Page 88 of It Should Have Been You

His words ricochet around my brain as I grapple for a suitable response, eventually offering a noncommittal smile.

“I guess we’re all running from something,” he concedes.

I think he had blond hair once, but now it’s tightly shaved in a buzz cut. His biker attire seems oddly out of place in this rustic café. My gaze inadvertently falls to the embroidered patch on his leather vest.

The Kingsmen.

I was curious then. I’m curious now.

“So, what do you do exactly? In the crew, I mean?” I question, gesturing to the patch. A group of them had piled into the café twenty minutes ago, looking every bit as intimidating as the outlaw motorcycle clubs I’ve seen in movies.

Ace chuckles. “The Kingsmen aren’t what they used to be,” he explains. “Mostly just a group of friends who enjoy a good ride now and then.”

I study him, not completely sure that’s the full truth. “And what were they? Before you all became a group of friends.”

He leans in like I’m about to be let in on a secret. I find myself doing the same, eager to soak up everything he tells me.

With a devilish smirk, he whispers, “Outlaws.”

I stand back and roll my eyes. I should have known I wasn’t going to get a straight answer to a question like that.

“Don’t worry, we’re law-abiding citizens now.” He winks at me, and I hope he doesn’t notice the blush creeping to my cheeks.

Molly comes to my rescue, casting a skeptical glance over the counter. “Or they’ve just gotten better at keeping their shady shit under the radar.”

Now that is interesting. Molly’s insight seems more in line with what I suspected.

She turns to me, giving Ace the finger without looking at him. “Skip and my father founded The Kingsmen before I was born. They liked to… let’s just say… bend the law a little. Skipsteppedback when the boys came to live here.” She says it in a way that makes me think Skip didn’t step back as much as he let it seem.

Ace groans. “You gonna let her in on all club secrets?”

“What? A secret a quick Google search or a chat with Betty the Busybody won’t tell her?”

When Molly told me Ace was her brother, I didn’t quite see the resemblance… until now. With both of them practically growling at each other, there’s no denying they share blood, probably spilled some too.

“Why did Skip step back?”

“He had a family to look after. It’s a dangerous business to be in.” When she looks back at Ace, I see nothing but worry.

“Which is why we’re just a group of friends,” Ace adds with another wink.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask. I could broach the subject with Logan, but now that I’m here and already talking about it. “Logan?”

“An occasional user of our services,” Ace answers, not providing me with anything more.

What does that even mean?

This conversation feels like a labyrinth, each turn leading me deeper into the mystery.

Sensing I’m not going to get more out of this topic of conversation, I try to probe a little more into Ace. “What do you do when you’re not running around with your hairy friends?”

“Hairy friends.” He barks a laugh. “I run a garage with some of those hairy friends.”

Molly breezes by him, ruffling his shaved head affectionately before readjusting a display. “And he’s not just a grease monkey,” she teases. “My brother here also happens to be a tech genius.”

Ace laughs, a playful grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. He smiles more than any biker I’ve ever met—which I can count on one hand. “No, Moll, I just always have to hack back into your emails when you forget your passwords.”

“You’re a hacker?” The words slip out before I can stop them.

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