High-Sided: An Armed & Dangerous Novel (5 page)

After riding through the Tail of the Dragon, we’d decided to take a break at the Deals Gap shop, where all the bikers congregated after surviving through the curviest road on the east coast. The first time I’d gone through it was on the back of Logan’s bike, many years ago.

“Nope.” I huffed. “He continues to avoid me like the plague. He probably thinks if enough time goes by, I’ll forget. But I’m not going to let up.” It’d been a week now and my dad had basically disappeared. When I tried to call, he explained it by saying he wanted Sean and I to get used to handling the business on our own. What made it worse was, I knew he was talking to Levi behind my back. I had no clue why or what was going on. Even Levi had managed to avoid me.

“Hey, Kass,” a voice called out. I turned and smiled as my old high school friend, Janie, hopped off what looked to be a new sport bike and sat down beside me. We’d lost touch when we went to different colleges. Now she was back, working as an elementary school teacher. “How are you? I haven’t seen you around much in the last month.”

Her gaze found Sean’s and her cheeks flushed. She was a beautiful woman with bright blonde hair and gray eyes. I kept hoping he’d transfer his feelings for me onto someone else. Maybe there was something to work with here.

“I wasn’t in town much,” I said. “After my mom died, I spent most of my time at her house, cleaning it out.”

She rubbed a hand down my arm. “I heard about your mother. I’m so sorry for your loss. She was the best.”

I shrugged. “Thanks. We knew it was going to happen, but it was still a low blow.” Glancing over my shoulder, I nodded at the shiny new, silver Yamaha R6. “Is that new?”

Her face brightened. “Yep, got it a couple of weeks ago. It’s so much better than my last one. We should go riding together sometime. I’m meeting my brother and his friends here.”

I knew who they were, and needless to say, there was bad blood. Her twin brother, Brandon, was a good guy, but it was his friends who were the problem. A couple of them had tried out to race for my father, but he’d turned them down, leaving a bad taste in their mouths.

“Sounds good,” I said. “But you know I can’t ride with your brother’s friends. They don’t exactly care for my family.”

She nodded. “I know. I don’t understand it though. I mean, they got a spot on the Hendrix Racing team. I guess they wanted to be on the best.”

Sean scoffed. “They’re far from it.” I glared at him and he shrugged. “What? It’s the truth. We had about thirty racers try out and we could only take three. What’d they expect?”

“I agree,” Janie replied. “They just don’t want to hear it.”

More racers pulled into the parking lot, and thankfully, none of them were Brandon’s friends. But Levi was one of them. He parked his bike next to mine and lifted his helmet. From the look on his face, he was pissed. He stormed over and sat down beside Sean, intentionally avoiding my angry stare.

“Just save it, Kass. I know you’re angry with me,” he said.

I snorted. “You’re damn right I am. You can make it up to me by telling me what the hell’s going on. Why are you and my dad keeping things from us?”

Huffing, he ran his hands over his face. “It doesn’t matter now. The guy we thought could help turned us down.”

Janie nudged me in the side. “Is everything okay?”

I shrugged, keeping my focus on Levi, who’d finally met my gaze. “That’s a good question.”

“So who were you trying to get help from?” Sean asked.

Levi shook his head. “Nobody. Just forget it. Looks like we’re going to have to figure out the mystery on our own.”

Janie’s brows furrowed. “Mystery? Does this have to do with what happened to your pit crew manager?”

“How did you hear about that?” I gasped.

“Bad news travels fast in the racing world. I heard Mark and Jacob talking about it the other day.” Her brother’s friends hated me, and the feeling was mutual. It all started when I turned Jacob down for a date, and ever since, everything had gone downhill.

“Wait a minute,” I blurted, meeting Levi and Sean’s gazes. “Ethan said my father had enemies outside of the racing world, but what about the ones close by? The people at Hendrix hate us. What if they had something to do with all of this?”

Levi shrugged. “It’s possible, but why would they frame Ethan?”

“Good point,” Sean replied. “Makes no sense. Why go after him and not one of the racers?”

Huffing, I rolled my eyes. Surely, I wasn’t the only one who could see what was going on. “Because he’s one of the best mechanics out there. We have more to lose than our riders. Now that Ethan’s gone, he’s free to work for someone else.” But that wasn’t the end of our problems.

“That’s not all,” Levi sighed as the realization set in. “Now that we’re short a mechanic, your dad will have to hire someone else. We’ll have to put our trust into someone we don’t know.”

“Not unless we bring Ethan back,” Sean supplied. “All we have to do is prove his innocence. We have a starting point with Hendrix. Let’s find someone who can get in there and ask questions.”

His eyes quickly darted over to Janie and I smiled.

Her eyes went wide. “Seriously? You want me?” she exclaimed.

“Please,” I begged. “I’ve seen the way Mark looks at you. He’ll let things slip if you get close to him.”

She sighed in defeat. “Okay, I’ll do it, but only because you’re my friend.”

I knew the main reason she agreed . . . and he was sitting right across from me. Her attention switched to something over my shoulder and I didn’t have to look to know it was her brother and the others getting close.

Janie leaned down conspiratorially. “If you want me to do this, I probably shouldn’t be seen with you. I’ll call if I find out anything.” She slipped away, before the guys could see her sitting at our table.

“So help me God, if they fuck with us, I won’t be able to control myself,” Levi growled as the group pulled in.

“Ignore them,” I whispered. “They’re not worth it.” I’d said the warning, but knew without a doubt, both Levi and Sean wouldn’t be able to keep their cool if something was said.

“What’s up, Mills?” Jacob called out. “Heard you weren’t racing anymore. Is it because you’re afraid to race against me?”

Sean leaned back and smirked, his fists clenched tight. “Nah, I’ve already beat you more times than I can count. Figured it was time to let someone else kick your ass for a change.”

Levi snickered and I glared at them both, mouthing the words
stop it
. Unfortunately, they didn’t listen.

“Fuck you,” Jacob spat.

“All right, I think it’s time to go,” I said, getting up. I didn’t realize Jacob was right behind me until I bumped into him. “Excuse me.”

He smiled down at me and bit his lip. “So you’re owner of Bennett Pro Racing now?”

“Co-owner, yes. What’s it to you?”

Janie walked out of the store and joined her brother. They stood back, while Jacob and Mark flanked me. I could feel Sean and Levi at my back. If they got into a fight, I’d be right in the middle of it.

Jacob’s fingers slid down my arm and I jerked away. “Good to hear. I like my women on top.”

Snarling, Sean stepped in front of me and pushed him away. “Touch her again and I’ll break your fucking neck,” he warned, as Jacob laughed.

“Hey, let’s go,” I snapped. “We’ve wasted enough time here.” I grabbed Sean’s arm, and he reluctantly gave in. We started toward our bikes, but it wasn’t fast enough.

“Just because you can’t fuck her, doesn’t mean I can’t,” Jacob shouted. “I’ve heard she gives one hell of a ride.”

Sean’s eyes blazed, and it was as if everything moved in slow motion. He lunged straight for Jacob and they went tumbling to the ground. When Mark tried to grab Sean, Levi tackled him, throwing a right jab. I thought Janie’s brother would try to help out his friends, but all he did was stand back and shake his head disapprovingly.

Sean punched Jacob several times in the face, then pushed him against the ground before getting up. Levi was still rolling around on the ground with Mark, but Sean separated them. Mark jumped to his feet and so did Jacob, wiping the blood from his nose with his shirt.

“You’re gonna pay for that, fucker,” Jacob growled.

Sean shook his head. “Not scared in the least.” He turned to me and pushed me toward my bike. “Let’s go. Levi, meet us at Kassidy’s house.”

Levi hopped on his bike. “I’ll be there soon. Got a stop to make first.”

I started up my bike and sped out as fast as I could, both guys following behind me. It wasn’t going to take long for my father to find out what had happened.

Sean sat down on the front porch swing, and I joined him. Thunder rumbled overhead, the smell of rain in the air. Sighing, I looked to the storm rolling in. “I hope Levi went home to get his car before coming over here.”

“I’m sure he did. It’s not fun riding in the rain.”

I looked down at his bandaged hands. I’d spent the last two hours cleaning them up. “Why did you have to fight Jacob? All you had to do was walk away.” His left eye was slightly swollen, but that was the only other visible injury. Jacob and Sean were about the same size, but he was no match for Sean.

Huffing, he averted his gaze to the mountains. “I couldn’t, not after what the bastard said. And he had no business touching you.”

“True, but I can handle myself. A swift kick to the nuts would’ve worked fine.”

“That would’ve been hilarious.” He chuckled.

The rain came down and the thunder rumbled again. I loved the sound of the rain hitting my tin roof. It felt like such a long time ago when my sister and I would sit on the front porch of my parents’ house and watch it rain.

I closed my eyes and breathed in the clean, mountain air. “I miss the way things used to be,” I whispered, opening my eyes back up.

Sean looked over at me. “Like when?”

I shrugged. “When I was younger. Things were much easier back then. I miss my mom and Maddie.”

He squeezed my shoulder. “I know you do. I miss my dad too. But that’s why we have each other and our friends to help us through.”

A set of headlights blared from the top of my driveway and I stood to see who it was. I thought it would be Levi, but it turned out to be my father, in his old, red truck. “Uh-oh. This isn’t going to be good.”

Sean got to his feet and joined me, trying his best to keep his bandaged hands out of view. My father pulled down to the front of the house and took his time getting out of his truck. The rain poured harder, but he slowly walked up, seemingly not caring that he was getting wet. He hadn’t even looked at us either, which wasn’t a good sign.

Trudging up each step like the world was on his shoulders, he finally lifted his head when he got to the top. He stared at us and I waited for him to speak, but he never did.

I held up my hands. “I know what you’re going to say, but I’ll go ahead and tell you upfront, they deserved it.”

His brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

I glanced at Sean and he was as clueless as me. “I figured you came because of the fight,” I said, turning my attention back to him.

He shook his head. “What fight?”

“The one between Mark and Jacob and me and Levi,” Sean answered. “We thought that was why you were here; to bitch us out for being stupid.”

Eyes wide, my dad’s face went pale. He got a good look at Sean’s face and hands. “What was it about?” Sean’s jaw clenched and he glanced at me. “What was it about?” my dad repeated, near shouting. He grabbed Sean by the shirt, his expression wild and dangerous. I’d never seen him so out of control, not even when he fired Ethan.

Sean snarled and jerked out of my father’s grasp. “The cocksucker touched your daughter and made a comment about fucking her. If you were there, I’m sure you’d have done a lot more damage than I did. Personally, I wanted to beat his head against the concrete.”

My dad stumbled back, almost as if he was drunk. “When did this happen?” he asked, his voice thick.

“A couple hours ago,” I said.

He ran a hand down his face and leaned over the front porch railing. His breathing became shallow and his knuckles turned white from clenching the railing so hard.