WRECKED: CHOSEN FEW MC - BOOK TWO: OUTLAW BIKER/ALPHA ROMANCE Read Online Free Page A

work by Braille.”
    “Sometimes I do. Something similar anyway.”
    “Right.”
    “Think about it. You know how sometimes you can walk into a bar and somehow you know somebody in there has bad intentions? I know you do that. I’ve seen you move before trouble had time to happen. For me it’s like that with an engine. Even turned off, it has a way of telling me things. If I don’t find anything that way, then I turn it on and feel how it hums. There’s lots of variations, but an engine has a feel to it. I’ve worked on yours enough to know what it should feel like idling. Now this problem is at speed, so that might not be enough, so I’ll listen, see if the sweetheart can purr or growl or roar with the right amount of encouragement.”
    “Is this how you’re teaching Carly to work?”
    “It’s the only way I know, man. When I was in the Marines, I worked on choppers and it was the same thing. You can hear a rotor about to come off, or a bearing that is going bad. It’s more subtle with a bike, but the program is the same. Machined parts are whirling around inside and they make noise and vibration.”
    “You love the damn things.”
    “And you love what they do for you. We all do. But I love them for what they are too—cantankerous beasts, that need a lot of coaxing to get them to do their best.”
    “So you coax, and when she’s doing her best, I’ll ride the crap out of her.”
    “Let me see what I can do. I’ve still got several other jobs going on, too, you know. The parts came in today for Bernie’s rebuild. Seeing as Carly will do the carb, I can take a bit to get your machine roaring again.”
    “She’s got a knack for this stuff, Wrench. She really does.”
    “And I’m all for her learning engines inside and out, as long as it doesn’t mess with her schooling.” He grinned. “I made a deal with Willow about that. She’s scared to death that because Carly hangs out here, she’ll wind up being somebody’s old lady, with no job skills but being a waitress. This way she’ll have schooling and the choice of being a mechanic if she wants. If she meets a guy she likes, hooks up with some biker, well he’ll have the best running bike around.”
    “Well, if anybody can herd a kid down that narrow path it’s you. I’m with Willow. I’d hate to think how she’d turn out if she spent all her time around this crowd without that direction.”
    “Well, your old lady is another good influence. Audra manages to be a biker chick and still have class.”
    Cutter smiled. “Yeah, she does that.”
    “And you aren’t half as bad-ass as you make out.”
    “Hush, dammit. We all have an image we need to project, dude, and I’m supposed to be the Enforcer for this crowd. But I thought we weren’t allowed to say bad-assed after school.”
    “The princess is occupied.”
    “And you think she doesn’t hear every fucking word?”
    Greg shook his head. “You aren’t being helpful, pal. You want your bike fixed or not?”
    “I’ll make myself useful and go find some beer.”
    When Cutter walked off, Greg turned his attention to the bike, touching it, and letting his mind visualize the flow of energy through the machine, the way air and gasoline were compressed and ignited to produce an explosion that moved the cylinders. When Greg got like this the others called it his fix-it trance. And now Cutter, returning with two bottles of beer, saw him engrossed and stopped a distance away. Greg watched the power circulating in his mind, thought about what Cutter told him, that power just fell off while riding, then he opened his eyes and held a hand out for the beer. Cutter came over and handed it to him.
    Greg took a long sip and then stood. “Probably the coil,” he said.
    “I knew it. The fucking coil. It had to be the coil,” Cutter agreed. “What’s a coil?”
    Greg laughed. “You better hope nothing ever happens to me.”
    “Shit, the crew would beat me to a pulp if I did that. I think it’s