Page 48 of Girth (Marked Skulls MC 1)
“About what?”
“You’re the light of my life and you make me immensely happy every single day.”
She beamed, her face full of love. “Aww, Noah.”
“And there is no one else I want to be with. Seriously, it’s like you’re my drug and cure at the same time, and I can’t imagine my life without you.”
I went down on one knee, watching her lips parting in surprise. “Noah?” she asked, clearly confused. I pulled a small black box out of my pocket and opened it, revealing a heart-shaped diamond ring to her.
“I love you, Emma. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So, will you marry me?”
“Oh God.” She pressed her hand across her mouth, breathing more quickly. “Oh my God.” Her eyes filled with tears, her lips curling into a shaky smile. “Yes! Oh God, yes!”
An immense joy spread through me, and I stood up to kiss her, wanting to show her just how much she meant to me.
“I love you so much,” I told her and showered her face with tiny kisses. I never felt happier than now.
“Oh, I love you too! You’re my everything.”
I took the ring and put it on her left ring finger, a smile plastered to my face. My eyes filled with tears at the sight of the ring on her finger. She was mine, and I was going to protect her forever.
“It’s beautiful,” she said with tears in her eyes, and I felt relieved. I felt so nervous when I went to look for the ring, hoping I would find something she was going to like.
“You like it?”
“Like it? I love it! Just like you. You’re the sweetest man I’ve ever met. You’re the best!”
We ended hugging again, our lips coming together. Everything came to its place, and I was sure we were in for a bright and joyful ride of our lives. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Rider (The Fallen Reapers MC)
by Savannah Rylan
Chapter 1
Rider
Rolling myself underneath this fucking car for the third time that week had me fuming. What the fuck did this customer expect from us? If you didn’t take care of your shit, then it would constantly break down. With cars, you gotta change the fluids, change the oil, and maintenance the damn thing. When you ride a used car hard, you gotta make sure you know what you’re doing. It wasn’t my damn fault the customer wanted to drag race with some fucked up hooptie. And it sure as hell wasn’t my job to fix it up.
I was a mechanic. Not a chop shop.
“Third time this week,” Colt said. “That’s fucked up.”
“No. What’s fucked up is this guy’s put some bullshit engine with nitro-whatever in it, and it’s wondering why the bottom’s fucking falling out of this thing.”
“You serious?” he asked. “Let me pop the hood. Now I’m curious.”
“If you touch anything and this car collapses on me, you’re the one paying my funeral expenses, asshole.”
“Quit being a pussy. I’m just takin’ a look,” he said.
I heard the hood pop as I continued to fiddle around with shit underneath the car. It was an absolute mess, and I knew it would keep me here later than I wanted to be. I heard Colt whistling as he jostled some things around, trying to figure out what the hell this man had put in this car.
“Okay. Rider, get your ass out from under there.”
“I’m almost done with som-”
“Get your fucking ass out,” he said.
“Shit. What the hell’s wrong with you?” I asked.
I rolled out from underneath the car and held out my arm for Colt. He grabbed me, helping me upright and steadying me on my prosthetic leg.
No matter how long I walked on that damn thing, I still had issues getting myself up on it.
“Take a look and tell me what you see,” Colt said.
“Another one of those tests?” I asked.
“Just fucking do it.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes before I dipped my head into the car. I saw a suped-up engine and some bullshit that didn’t need to be there. I saw piped flowing every which way and a cracked radiator reservoir that would have to be fixed as well. Oil was leaking underneath the bottom of the car now, which made me grateful Colt asked me to roll out.
But then I saw what Colt was seeing, and I groaned.
“You fucking kidding me?” I asked. “We’re gonna have to report this, aren’t we?”
“Hell no. Gearshift Mechanic Shop doesn’t need any police poking around in here. Not with its association with the club. But, we are gonna alert the customer that we know about it and tell them to take their fucking bullshit elsewhere,” Colt said.
“You want me to do it? Or are you gonna?” I asked.
“I’ll do it. You just close it up and roll it out. Don’t start it. Don’t play with it. And you sure as hell don’t steal it.”
“Not a fucking problem.”
Every once in a while, people thought they could pull the wool over our eyes. Even though the mechanic shop was associated with The Fallen Reapers Motorcycle Club, the club ran everything legitimately. It was their only source of legal business, so they made sure to keep it that way. But there were people in the community who lived in the shadows and fraternized in the underground world that thought they could bring their bullshit here. They thought that because of our associated with the club, we turned a blind eye to when their cars and shit brought trouble into our place.
Like having a fucking storage compartment underneath the hood filled with heroin.
I slammed the car hood down and opened the driver’s side door. I slipped the car into neutral, pushing it out towards the parking lot. I had half a mind to push the fucking thing right into oncoming traffic, but I resisted the urge. I was still trying to get in good with the group so I could talk to them about becoming a prospect.
I wanted to be a part of The Fallen Reapers MC.
I parked the car and looked up just in time to see Colt throwing some skinny little asshole out onto his face. They were yelling at one another as I walked back into the shop, grinning and shaking my head. Colt was trying to send a message. Prove a point with that scrawny little kid. Gearshift Mechanics wasn’t to be messed with. Even though it was associated with a club, everything that came out of that shop was legit.
And no one was going to try and ruin that.
“You good?” I asked.
“Helped blow off some steam. Good news for you, though. That was your last customer for the day,” Colt said.
“Ah, the non-paying customer.”
“Oh, no. I made him pay up. He signed the bill to be done. Not our fault we came across drugs in his car. He paid for the work we quoted him on, and I told him to let that be a lesson. You’re getting paid. I don’t run my shop like that.”
“Good,” I said. “Because I need all the money I can get.”
“Saving up for a surgery or something?”
“Hell yeah, I am. My V.A. benefits will take fucking forever to kick in, and I’m sick of the scars running down my face. I can always get them to reimburse me, even if it is a year from now.”
“You’d think the government would treat you better after having you getting blown up off overseas.”
“You’d think,” I said with a huff.
“You comin’ out with the guys tonight?” he asked.
“Didn’t know the guys were going out. What time?”
“The usual. Eight.”
