Page 28 of Ace of Spades

Maybe I should suggest a paternity test. Maybe I should reassure him that I don't want anything from him. I just needed to meet him. To complete a missing piece in the puzzle of who I am.

Ever since Mom passed I’ve been flailing. The ground beneath me shifting like unpredictable sands.

But Brody seems to be taking the news in stride. Like he's waited his whole life for something like this to happen to him.

It's Levi's bristled posture that is more what I expected. When I look over at him, he looks stressed.

"Levi? You staying for breakfast, too?" Maggie asks him.

Levi sighs but then looks at Maggie. "If you're cooking it, I'm eating it, Mags."

I thought he would run. That he'd take this opportunity to get as far away from me and this situation as possible.

But instead, he stays.

His eyes reading my every word. My every movement. It's like he's analyzing me and trying to determine what my game is.

Levi doesn’t trust me.

And that unnerves me the most.

Chapter7

Levi

"Skid, hand me that clipboard next to the Honda. Will ya?"

Joey pops his head up from the bike he’s currently working on.

"On it, boss!"

I pull open the last garage door just as Joey is passing me the clipboard.

“Anyone seen Benji?”

“He was on the phone with the owner of the Indian Four,” Skid says.

I sigh and crack my neck. That can’t be good. We’re already a week behind on that rebuild. And that particular customer has already threatened to take his business across the pass.

The back door opens and Benji steps in from the outside area.

“What now?”I call out to him.

Benji lifts up his fist and holds it out for a moment before giving us an unexpected thumbs up. I let out the breath I’m holding in.

"Alright, looks like we have two new bikes being dropped off this morning. Benji?" I call out to my lead. "How's that engine rebuild coming along?"

"You want the good news or the bad news?" Benji replies.

"Honestly, I'd like whatever news is the truth."

"Well, it's coming along like molasses in January," he says with as much enthusiasm as a teenager waking to go to school.

“So what’s the good news?” I ask.

“That it’s coming along,” he says with a smirk. “And I just talked the owner off the cliff.”

"Great, so I won't have you until next week?"

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