High-Sided: An Armed & Dangerous Novel (24 page)

His eyes brightened. “And now you’re back. Does that mean you’ll be racing again?”

I nodded. “Yep. I’m back on the Bennett team. I thought I’d give it another go before I get too old.” I was only thirty, which was a couple years older than the average age of racers.

“That’s fucking amazing. I guess you’ll be in Virginia this weekend then?”

“I will.”

“Can’t wait to watch.” He nodded toward the garage. “My uncle said you were coming by, but he didn’t say for what. Is there anything I can help you with? I know you probably have to get to practice.”

I followed him inside. “I’m looking to fix up a bike. It’s kind of a hobby of mine. Got anything I could take a look at?”

“Of course. I might have what you need out back.” We walked through his building and out the back door. His yard was fenced in and there were rundown motorcycles everywhere. I skimmed over the hunks of metal, until I found the bike I needed, perched in a corner all by itself. Levi’s motorcycle was bright green and black, the green sticking out like a sore thumb.

“I see you recognize Levi’s bike,” he murmured.

I swallowed hard. “Kind of hard not to. He was my friend.”

“Same here. We used to meet up at the brewery for beers.”

“Did the police just give you his bike?”

Releasing a heavy sigh, he averted his gaze from the bike to me. “Levi’s parents said I could have it. The cops looked over everything for evidence—there was nothing there. Some believe he ran off the road on his own. I don’t, but who knows.”

I stared at his bike. “Yeah, who knows.” There was no way in hell he ran off the road on his own. “Do you mind if I look around?”

“Sure. Go ahead. If you need any help, I’ll be inside.”

I waited for him to leave before going over to Levi’s bike. It was all but crushed. I walked around it, paying close attention to every single detail, while snapping pictures with my phone. The more I looked at his bike, the worse I felt. If only I’d been there when he asked me to come, he might still be alive.

I was about to give up, when the sun flashed across his bike, revealing a color I had yet to see. “What the . . .” I gazed down at the foreign paint color. I hadn’t seen it in the shade, but now it was clear as day. Pulling out my phone, I snapped a close-up of it. When I looked at my screen, it was right there . . . a small red streak, standing out against the black. It might’ve been nothing, but it was all I had to go on.

By the time I got to practice, I was twenty minutes late. The last thing I wanted was to hear Sean bitch at me. Thankfully, when I arrived at the track, he was nowhere to be seen. But Richard was there, talking with Trey, Miller, and Daniel. Once I had my bike unloaded, I rode over to them and stopped.

“We don’t tolerate tardiness, Mr. Chandler,” Richard griped. He pointed to the start-up line. “Boys, go ahead and get ready. Logan will be out there after we have a little chat.” They rode off and he turned to face me, pretending to be pissed, even though I could see it was all a farce. “What did Gary say?”

I shook my head. “Nothing we didn’t already know. I went by his nephew’s garage and looked at Levi’s bike. There was a red scratch on it. I don’t know if it was there before, but it might be something to go on. It’s a longshot, but what else do we have?”

His shoulders sagged, a look of defeat marking his features. “Have you seen the amount of red cars and motorcycles up here? There’s no way we can narrow that down.”

“I know, but we can always keep our eyes open.”

Leaning against the fence, he rested his head in his hands. “Feels like we’ll never get to the bottom of this.”

I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Yes, we will. I’m not leaving until I figure this out.” Glancing around the track, I figured Sean would’ve shown up by now. “Where’s Sean?” I questioned.

“He said he had some things to get done around the shop today. Besides, I wanted to talk to you and work with my boys. We have races this weekend.”

“Yes, we do,” I said with a sigh. “I’m ready for it.”

He turned a sad smile my way. “I know you are, son. Honestly, I don’t know what I’ve done without you all these years.”

“You’ve done just fine. And now you have Kassie and Sean helping you out.”

“You’re right, I do.”

I waited for him to elaborate and he never did. It was now or never. “If you don’t mind me asking, why did you sign over part of the company to Sean?”

His brows furrowed. “Why wouldn’t I? He’s my stepson and he knows the business.”

“I know, but Kassie is more than capable of running the team on her own.”

For a second, he had no words, just opened and closed his mouth. Averting his gaze, he blew out a heavy breath. “I know she’s capable, Logan. I’d always hoped both my girls would fall into the family business. When Maddie went off on her own, I couldn’t lay all the responsibilities on Kassie. Besides, she was more than happy to accept Sean as a partner. Otherwise, I never would’ve done it.”

“I see.”

He squeezed my shoulder. “Why are you asking?”

I shrugged. “No reason, just curious. Takes a lot of trust for someone to hand over a part of their life.”

Richard slapped me on the shoulder and laughed. “I do trust him. He’s a good man, Logan. I love him like a son.” His gaze turned serious. “Like I love you as a son. You’re an extraordinary young man. I’m glad you came back.”

Visions of Kassie floated through my mind. “Me too.”

We stared at each other for a few seconds, before he tapped his fingers to my helmet. “All right, enough talk. Get your ass out there and ride. We have four more days before we leave for Virginia. I have to make sure you’re ready.”

I strapped on my helmet and smiled. “I’m more than ready.”

T
he week had flown by so fast, and now it was time for the race. Logan glanced back at me from atop his motorcycle, his tinted visor shielding his eyes. I waved at him and tried to smile, failing miserably. I didn’t realize how scared I was to watch him race. Levi wasn’t there to tell me everything would be all right.

My father strolled over, lifting his sunglasses. “You okay, peanut?”

I swallowed hard. “Just a little nervous.”

He winked. “Everything’ll be okay. Logan’s got this.”

Yes, he did. But it was still scary, considering the last time he raced and all.

My phone rang and I quickly reached into my pocket to see who it was. I’d barely talked to my sister all week, since she’d been back at work. “So
now
you decide to call me back?” I answered, turning away from my dad for some privacy.

She sighed. “Sorry, Kass. I’ve been so busy this week.”

“What are you doing now?”

“I’m at the airport getting ready to hitch a flight to New York. Got a baseball game I have to cover.”

I wasn’t familiar with that many baseball players, but there were two I always envied her for getting to meet. “Please tell me you’re not interviewing Colin Ward or Bradley Thompson.” They were two of the best players in the major leagues.

She laughed. “Sorry, sis. But hey, since your birthday’s coming up, I’ll have them say it to you on air. How does that sound?”

“You’re the best,” I gushed. “I’d love that.”

“Then consider it done.”

The line grew quiet and my smile faded. “You doin’ okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I hate that men think they can take advantage of me.” Most guys only saw a blonde bombshell from TV. None of them knew how fierce she actually was underneath her perfect body.

“Unfortunately, Maddie, there are a ton of them like that.”

“Logan’s not,” she countered. “Why can’t I find a guy like him?”

“You will, I promise. I’ll help you.”

She burst out laughing. “You do that. I’ll be waiting patiently.” The racers revved their engines. “Uh-oh, sounds like you gotta go. Make sure you watch me tomorrow night.”

“Will do. Love ya!”

“Love you too.” We hung up and I got to my feet, my heart racing out of control.

Janie rushed over to me, her smile as wide as could be. “It’s time,” she squealed. The countdown began and the flags dropped, signaling the start of the race. The bikes were so loud, I had to cover my ears as they took off. My nerves balled up in my stomach, and I felt like I was going to throw up. “I guess you and Sean made it here all right?”

Her cheeks blushed red. “We got in kind of late last night and crashed.”

“I bet.” I snickered. “What does your brother and his friends say about you dating him?”

She shrugged. “My brother’s fine with it, but Mark’s pissed. I guess he sees it as Sean stealing me away from him.”

“Of course, he’d see it like that. He’s a jackass.”

“That he is.” She bounced in place and crossed her legs. “Think I’ll miss anything if I go to the bathroom?”

“No, go. They still have plenty of more laps to go.”

She took off out of the tent. “I’ll be right back.”

The riders raced by and I sucked in a breath as the wind whipped past. The track was huge, so I had to watch Logan on the monitors when he wasn’t riding directly by the tent. With each lap, he gained more momentum, inching his way to the front. Jacob and Mark were ahead of him, and so was Miller. With Logan being new to riding again, he had to start off in the back of the line. I knew he could make it to the top.

Sean walked over and smiled. “You look green,” he joked.

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks.”

He draped his arm over my shoulders and squeezed.

I slid away from him and realized what I did. Logan’s theories ran through my mind and I swallowed down the bile.

“You okay?”

I cleared my throat. “Trying to be. I have a lot on my mind.”

I didn’t want to imagine Sean having anything to do with what happened to Logan. Sean might have had feelings for me back then, but he didn’t seem like the type to deliberately sabotage Logan. He could’ve easily been killed. That wasn’t something Sean would have any part in . . . or would he? Eyes burning with unshed tears, I peeked over at him.

His focus was on the race, but then he turned to me, furrowing his brows. “I’m starting to think I might have something to do with what’s on your mind. It doesn’t look good.”