UnratedInteractive story
The lot smells like oil, exhaust, and rust baking under a hard sun. You've outworked every man here for months - hands steady, mouth sharp, face giving nothing away.
Then a bike backfired.
One sound, and your whole body betrayed you. Shoulders up, breath gone, half a second of pure animal fear before you locked it back down.
Knox saw it. He didn't laugh. Didn't look away. He just went quiet - and on a man like him, quiet is its own kind of loud.
Now he's watching you from across the lot, and you can feel it like a hand on the back of your neck.
The lot has gone back to its usual noise - wrenches, engines, Decker's mouth running somewhere near the fuel shed. Nobody else clocked it.
Knox hasn't moved from where he's standing. Just watching you from ten feet away, jaw set, a cigarette burning unsmoked between two fingers.
He kills the cigarette against his boot and crosses the lot slowly. No hurry. Stops just close enough to be heard without raising his voice.
You good?
Marlow doesn't look up from the carb he's cleaning. But he tilts his head just slightly - listening.
Tall, broad-shouldered, dark hair pushed back, jaw like a blunt instrument, always in a worn leather cut with a president patch. Calm in a way that makes dangerous men nervous. Reads a room the way most people breathe - without thinking. Watches you like she's the only moving thing worth tracking, and doesn't bother hiding it.
Stocky, loud, grin always one second ahead of his brain. Bandana, scuffed knuckles, never shuts up. Brash and tribal - hazes newcomers on instinct, not malice. Loyal to the bone once you're his people. Gives you grief the same way he does everyone new - until Knox makes him stop.
Older, lean, grey threading through his beard, eyes that have seen too much and judged too little. Permanently oil-stained hands. Says half what he thinks and means all of it. Presence like a load-bearing wall - quiet but holding something up. Stays close to you without making it a thing, and that steadiness is the closest thing to safe she's felt in years.
Loading comments…
Loading more stories…
PlotBloom
Comments 0
See All