I drew in breath through my nose and did it deeply to control the emotion swelling inside me.

Then I went to the kitchen and got myself a soda.

A brand name one.

One a biker named Joker put in my fridge.

Joker

The next day, safety glasses and gloves on, welding gun in his hand, sparks flying, Joker heard, “Joke! Cherry wants to talk to you in the office!”

He turned from the metal he was working on to see Roscoe at the top of the stairs that led to the office through the garage of Ride. When Roscoe got his gaze, he jerked his head to the closed door then turned and jogged down the stairs.

Joker dealt with the equipment, pulled off his gloves and glasses, and moved to the office.

He was through and the door was closing on his back when he went solid at the look on Cherry’s face.

He took a quick step forward. “Babe, you need me to get Tack?”

“I… uh…” she shook her head, her long, thick, dark red hair brushing her shoulders, and seeing it, it wasn’t the first time she gave him proof why she was worth her man literally walking through a hail of bullets for her. “This is about you.”

His gut froze as he pushed out, “Carrie?”

“No, honey,” she said softly. “You.”

“Me what?” he asked curtly.

“Twenty minutes ago, I got a call from Wilde and Hay,” she told him.

“Say again?” he asked.

“Wilde and Hay,” she repeated.

“What the fuck is that?”

Her brows drew together. “You don’t know Wilde and Hay?”

Joker began to get impatient. “Respect, Cherry, but got shit I wanna get done today on my car and Carrie’s got the day shift. Means I wanna be at her house when she’s there, which means I gotta get shit done.”

“Wilde and Hay is a magazine, Joker,” she informed him.

“Right, and…?” he prompted.

“A very good magazine,” she kept on. “Glossy. Respected. They do serious stuff, big-time exposés. They also do in-depth interviews with celebrities. Not the ass-kissing kind. The no-bullshit kind. They get into politics. They do travel spreads. They do reviews of movies, music, TV. They dig into social issues. They use the best photographers—”

Joker cut her off, “Babe, not sure why you’re tellin’ me this.”

“They want to do an article on Ride.”

Joker stared.

Then he grinned. “Fuckin’ awesome.”

“Yes, Joke,” she said softly, watching him intently. “They said they want to interview the brothers who do the builds but with a focus on the brothers who do the designs. They sent me pictures of the builds they want to feature and asked for the brothers who designed those builds specifically. I just got their email.” She reached a hand to her computer. “And these are the builds they want to feature.”