Page 83 of Havoc
It’s fucking stunning.
Uninhibited.
The chips of ice that covered her expression a month ago have melted. Every day away from the Iron Sinners has the shadows in her eyes lightening. Her cheeks warm. Like she’s coming back to life.
“You’re back,” she says at my approach.
“And you’re here.” I stop behind her, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. “Sorry I left you with such shit company. Maybe I should have come home a day sooner.”
“You’re just jealous your girl likes us better than you.” Soul tosses a rag at me, and I narrowly dodge it.
Venom doesn’t look up from where his head is buried in the engine, but I don’t miss that he’s chuckling.
I step farther into the garage, reviewing the board on the back wall to check on the status of a few bigger projects, even though my name isn’t on any of them. It’s habit. After all these years, I still spend more time in the garage than anywhere else when Steel doesn’t have me on the road.
This is my home.
Not my father’s house. Not the clubhouse.
These bays, filled with the heavy scent of oil and rubber, are where I belong. Music hammering through the speakers. Concrete beneath my feet and the heat of Vegas rippling through the open bay doors. Nothing compares.
And to see Aimee here again after all these years fills my chest with so much hope I might burst. But I can’t say anything, or I might scare her away.
“Did you have a good trip?” Aimee’s voice comes from behind me.
I spin to find her standing close. She tucks her hair behind her ears like she does when she’s nervous, and it reveals her rosy cheeks. Cheeks that are fuller lately. It’s arelief considering how hollow her face was after the Iron Sinners starved her.
“Reno was fine.” I grab her waist and pull her closer. “But I’d rather be here.”
Aimee hums, looking up at me with her beautiful, brown eyes like she’s trying to decide whether I’m lying to her.
I’m not. It’s something Reaper made sure to call me out on the entire trip.
I made friends with the president of the Reno chapter after I got out of the military. Reaper needed help with a rival club, and Steel sent a few of us to assist—me included. I was there for a few months, splitting my time between partying with him and his club and helping him eliminate their rivals. Reaper has only known me as a bitter, single man.
But this trip, I couldn’t stop grinning. Not when Aimee regularly called and texted. I’d go to bed early just to lock myself in a room to talk to her. Reaper gave me shit for two days, but I couldn’t care less.
Standing over Aimee now, soaking in her honey-brown eyes, I can’t understand why the guys even bother trying to test my loyalty to her. Everything from the point of her nose to the freckles that dot below her left eye is a work of art I can’t look away from.
My firecracker.
“Hopefully the guys weren’t total assholes while I was gone.”
“No more than usual.” She shrugs.
“Hey,” Soul shouts from the bay, but he’s not actually offended. “You fucking love us.”
“You’re fine, I guess.” Aimee shoots him a playful smile.
He shakes his head. “We’re taking off for the night. You good to close?”
“I got it.”
Closing doesn’t consist of much more than shutting the garage doors since the shop shut down an hour ago.
Venom slams the hood, and they both quickly clean up before leaving. Then it’s just me and Aimee.
“I wasn’t expecting you back until later tonight.” She lifts onto one of the metal workbenches, looking too damn beautiful in jeans and a simple T-shirt. “Too bad you’re leaving again tomorrow.”
