Unsteady (The Torqued Trilogy Book 1) (59 page)

That voice… it sounds strangely familiar. It’s not Berkley’s. I’d know Berkley’s soft voice anywhere.

“What the fuck is she doing in there?” I ask Lenny, knowing by the look of surprise on her face, she knows that’s Raven in Tyler’s room.

Raven. As in
my
little sister.

There’s an imperceptible note of pleading in her face. “Calm down.”

“I won’t calm down.” Lenny physically blocks me from going into the room. “Did you know about them?”

Her eyes widen. “Yes,
but
it wasn’t my place to say anything.”

I throw my arms up backing away from her. “What the fuck is wrong with people thinking they know what’s best for me?”

She glares at me, never backing down. She’s incapable of it. “What’s your problem with them being together if they’re happy?”

“There’s six years between them!” I practically shout as she pushes me out the door and down the stairs.

There’s a smile creeping across her face and I don’t like it. Mostly because it’s making me weak. “There’s four between us.”

“So.”

“Is this our first fight?” she asks, walking backwards until her back hits the side of my car.

My expression softens. My anger is immediately replaced by something else when she bites down on her bottom lip. I want to be mad, I do, but she has a way with me. “You know what that means, right?”

“Make-up sex?”

I nod, leaning in to kiss her, realizing this is a distraction, but I’m okay with it. “Should we try out the workbench again?”

“You read my mind.”

I could stay mad, and I’ll probably have some words with Tyler about him and my sister but this, Lenny moaning my name as I fuck her against the bench in the shop, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

My dad once told me your life is like an internal combustion engine. Essentially an engine goes through four stages. The suck-squeeze-bang-blow theory.

For a while, I wondered why he compared life to an engine.

I guess, in some ways, I understand now. Every step you take, every breath, every choice, it all leads to another change, another cycle in the process. An endless cycle of change. While an engine has one set cycle, life does too.

Everything leads back to the start, the suck, the give and take.

“I love you,” she whispers against my neck, her breathing heavy and strained as she arches into me.

I press my lips to the sensitive skin above her collarbone, the spot I know she loves. “I’ll never let you forget it either.”

I write so many of these lately I never know what to say anymore, or if anyone actually reads this part of the book. I hope they do!

The idea for Unsteady came to me because as most know, my husbands a mechanic. I grew up around cars and racing so naturally everything I hold passion in, writing included, will steer that way. There’s two more books to this series and I can’t wait to complete the story.

Thank you to Becky with Hot Tree Editing. I learn so much from you.

Tracy Steeg, you’re a beautiful person and always design the best cover designs, I adore you sweets!

Sara Eirew, thank you for the amazing photo. It’s perfect for Red and Lenny.

Lauren, I’m so glad you responded to my need for a BETA reader, you wordy bitch, lol. Not only do you get invested in the characters with me, you believe in what I’m doing and that says a lot about you as a person. Love you girl! #heavysouls #wordybitch #tinyframes

Janet, Barb, Marisa, Shanna, Ashley’s, Jill and Rachel, thanks for always being there for me.

To my girls in my groups and my readers, thank you so much for everything you do for me and our late night talks about nothing at all.

And finally, thank you to my family for always supporting me and this dream. Oh and my own personal mechanic for inspiring Red and all the other characters in this trilogy.

Love

Shey

Shey Stahl is a
USA Today
best-selling author, a wife, mother, daughter and friend to many. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with her family in the Pacific Northwest where she was born, and raised around a dirt track. Visit her website for additional information and keep up to date on new releases:
www.sheystahl.com
.

You can also find her on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/SheyStahlAuthor

Racing on the Edge

Happy Hour

Black Flag

Trading Paint

The Champion

The Legend

Hot Laps

The Rookie

Fast Time

Open Wheel

Pace Laps (Coming 2016)

Behind the Wheel (Release date: TBA)

The Redemption Series

The Trainer

The Fighter

Stand Alones

Waiting for You

Everything Changes

Deal

Awakened

Everlasting Light

Bad Blood

Heavy Soul

Crossing the Line

Delayed Penalty

Delayed Offsides

Delayed Roughing (Release date: TBA)

Unforgettable Series

All I Have Left

All We Need (Release date: TBA)

The Torqued Trilogy

Unsteady

Unbearable (September 2016)

Unbound (January 2017)