“Yeah.”
My stomach did that annoying flutter again.I turned back to the bike so he wouldn’t see whatever had probably crossed my face.“An ex had one.Years ago.He liked the idea of owning a bike more than actually riding it.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning he bought one, posed with it, talked about it constantly, then sold it after he dropped it in a gas station parking lot.”
Wheels barked out a laugh.“Please tell me he was wearing fingerless gloves.”
“He was.”
“Fucking tool.”
I cleared my throat and looked down at my backpack strap.“So, what else is on the tour?”
Wheels watched me for another second, then pushed off the bench.“Outside.”
He led me through the back garage door into the alley behind the building.The sun was bright enough to make me blink.After the dim clubhouse and work lights, the outside world felt too exposed.
My body reacted before my brain did.My shoulders were tight, and my eyes scanned.
Wheels stepped beside me, not in front of me, but close enough that I knew he could move if he had to.
“You’re good,” he said.
I hated how much I wanted to believe him.
The back alley held bikes—Wheels’ and Nugget’s bikes—a couple of trucks, and a dumpster that had seen better decades.The alley stretched toward the street one way and curved behind neighboring buildings the other.
My stomach twisted.“I’m sorry,” I said.
Wheels looked at me.“For what?”
“Having to watch your back every second.The bar.The clubhouse.Britta getting shot.All of it.”
“You didn’t shoot anybody.”
“No, but I brought the papers.”
“You brought a warning.”
“I brought trouble.”
He turned fully toward me.“Goldie.”The way he said my name made me stop.Not because it was loud, because it wasn’t.It was steady.“You didn’t bring this fight.It was already here.”
I looked away.
He kept going.“They burned Tempi’s bar before you walked through our door.They shot at Swift before you gave me that envelope.They buried us in permit bullshit before we knew your name.”
“I made it worse.”
“You made it clear.”
I stared at him.
He held my gaze like he had all the time in the world and nowhere else to be.“You brought us a map,” he said.“Maybe not all the answers, but enough to know where to start.”
My throat tightened.“I was scared.”
