One Chance (Hogan Brothers 1)

Stepping forward, she grabbed his arm. “I don’t understand. What’s happening?”

The coldness she was used to was back in his hard eyes. “Nothing for you to worry about. Do as Braxton says, and everything will be fine.”

“What about Mother?” she asked. Concerned even though the other woman unmistakably hated her.

“Don’t worry about her.” His words were soft, his hand gliding down her hair in a loving caress was once again confusing. “She’ll be just fine.” There was a flicker in his eyes. Something was going on that he didn’t want to tell her.

“You’ll be okay?” she asked quietly. He wasn’t the most attentive father, but he’d shown her more love than her other parent, so she did care and wouldn’t want anything bad happening to him.

“I’ll be fine, Soph. Just stay with Braxton, please?”

“I promise.”

She watched as he walked away to the Town Car waiting to take him wherever he went. Concern flowed through her. Something was happening with her parents, and she had the feeling she would become the only causality of their war.

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.

A knot formed in Lennox’s gut as soon as Sophia had rolled away with her mother the day before and hadn’t let go. Something was happening and not having access to her was eating away at him.

A search through her mother’s file had only shown the older woman’s cell phone number, and he refused to call her. He had the feeling that if he showed his interest in Soph to her, life might get hellish for the younger Bennett woman.

He had their address so he could just stop by. Except it seemed a tad stalkerish to him, and he worried Soph’s sk

ittish attitude the day before might make her run. Staring at her address a bit longer, he debated what showing up at her doorstep might actually do.

“Ya know, you could actually just go there instead of staring at her address until your eyes cross.” Levi walked into his office, butting his damn nose in where it didn’t belong.

“Piss off, Levi,” he snapped back.

Plopping down in the chair reserved for customers, his boots landing on Nox’s desk, Levi continued on. “She might like it. Plus, you might actually get some work done instead of leaving it all to Loch and I.”

“You’re annoying as hell.” Not paying attention to what he was saying to his brother, he was giving serious thought to going to her house. She was sad when she left the day before, plus his mother was worried about her.

“I’m your little brother, I’m supposed to be. Now, will you please go see the girl. Loch and I are worried, too.” His younger brother’s voice was uncharacteristically serious as he spoke.

Without answering, Nox got up, grabbed his keys from the hook by the door, and took off for his 1964 Pontiac GTO. Levi could be heard as he slammed through the bay door in the garage. “Nice talking to you, too!”

Climbing into his classically built muscle car, Nox started her up and took off for Soph’s. He had a good fifteen minutes’ drive to plan what he was going to say when he got there and how he was going to deflect her mother if the woman was there as well.

The rumble of the 348hp Tri-power V-8 engine was music to his ears. He’d rebuilt the beauty with his father when he was sixteen and starting out as a classic car novice. The more they’d restored the vehicle, the more he’d fallen in love with engines of any kind. He had a real knack for rebuilding them and transmissions.

After tricking out the paint job on the beast in a beautiful Marimba red, he’d begun custom painting other vehicles around town in his parent’s garage. Saving up to one day open his own business. It wasn’t long before Levi and Loch had started investing their own time and money into helping him. After the summer that he’d turned eighteen, they all knew it was what they planned to do.

Four years, a business major, and a good investment later, and they’d successfully opened Hogan Bros.’ Mechanics and Restoration. The first year of building up clientele had been rocky, but they’d made it through. Now they’re booked months in advanced for restorations and weeks for regular mechanical maintenance.

There was the oddball emergency situation they took care of immediately, but thankfully, the two other mechanical shops in Loveland, Colorado picked up the overflow. Adding the restoration to their business removed the rivalry the other shops might have felt when he and his brothers opened theirs. Having a specialty meant they weren’t looking to take over the day to day mechanical issues.

Growing up in the sleepy town, he’d seen many businesses try and fail and pop up again stronger than ever before. They were resilient citizens that he admired and was happy to provide a few jobs and bring in some tourism from his custom work.

He wondered how Soph would feel about him being a grease monkey. She was so put together, refined. Like fine china his mother only took out for the holidays. She hadn’t spoken more than a fistful of words to him, so he had no idea how she was even going to react to him just showing up at her home.

Oh hell, have I turned stalker after five minutes in her presence?

He found he didn’t care if he did. She was it for him. They had a lot to learn about each other, but he had faith they would.

She was the quiet to his outgoing. The soft to his hard. The sweet to his spicy.

And he was waxing poetic now.