A motor-mouth southern belle tries playing detective only to collide with a dangerously sexy biker.
Ellie Robinson takes it upon herself to secretly vacay to Sunny Valley, Alabama, on her best friend's behalf. There, Ellie uncovers a shocking truth...
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Trigger Warning: Highly sensitive topic, sexual abuse, will be discussed in these next couple of chapters.
Men are visual creatures.
I can attest to this.
It is why my muscles are tense, my eyes are straining from fighting to look to where the sound is coming from, and my focus is fixated on the project before me.
My fingers lift the red power button and I'm greeted by the loud hum of the table saw, drowning out the noise from above me. A noise that is pure torture in every sense of the word. Like the flick of a switch, my mind is turning on and off with images in my head similar to a toddler discovering a light switch for the first time. My mental muscles are being strained as I fight the uncontrollable visuals that force their way through my brain, flicking them off as soon as they pop to life.
When the wood board hits the blade, sawdust forms into a large cloud and swells around the shop as if it's mist on a foggy day. The sun's rays hit the minuscule pieces of wood while they float in the air, giving the particles a dim glow. The table saw roars as I glide a piece of maple along it, the blade cutting at my command. My concentration is so laser in that my brows twitch from the overuse of the muscles, making them spasm.
I get to the end of the board and there's that little jerk, the snapping off of the frail thin piece of wood I had cut, indicating that it is once again time for me to shut off the saw and be tortured. Pushing the button down, the saw's roars slowly dies causing the blade's shrieking to die out and be replaced by the gentle pitter, patter of water slapping against the tiled floor.
Ellie's taking a shower.
Right.
Above.
My.
Head.
My attention shifts to the shop. It's been a week since we had cleared everything out. Since then I have ripped out the old beat-up floors, painted, put in waterproof vinyl flooring, and have made beams and new floating shelves that I will be installing sometime soon.
I have been working nonstop at fixing the place up, making it better than it once was. Quinn had even gone as far as to let me set up a shop at his place in an old barn he used to use for storage. Shae was able to lend the equipment from his work and all the guys helped me set it up. Meanwhile, Ellie, Addie, and Lex have been starting from scratch, ordering flowers, vases, and a bunch of other stuff I never knew went into owning a flower shop.
Ellie ended up taking over the design from Shae and watching the two bicker about stuff showed me why they didn't work as a couple. They were way too different and those differences made them crash and argue frequently.
I measure out the next piece I have to cut for the new register. The tape measure slides back, the flexible metal ruler scraping until it clicks into place.
