ring thin and getting on my last nerve.”
“So’s your refusal to live your life.”
Monster looked up at him. “This is me living the best way I know how. You want me to say it for you? I freak women out. You think I can get my rocks off while she’s cringing and staring at my disfiguration? It’s not a good time for me.”
“What are you talking about? The biker bunnies are lined up to get in bed with you.”
“To get to you, or because they think I’m an easy way to old lady status. Their eyes are dead. Would you want to sleep with someone forcing themselves to be with you?”
The light left his brother's blue eyes and he mentally swore.
“Look I’ve accepted my fate. Maybe it’s time you do too. I can’t be like you, Pan. The sooner you accept that, the easier things will be for the both of us.” Monster broke eye contact and returned to repairing the bike they’d been restoring post-accident.
“And just like that, I’m dismissed?”
“I don’t know what you want me to tell you.” Monster shrugged.
“That you’re going to start living, dammit.” Pan kicked his creeper across the garage.
Monster bowed his head. It always got tense between the two of them around this time of year, when the anniversary came around.
“Who determines what’s living? I have a job I fucking love, a family who’s willing to die for me and always has my back and when I need it. I have pussy.”
“But you’re not happy. Don’t you see that’s why I keep hashing this out with you? I can see it in your eyes, brother. It’s like you’re never fully here with me and that eats me up inside. If it hadn’t been for me—”
“No.” Monster cut him off. “Saving you was second nature. You would’ve done the same thing and you know it.”
“Yeah, but look at what it cost you. I’m the one who has to live with that.”
“There’s nothing to—”
The door to the front of the shop opened and the alarm beeped. Monster exhaled. “We’ll finish this talk later.”
Pan nodded and walked away.
“Yo, anyone here yet?” Chase’s voice reached them in the garage.
“Yeah, Chase, me and Pan are working.”
“Good, come meet our newest co-worker.”
Monster set his tools aside carefully and rose, steeling himself for the response. He was massive at six-foot-three, and the scars that covered the majority of the left side of his body added to the intimidation factor. He rolled his shoulders to loosen up the stiff muscles.
Pan replaced his mask. The boyish grin accompanied by a devilish twinkle in his blue eyes returned. Pan was an entertainer. A caricature.
Monster envied his ability to hide in plain sight. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, he navigated through the bay into the office. The sight that greeted him stalled his heart momentarily.
At that moment, the tall, slender, brown-skinned woman made him feel like life might be returning to a battered soul. His match in every way and he wanted her instantly.
She stood a bit above average height. Her hazel-colored eyes held caution and wariness. A steely expression that only came with the hardest knocks life could offer up lined what should've been delicate facial features. Faded scars covered her flesh, telling a story of pain. Her face was heart-shaped and elegantly formed.
She would understand me. For him, the scars turned her face into a surreal form of art. So much beauty not ruined, but transformed into strength. His stomach twisted itself into knots and his mouth went dry.
“Hey, this is our new office manager and go-to girl, Symone, once I get her trained up properly.”
Symone. He turned the name around in his head…sensual and exotic, like the woman in front of him. Her black button-down dress hugged her curves and skimmed her knees. He wanted her legs wrapped around his hips and her red pumps digging into his back. His cock twitched and he shifted his weight.
“Symone, this is Pan, the flirt, and his brother, Monster.”