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On Monday, I took particular care getting ready for the day and headed for the Aces garage. My stomach was in knots as I watched the open bays, waiting for someone to come out and help me. When Rumi’s uncle Will came outside, wiping his hand on a rag, I wasn’t sure if I was feeling relief or disappointment that it wasn’t Rumi.
He still hadn’t called after he’d hung up on me Saturday night, and I refused to be the one who reached out first.
“Hey,” Will said, grinning at me as he got closer. “You finally getting that door fixed?”
“It hasn’t been broken that long,” I said with a laugh. “Geez. Does everyone know about it?”
“Well, when a member’s kid almost falls out of her car because she won’t get the door latch fixed, the story makes the rounds,” he replied dryly. “Considerin’, you know, that her grandpa works at a fuckin’ garage and it’s probably a quick fix.”
“I know, I know.” I laughed, raising my hands in surrender. “I just work a lot and I need my car, so I couldn’t leave it here.”
“Lucky for you, I can probably fix this real quick,” he said, opening my door and closing it a few times before crouching to look at the latch. “Take me less than an hour, I bet.”
“Seriously?”
Will chuckled. “Seriously. You wanna wait?”
“Hell yes,” I said happily.
“I think Rumi’s takin’ lunch here soon,” Will said as I gave him my keys. “You want me to send him out?”
“No,” I replied quickly, hiding a wince as he raised his eyebrows at me. “No, don’t worry about it. I’m good. I’ll just go inside and hang out on the couches or something.”
“Suit yourself,” he replied easily. He climbed inside my car and cursed. “Jesus, how do you fit in here?”
“Well,I’mnot a giant.” Will was a really big dude.
“Go inside,” he ordered good-naturedly. “I’ll find you when I’m done.”
My pop had mentioned that he wouldn’t be at the garage when I got there because he had something else going on, but it was still weird to be at the club without him. There had been a few times when I’d shown up with Rumi to hang out, but I could count those instances on my fingers. I’d tried to follow my grandma’s advice and not let the club become my whole personality and I may have succeeded a little too well, because while everyone knew who I was, I didn’t think very many of them actually knew me.
In the back of my mind, I’d always figured that I’d end up an old lady. Beyond the fact that deep down, I believed eventually Rumi and I would end up together, I also knew that you gravitated toward what you knew when you searched for a partner—and I knew the Aces Motorcycle Club. They were the men I’d grown up watching, my pop more than anyone else.
“Hey, Nova,” the Aces president’s wife, Brenna, called out in surprise as I walked inside the clubhouse. She was sitting at a table with a bunch of papers in front of her that she started gathering into a pile.
“Hi, Brenna,” I said, walking toward her. “Nice to see you.”
“You, too, kid!” She grinned at me. “I hear you’re starting school in the fall.”
“Aesthetician school,” I confirmed.
“Ooh.” She rubbed her hands together. “I’m going to start coming to you for my facials.”
“Perfect,” I replied, grinning at her obvious excitement as I sat down across from her. “I’ll be able to do your eyelashes and eyebrows, too.”
“Are you saying there’s something wrong with my eyelashes?”
I started to sputter a denial but stopped when she laughed.
“I’m just fucking with you.”
“Oh.” I laughed nervously. “Whew.”
“You’re too easy.”
“I mean, I could’ve told you that I’d give you a deal on Botox injections,” I replied, shrugging.
“Oh!” She reached out and gently smacked my shoulder. “Then I would’ve really kicked your ass!”
