Often (Iron Orchids Book 4)

by Danielle Norman

  “Ciao.”

  I padded into my bedroom, Throttle under one arm, and I was ready for a nap.

  Monday morning came way too early. I shifted gears and turned into the parking lot of the shop and parked next to a police cruiser, shaking my head at whatever dumb fuck tried to break in during the night. Unfortunately a few times a year someone would try.

  I was heading to my station when I was stopped.

  “Leo, can you come here?”

  “Hey, what’s up?” I gave Mike a chin nod before saying hi to the two deputies sitting in his office.

  “Leo, take a seat, please.” He signaled to the chair next to his desk. “These deputies have a few questions that they’d like to ask you.” Mike turned his focus back to the deputies, who strangely reminded me of Han Solo and Chewbacca. Maybe because one was very good-looking and the other was...well, hairy and huge.

  “Okay, shoot, I’ll answer whatever I can.” I looked up at the deputies, and I wasn’t sure what I was expecting them to ask me, maybe something about bikes. But the looks on their faces told me that our thoughts weren’t on the same wavelength.

  “Miss Scarvoni, were you the last mechanic to work on Max Lancaster’s Orange County issued sheriff’s motorcycle?”

  “I’d have to look it up, but more than likely, yes.” Mike turned his computer toward me, and I scanned the screen. “Yes, sir, I was.”

  “And when was that?” Chewbacca asked.

  I scanned the screen again for the last date entry, wondering whether they had already asked Mike these questions. “Just last Tuesday.”

  “And what did he come in for?”

  Again, I scanned the repot. “It was just regular maintenance this time, not one thing. So I just changed his oil and filters and made sure his suspension was properly calibrated.”

  “And you say this is standard, but you still didn’t remember that?” Neither officer was smiling. I’d never been on bad terms with law enforcement, so to have them scowling at me was discomforting.

  “No, I’m sorry it was almost a week ago. I talk to these deputies so often as friends that unless it was something out of the norm, it doesn’t usually stick with me.”

  “Do you normally work on his bike?”

  “Yes.”

  “May I ask why? There are several mechanics here, are there not?” Chewbacca pointed out to the garage.

  “One thing that I’m sure you’re aware of is that law enforcement have to be careful with who touches their stuff. It isn’t a problem here at this shop, but you never know what prejudices a person might have. When Sergeant Haines was in charge of motors, the guys requested that I work on their bikes since his wife—now widow—is a good friend of mine. It isn’t anything against any of the other guys here, it’s just a habit thing now. Most of them are more like family to me than anything else.” I had a pang in my heart at the thought of the day I’d heard Mike was killed and then sitting with Vivian at the funeral. I slid my hands under my thighs, nervous because I had no clue what was up with the twenty questions.

  “And who would that be?” Chewbacca asked.

  “Family?”

  “Yes. You said that some of the current deputies were like family.”

  “Kayson Christakos, Carter Lang, and Piper Beaumont.”

  “But they aren’t actually family, are they?”

  “No. What’s this have to do with anything?”

  “Could you tell us where you were Saturday evening?”

  Why in the hell were they asking me about Saturday? I shifted, forcing myself not to cross my arms and demand to know what this was really about, and then I looked Chewbacca right in the eyes.

  “At Kayson Christakos’s wedding.”

  “And what time did you leave the wedding?”

  “I didn’t till the next day. I stayed at the hotel. Why?”

  “Hold on one second.”

  I watched as Chewbacca held up his radio to his ear and then walked off to talk with Han Solo. I looked at my boss, but he was not meeting my eyes, something was definitely wrong. I had no clue what this had to do with Max Lancaster. The deputies returned, looking none too happy.

  “Miss Scarvoni, Deputy Max Lancaster was in an accident early Sunday morning, and from our preliminary investigation, it appears that his brake pads had been tampered with. This is the shop that the county uses, so we are just trying to put the pieces together.”

  “Wait, Max was in an accident? Is he okay?”

  “We can’t share that information.”

  “Please, he’s a friend,” I insisted.

  “Miss?” Han Solo, who had been silent the majority of the time, stepped forward. “Can you please tell us about the brake pads on his style bike, how could someone tamper with them? That’s the best way to help him right now. We will tell you that it wasn’t serious.”

  I nodded. “Sure, follow me.” I turned to my boss. “Do you know if we have a Road King in any of the bays right now?” My mind was riddled with thoughts about Max and if he was really okay.

  He clicked a few buttons on his keyboard. “Number four.”

  I led the way as both deputies and my boss trailed behind.

  “I don’t know all the details since you are being extremely vague, but here is where your brake pads are located.” I pointed to the front and rear brakes that were controlled by hand gears and a foot gear. “All someone would need is a basic tool like this." I held up a small all-purpose utility tool. “One comes with every Harley, and most places sell them. Heck, many Swiss Army knives have comparable attachments that would work.”

  “So what do you do to access the pads?”

  “Twist here and here.” I flipped the tool. “Remove this, which is the front of the brake caliper. It takes less than five minutes.”

  “How about switching the brake pads with each other?

  “You mean reverse so that the shiny side is touching the rotors?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Take this black pad and turn it around on the caliper and take that pad and turn it around on that caliper, boom, done. Super easy, but you won’t get far. I doubt that you’d get five miles before you try to brake and realize that you just don’t have the stopping power. Is there anything else I can show you?” I was willing to do whatever I could to help them figure out what happened to Max’s bike.

  “One more thing, do you mind if we see your work station?” Chewbacca asked. Okay, I knew that in the movies Chewey did the least talking, but in this duo that was different.

  “Follow me.” I led them to the very first station, which was right by Mike’s office. “Here you go. Help yourself.” I stood back.

  “No, that’s okay. Wow, you have a lot of stickers.”

  “Uh.” I know that it came out as more as an are you fucking kidding me? “Those aren’t stickers, per-say. They’re endorsement, you know, certs. You guys earn them too. I just don’t have a uniform to stick them on, so they go onto my MMI diploma.”

  “MMI? Motorcycle Mechanics Institute?”

  “Yep.”

  “That’s impressive and pricey.”

  “Tell me about it, on the price I mean. Then almost double it just for the Harley certification. Now, is there anything else?"

  “No, that’s all. We’ll be in touch if we need you.”

  I watched as both deputies left, and then turned to look at my boss, who shrugged, obviously as lost as I was by the whole thing.

  Before I knew it, my workday was over, and I was back on my bike and merging onto the interstate. God, I hated this time of year, all the tourists trying to get in one last vacation before their kids went back to school. Everyone in a fucking hurry.

  I blew my horn. “Watch it, asshole. You have mirrors, use them.” Why didn’t people look before they changed lanes? I sped up to place myself in the driver’s line of sight, which would have worked if said driver had heard my advice about mirrors.

  Fuck. What the fuck? I honked. She still merged. I looked to m
y right and knew that I was going down. The motherfucker. Fuck.

  I jumped from my bike, knowing that the car was going to take it and I didn’t want to be caught up in it. Hell, I knew all the proper things to do in this type of scenario, but knowing and doing were two different things. At seventy miles an hour with my adrenaline pumping, it wasn’t so easy to think straight. So, I pushed off from the pegs, aimed for the shoulder of the road, and tucked my head, hoping I would roll away from the traffic coming up behind me. The sound of crunching metal was dulled by the echoing thunder of my helmet as I hit the asphalt and my head bounced...one, two, three times before I came to a stop in the median. Heat shot up my leg, the burning raw sensation stung and pulsed in pain from my knee to my hip I tried to catch my breath.

  The next moments were a blur of tires screeching and horn blasts. I forced myself to sit up, and was sliding my helmet off as a teenager dropped to the ground beside me.

  “Are you okay? I saw what happened. I’ve called 9-1-1.”

  I shook my head to try to settle everything as I tried to figure out how badly I was injured.

  “Yeah, I think so.” My left leg was on fire, my palms were bloody, and I was positive I would have some bruises, but other than that, I felt fine. Sure, my jeans were ruined and my ego took a hit, but I would live. “Can you help me stand?”

  The kid reached to grab my hand and then supported my elbow as I pulled myself to my feet.

  I should have stayed on the ground.

  As soon as I saw Daenerys, my motorcycle, I wanted to collapse.

  An ambulance barreled down the shoulder and stopped five or six feet away from where the guy and I were standing. When I looked over to it, Everly, one of the Iron Orchids, was rushing to me.

  “Holy fuck, Leo. Oh my God, are you okay?”

  The first time in my entire life I’d ever had the paramedics called, and it had to be Everly’s squad. It was both a blessing and a curse. I trusted her implicitly but it was a little humiliating for her to see me this way.

  “Here, sit, let me check you out. What happened?”

  I started to recount the events, when a highway patrolman pulled up. “Can I wait for him so that I only have to tell it once?”

  Everly nodded. “Of course.”

  By the time the officer made his way over to me, Everly had gauze on my cuts and a shock blanket around me. I told my version of the story, and thankfully, the teenager had stayed around to back me up.

  “Yeah, I saw the car, it cut her off a few times. The last time, the other driver didn’t even look before she merged. The bike honked and honked, but the car came over anyway. The woman didn’t even stop. I wrote down what I could remember of the license plate number.” The teenager, whose name was Lloyd, pulled his phone out and read. “It was a Save the Manatees tag. The first letters were L-R, those were easy since they’re my initials. I couldn’t remember the next two but the last were seventy-four. Oh, and it was an older red Hyundai Sonata. I hope that helps.”

  “Believe it or not, more than you realize,” the officer said before he handed me a copy of the police report. “You will need to turn this into your insurance company for the claim.”

  “Thank you.” The officer nodded and strode back to his cruiser, leaving me no choice but to turn to Everly.

  I didn’t want to go to the hospital, but she was demanding it. I was sure I could refuse if I wanted, but I wasn’t willing to fight with one of my best friends.

  “My bike. I have to get it towed.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I took care of everything. We’re just taking you over to Sand Lake Hospital, so you should be in and out. I just want to make sure that nothing is broken. Okay, humor me.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” I smiled, which was when I realized that my face hurt as well.

  Before she loaded me up, I turned to Lloyd. “Thank you. I work at Harley if you ever need anything, okay?”

  He gave me a smile and held out his fist, I fist bumped the best that I could.Everly closed the doors on the rescue truck and we were on our way to the hospital. She sat in back with me, holding my hand for the whole five minutes that it took to get to Sand Lake Hospital. Still holding on to me, she helped her partner roll me back into the ER and waited with me until the nurse told her which room to put me in.

  “Thanks, Ev.” I gave her a gentle hug, but I was shocked by how difficult that was, I was really getting stiff.

  “I’m on until eight tomorrow morning, so I’ll call you and check in. Love you. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Okay, will do.”

  Everly walked out, and a few minutes later, she came back in. “Hey, you have company.”

  I rolled my eyes, ready for Sophie to go all mom on me.

  “Sure, send her back.”

  Everly’s eyes lit up, but she didn’t say a word as she left again. When the curtain moved again, it wasn’t Sophie who walked in.

  “Oh, beautiful, what happened?” Ian took hold of my hand that didn’t have the IV or the pulse oximeter and then leaned in to place a gentle kiss on my lips.

  He kissed me as if it were the most natural thing in the world when it was anything but.

  That was when it hit me. I, Leo Scarvoni, biker chic, badassedness to the tenth degree, broke down and cried. Ian, to his credit, didn’t shy away. His strong arms slid around me and he pulled me close.

  “I hurt. Daenerys was destroyed. I don’t know how I’m going to get her.” I sniffled then continued. “I don’t know how I’m getting home. I’ve got to go to work in the morning. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Shhh. Why do you think I’m here?”

  I pulled back and swiped my hand over one cheek and then the other. “I don’t know. Why are you here? I thought Soph would come.”

  “I was at Carter and Sophie’s when Everly called. She wanted to come, but I talked her into going to your place to get you some stuff instead since she’s the only one with a key. I hope that’s okay.”

  “Why?” I asked, not understanding why she would need to get me anything or why he wanted to be the one to get me.

  “Why what?” Ian looked at me as though I’d lost my marbles.

  “Why is she getting me some stuff. Can’t you just take me to my apartment once we leave here?”

  “No. You are not going to be left alone. I know that you’re tough and can do things on you own, but tonight, you’re going to let me do something for you. I promise no funny business. I just want to take care of you.”

  8

  Ian

  “Okay, Miss Scarvoni, the doctor said you are free to go. Looks like you were lucky.” A nurse moved next to Leo and started peeling the tape off the IV.

  “Yeah, real lucky.”

  “You’re going to be sore. Unfortunately, you probably won’t feel the full force of it until about the third day. So, if you notice any abnormal swelling, get a fever, or any new discoloration, come back in. The doctor gave you a note if you need it, he’d like you to rest for a few days just to let your muscles heal. You took quite an impact. Keep on the ibuprofen for the pain and inflammation.” She put a cotton ball on the spot and covered it with medical tape. “Here are two prescriptions”—she handed Leo some papers—“one is for an ointment, put that on your hip every twelve hours when you change your gauze. The other is an antibiotic that you need to take twice a day with food. If you have any questions, you can call the number on the bottom of the first form or come back to the ER.”

  It was a lot of information, and I was glad that I was paying attention because Leo looked zoned out.

  When the nurse left the room, I stared at Leo and Leo stared back at me but neither of us said a word until her eyes flicked down to the paper gown she had on.

  “Shit. You need to get dressed, don’t you?”

  “Kind of. Unless, of course, you think it’s a better idea for me to walk around in this thing.” She shifted nervously.

  “Are you going to need help? I can
help you.”

  “No, I have it, thanks. It isn’t that bad.”

  “Okay, I’ll be just outside the curtain, holler if you need me.” I held out my hand to help Leo stand, and when she didn’t try to stop me, I stepped out.

  I listened to the tiny hisses of pain she tried to hide and felt sorry for her. She was so determined not to need help that she was willing to endure whatever she was going through in there and just to prove her point.

  There was another hiss of pain, and this time, she punctuated it with a few choice curse words.

  “You need help in there?”

  “No. I have it.” Her voice was a cross between pain and frustration.

  I’d waited outside the door for at least ten minutes giving her time, until she shouted, “Fuck it.”

  Enough was enough, she’d proved her point, I was going in. Slipping around the curtain, I fought to hold back my smile. She’d managed to get dressed but was sitting on the floor trying to put her boots on. “Here, let me help.” I bent and laced up her boots. Then, when I stood, I leaned down and gave her a light kiss. “What was all the hissing and grumbling about for?”

  “My bra. I didn’t realize how much flexibility it required until I discovered that I was too sore to stretch.”

  “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” I picked up her papers that were lying on the counter and held Leo’s hand as we walked out.

  “Stay here.” I ordered as we got to the front of the hospital. I dashed through the parking lot to get my car and pull it up to the curb for her. “Your chariot.” Helping her in, it hurt me to see how sore she was just by her movements. “What pharmacy do you use?” I wanted to make sure to get her prescriptions filled before they closed.

  “Walgreens.”

  “Babe, I know you feel like shit, but I’m glad nothing worse happened.”

  “You aren’t going to give me a lecture about how dangerous motorcycles are?”

  “God no, riding makes you happy. I’d never want to take away something that puts a smile on your face. I’ve seen the way you and your friends are when you’re together and on your bikes. I’m just happy that you didn’t get seriously injured.”