Manic (Rook and Ronin 2)

"Wait, what?"

Spencer takes a deep breath and then comes back to me. "OK, Rook, since Asshole over there pretty much ruined the surprise, I might as well tell you. If they like how things go in Sturgis and we give them a compelling reason to believe this show will fly, they're gonna offer us a twelve-episode season contract and we'll start filming in September. What we're doing right now is the two-hour pilot. It's a test, really. So if we got that deal, I was gonna ask you to come work for me up in the shop."

"Doing what? Sitting in the showroom naked?"

"Not the showroom, the shop. Where I build the bikes."

"But I don't build bikes, Spencer, so what would my job be?"

"Parts girl. You're like a pick-up girl, drive around and get us stuff, drop frames and tanks off at the painters, answer the phone and talk to clients."

"Hmmm." I think about it. I picture myself doing all that normal boring stuff, then look over at Ronin. "It's not modeling. Are you against this?"

I can tell by the look on his face he is, but he's in professional mode right now. "We'll talk about it in private, Rook."

Spencer growls at that answer but just goes back to work on the belt. The rest of the session is very quiet and very tense, but he was almost done anyway, so we're ready for Antoine before it gets old.

This time Ronin is the one who walks me upstairs.

If Elvis was a bike, he'd be this bike. It's even got lights on it—all sorts of gold and white and blue lights, and of course it's painted white, just like the outfit I'm wearing. I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror and I look so much better than I did yesterday in those bikinis. This outfit is like Elvis if he were a girl and he had on a sexy one-piece bathing suit covered in gems instead of a bell-bottomed jumpsuit. I have the huge sparkly belt, the long pointed collar wrapping around my neck, and just as I'm starting to wonder where the cape is, Ronin appears and shakes it at me.

"Sexy, huh?"

I nod. It really is.

"OK, Rook. Sit for Josie and I'll go change and get ready."

Oh, my heart flutters at that. Ronin in a costume. Josie is watching me as I approach and take my seat in her chair.

"Yeah," she says. "No offense, I'm not sure if you're the jealous type, but seeing Ronin dressed up for his jobs is like the best perk this place has."

I laugh. "Well, I probably should be jealous, but I'm too busy picturing him all up as Elvis!"

We giggle at that and suddenly I wonder if Josie and I could be friends. She starts brushing my hair and I decide to fill in the silence.

"Are you married, Josie?"

"Thirteen years now," she says brightly. "So when you finally meet my husband, hush on the fawning over Ronin stuff. All the boyfriends and husbands around here think us girls are secretly in love with Ronin." She winks. "But it's no secret, Rook. We are!"

I laugh at that too. I can see why. Ronin is a total catch. "Do you have kids, Josie?"

"Four."

"Really? But you look so young and I'd never be able to tell, you're so tiny and cute."

"You have the model genes and I have the baby-making genes." She shrugs. "I like it, so I'm not bitter about starting out as a teen mom. My husband was my high-school sweetheart. We weren't all that bright and well, let's just say I wasn't partying on my graduation night, I was seven months pregnant.

"We got married, and you'd think we were doomed, but it all worked out. I went to beauty school and landed a job here with Antoine and Elise almost right away. And we own a tow-truck business. That's how I met Elise, actually. She was the night dispatcher for us around the same time she was trying to decide if Antoine was the right guy for her. She said she'd give him a chance if he gave me a chance. I was just getting ready to graduate beauty school, no experience or references. And, well, the rest is history."

She's standing in front of me doing makeup and I can just tell she's thinking about her life. All the years that she's spent here in this studio. How Elise changed her luck, maybe.

"Elise is a good person, isn't she?"

Josie smiles. "She's the best, Rook. The absolute best."

I knew this the day I met her. Before she offered me the fake shampoo girl job and saved me from homelessness. I knew Elise was nice by the way she talked to me when she took me into her salon and washed my hair.

But it would've been so great to get a second opinion from someone I trusted. It would've been nice to go grab coffee with a best friend or a mom so I could run everything by them first.

Since I don't have a mom—and even if she was still alive she'd be the last person to ask for advice—and since I have no friends to double check my decisions with either, I decide to trust Josie's opinions instead. Almost everyone who works for Antoine and Elise has worked here for a significant amount of time. I think that counts as a reference.

Chapter Eighteen - ROOK

Ronin is hot.

Ronin is so f**king hot dressed up as Elvis, I can't keep my hands off him as we sit here on the amazing Shrike Elvis bike. The lights are blinking, Antoine's camera is going crazy, the shutter snapping like wild as he captures this mood we're in, and I'm about to abso-fucking-lutely lose control.

My fingertips trace down Ronin's chest, then begin unbuttoning his shirt.

"I never knew you had a thing for Elvis, Gidge," Ronin says playfully.