t coming along fast enough, Cass was going to have to make some hard decisions. Her mind drifted back to that night at The Coffee Cave. She had the money for a new bike, if that’s what it would take to get free of Wrex.

  The thought left a sour taste in her mouth. Dirty money to get out of the hold of a dirty guy. She supposed there was some kind of a poetic justice about the situation, but Cass didn’t find it at all amusing. She just wanted to be done with the whole stupid mess. Provided Liam didn’t make anything worse.

  She stopped at the garage bay that she knew to be Dev’s. Her Superhawk was over in the corner. Cass looked around, but saw no sign of the mechanic.

  “Dev’s in the office,” the mechanic in the next bay over offered. He was huge: at least six and a half feet tall, broad as a barge. His dark skin glistened under the overhead lights. “I’m Baron. He’ll be out in a sec.”

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Cass.” She gave him a smile.

  “Superhawk girl. Yeah, I know you.” He grinned. “Good to see you again.”

  “You do work for some of the guys at the sideshows,” she said. When he nodded, she continued. “Nice stuff. Your name gets dropped a lot.”

  He shrugged. “It pays the bills.”

  Dev stepped out of the office, stopping in surprise when he saw her. “Cass? Did you leave a message I missed?”

  She shook her head, cursing inwardly. She shouldn’t have come. She was such an idiot sometimes. Still, she was here already, so she may as well soldier on. “I didn’t call. Sorry—I’ll do that next time. I just figured since I was around, I would drop in and check on my bike.”

  “Hey, no worries,” he said, lifting his chin at Baron in greeting. “Glad you came by. Come on back.”

  “Nice talking to you, Baron,” she said as she passed.

  “Likewise, sweet thing. Likewise.”

  Dev had been working on a Kawi Vulcan. It was a gorgeous machine, meant for road trips. Not her speed, but she could see the appeal of a bike like that one day. “I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

  “Like I said, no worries.” He glanced over at her bike. “I’m afraid I haven’t gotten to do much with your Superhawk. I’m still waiting on some of the parts for it.”

  Cass found that she didn’t mind as much as she thought she would. That surprised her. But she wanted to get to know more about Dev. That was mattering more to her right now. “That’s okay. I’m just glad that it’s in good hands.”

  He looked at her, one eyebrow quirked up in surprise. “I’m sorry. Are you the same girl that walked in here on a timetable?”

  She laughed. “I can change my mind. Haven’t you heard? It’s a woman’s prerogative.”

  Dev smiled. It lit up his entire face. Cass wanted to see more of those; she wanted to be the cause of them. “I was going to grab some lunch. You want to get a bite with me?”

  She nodded. “Sure.”

  She felt the flush creeping into her cheeks as he unzipped his coveralls and slid out of them. Beneath them he wore jeans and a tank. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the corded muscles of his arms, honed from lifting heavy machines and parts. She imagined what those arms would feel like wrapped around her naked body.

  Cass managed to rip her eyes away from his sculpted muscles when she heard a low chuckle from Baron’s bay. Dev seemed oblivious to her ogling, for which she was grateful. She needed to get herself under control unless she planned on jumping him during lunch and dragging him under the table.

  “Hey man, you want anything?” Dev asked as he checked his pocket for his wallet.

  “Where you going?” came the question.

  Dev looked at her. Cass shrugged. “Anywhere is good.” She wasn’t really all that hungry. She’d started working at Lucky’s—a knockoff Chili’s—when she and Sugar had quit the coffee shop after that night. She was working a dinner shift, so she could eat for free at work.

  “Dog House?” he called to the other mechanic. Cass had been to the place; it was a walk-up hot dog stand with the best dogs in Rio Verde. Some people made it a weekly pilgrimage.

  “Yeah, man. Get me a Double Dog Combo.”

  They set off. “I’d take you somewhere that had actual chairs, but I only get a half hour.”

  “It’s no problem.” The Dog House was only a few blocks away so they could walk. “So tell me how you got into working on bikes.”

  “My dad had his own garage when I was growing up. My mom used to joke that my first word was wrench.” He looked down at her with a smile. “It just seemed a natural fit, you know. I love motorcycles, muscle cars, getting my hands dirty.”

  “Why aren’t you working at your dad’s shop?” she asked before she thought about it. “I’m sorry, that’s probably a really personal question. Forget I asked.”

  He nudged her with his elbow. “Chill out, Cass. If I don’t want to answer something, I’ll let you know.”

  She grinned, feeling a thrill zip through her at the sound of her name from his lips. “Okay. So?”

  He chuckled, a sound Cass felt down in her belly and parts lower. She was conscious of his body moving beside her, of the heat of him next to her. It was almost painful not to reach out and touch him, even for a moment. “My dad lost the shop about a decade ago, when I was still in high school.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Dev
shrugged. “Don’t be—it was a long time ago.” They stopped to wait for the light to change. “So what about you?”

  Cass cocked her head. “What about me?”

  “How’d you end up riding?” The light changed and he led them across the street. “I haven’t heard of many girls at sideshows.”

  “Because girls can’t ride?” she challenged.

  “No,” he said, nonplussed. “Because sideshows tend to be all about testosterone and dick swinging.”

  “Well, I didn’t start out intending to race. I just always had a thing for speed. Liam was the cautious one when we were younger. I was the one getting into scrapes, coming home all banged up. Liam was the good boy, the one they didn’t have to worry about.” Cass remembered her brother’s younger days fondly. He would read for hours, build massive structures out of Lincoln Logs and Legos and Bristle Blocks. Mom loved him for his quiet ways and had despaired of Cass ever calming down long enough to put down roots.

  “Not that way anymore though, huh?” Dev’s voice was kind.

  “No. Not that way anymore.” She couldn’t keep the sadness from her voice.

  Dev put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. “Come on,” he said. “If you’re really good, I’ll buy you a root beer float.”

  Cass snuggled against him, grateful for his warmth.

  Chapter 5

  Dev rolled up into the parking lot of the strip mall that was still under construction. His Indian stuck out like a sore thumb among all the crotch rockets that were gathered there. It was a pretty good turn-out for a bunch of small money races, but nowhere near the number of riders Wrex usually got at his sideshows. Tonight must be pocket change for him.

  He wanted to come by, scope out the scene. Dev had stopped coming to these things years ago, long before Wrex had shown up. When he did swing by, he only stayed a short time, and he never bet. Dev knew better than to get involved in that mess.