“Start it one more time.”
Seventeen experienced mechanics had already given up on Logan “Ace” Carter’s custom Harley-Davidson when a fifteen-year-old girl stepped into their garage carrying a bright pink toolbox and made that request.
The entire room erupted in laughter, but the tall biker standing beside the motorcycle didn’t smile.
He looked directly at the girl.
Emma Brooks tightened her grip on the toolbox.
“Because I want to hear what happens before it quits.”
The laughter grew louder.
One mechanic leaned against a workbench, shaking his head.
“Sweetheart, we’ve been listening to that motorcycle for three days.
Unless your pink toolbox comes with a miracle, you’re wasting your time.”
Emma didn’t answer him.
Her attention remained fixed on the motorcycle, particularly the area beneath its seat, where a complicated network of wiring disappeared behind the custom bodywork.
Ace noticed where she was looking.
He also noticed something else.
She wasn’t looking at the Harley the way someone admired an expensive motorcycle.
She was studying it as though it had already told her half of its secret.
And for reasons he couldn’t quite explain, that made him hesitate before dismissing her.
The garage had reached the kind of exhausted frustration that could turn even experienced professionals against one another.
Tools covered every available surface, diagnostic equipment remained connected to the motorcycle, and several open parts boxes sat beside a crowded workbench.
The Harley occupied the center of the shop.
It was an impressive custom machine, built with the kind of attention to detail that made riders stop and look twice.
Its carefully fitted components, polished metal, and distinctive silhouette reflected years of Ace’s devotion to motorcycles.
But none of that mattered when the engine refused to stay running.