Free Miles (Highway Reapers MC): Inked Hearts by Heather West Page A

Reapers, he would defend them with his dying breath. Is that how Brea’s brother felt about her? Miles reasoned it must be and it helped him understand why their relationship was so intense. Without his mother, Miles had nobody. But when Brea lost her parents she did have something, she had her brother. And the love they felt for one another got forged in the fire of that loss. If Brea’s brother hadn’t taken care of her, would Brea have ended up like Miles, living hand to mouth out on the streets? He’d seen what happened to girls who ended up living rough and it was a much crueler fate than what happened to boys. Miles was grateful that Brea’s brother had saved her like he did. And one day he’d tell him that to his face and shake his hand.
     
    Gunning the engine of his bike Miles grinned with satisfaction when she sputtered and then finally came to life. One of his misjudged attempts to get the motorcycle running again must have worked. Standing up he wiped down his hands with an old rag and began gathering his tools back up. With the bike repaired it meant that he could go in to the town and see Brea. His day just kept getting better and better.
     

Chapter 23
     
    Brea was drawing a fairy. But not the happy kind like you find in fairytales. No, this fairy was very much broken because even in a world with magic everything isn’t perfect. Brea used long, sweeping strokes of her pencil to create the wings which were wilted with sadness. The fairy herself was sat with her head bent against her knees which were drawn up tightly to her chest. Her pretty floral dress was tattered and soiled as it spilled on the ground around her. The image was as beautiful as it was sad.
     
    When Brea was satisfied that she was finished, she took a deep breath and went to approach Gina in the break room.
     
    Gina was laughing at something on the television, two hands cupped around a hot cup of black coffee. She looked up when Brea walked in, the smile remaining on her lips.
     
    “Gina, hey,” Brea nervously kept her sketch pad to her chest as she entered the small room which smelt of stale coffee and pop tarts.
     
    “Hey, sweetie,” Gina grinned. Her smile widened as she clocked the sketch book Brea was pressing against her chest like a shield. “You got something to show me there?”
     
    Brea dropped down on to the faded black couch in the break room beside Gina. The couch had once been as dark as a raven’s feathers but over time it had dulled to a dirty grey, like overused dishwater.
     
    “Okay, don’t judge me too harshly,” Brea pleaded, tentatively peeling back the sketch pad so that Gina could look at the image of the tarnished fairy.
     
    “Oh, wow,” Gina uttered as her mouth fell open.
     
    “Do you like it?” Brea fretted.
     
    “Like it?” Gina gasped. “I love it! It’s so beautiful yet so badass! So full of sorrow and grace! We have to add this to our collection! The lines look clean and you really got a good contrast going there.”
     
    “Really?” Brea beamed with delight.
     
    “Really,” Gina smiled, still unable to take her eyes off the amazingly intricate drawing. “And more than that, I want you to tattoo it on to me.”
     
    “What?” Brea froze, wondering if Gina was being serious.
     
    “I need that on me,” Gina tapped the fairy approvingly. “It is beautiful, Brea. A real piece of art. Besides, if you tattoo it on to me, it will be practice for when people come in requesting it. Which they will be, in dozens as soon as that goes up in the window.”
     
    “Really? You want me to do everyone who comes in for it?”
     
    “Of course,” Gina nodded. “After all, it’s your design and no one would know it better than you.”
     
    “And you’re sure you want me to tattoo it…on you?” Brea felt nervous about tattooing anybody, let alone her boss.
     
    “I’m sure,” Gina insisted. “Brea, you’re a natural and you’ve taken to this place like a duck to water. I