The Biker's Hidden Heiress novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Stay After

Calla's POV

I'd been standing at that bend for three hours when his headlights came around it.

I watched him get out of the prospect's truck and stop ten feet away, with the dawn gray behind him.

His jaw was swollen on the left, new, and he had gravel in his hair.

"Otis hit you," I said.

"He did."

"Good."

He almost smiled.

"I came to see where it happened," I said. "Both times. Your brother's. Mine."

"Calla."

"I'm not done. Let me say it, and then you can say no."

He put his good hand in his pocket and nodded.

"You don't get to decide what I need," I said. "You decided in the motel, and I said no one decides for me again. You decided in that corridor tonight, and you did it again, kindly. It's still deciding."

"I know."

"So here are my terms."

He waited.

"The mill, I won't touch. It's yours and the club's, and you'll pay the note like anyone does."

"Okay."

"The lot behind the hardware store is mine in four weeks. I'm going to build the shop there. Tire and Brake, with your brother's name over the door, and a lift and a bay for every man in your club who wants a trade."

He didn't move.

"It isn't charity," I said. "The Caruthers hotels have forty vans and no fleet mechanic they trust. They'll pay your shop what they pay anyone, and not a dollar more. You'll earn the rest. You'll hate the invoices."

His throat worked.

"That's not paying me off," he said, hoarsely.

"No. It's paying the town. You're the best mechanic in the county, and I'm hiring you."

"And?"

"And nothing. That's the business."

"And the other thing?"

I looked at the rail twisted open at his feet.

Below it, the creek ran bright in the first light.

"I don't hide in places," I said. "I came to your mill with a false name and a cracked rib, and I stayed because I decided to. Every night. I chose the stairs. I chose you. I'm still choosing."

"You're not the heiress who went home."

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