Chapter 36 The Empty Room
Grayson's POV
I finished up with the patrol leads in the main hall after about an hour of arguing over the Iron Fang sightings, but my mind was still stuck on the fact that I had brought a human girl and her grandmother into the middle of a clubhouse full of rowdy wolves.
I walked down the back hallway to check on the room I’d given them, although when I saw the door cracked open and the room empty except for the sleeping old woman, my heart nearly stopped because Aria was gone.
I started following her scent through the corridors while my wolf paced around in my head, but I didn't expect the trail to lead me straight into the garage where we keep the heavy gear.
I stopped at the entrance of the engine room and stayed back in the doorway, because I saw Jax leaning against a workbench with a look of pure shock on his face while Aria was bent over one of our most difficult custom builds. She had her sleeves rolled up and a streak of black grease across her forehead, yet she was handling a heavy torque wrench like she had been doing it her entire life. She was currently wrestling with a stubborn bolt on the engine block that usually takes two of my strongest guys to budge, but she didn't ask for help and just braced her feet against the floor to give it a hard shove.
"You're going to strip the head if you keep pulling like that, Aria," Jax said, reaching out to take the tool from her, although she just swatted his hand away without looking up.
"I'm not going to strip anything, Jax, because I know exactly where the pressure point is on this specific model," she grunted, putting her weight into it until I heard a loud crack that signaled the bolt finally giving up. She let out a breath and wiped her hands on a rag, while Jax just shook his head and looked at the engine like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"I've been trying to get that casing off for three days, but you just did it in five minutes while we were talking about fuel injectors," Jax muttered, reaching over to grab a couple of sodas from a small fridge in the corner. He handed one to Aria, who took a long drink before leaning back against the bike frame with a tired but satisfied smile on her face.
"It’s not about how big your muscles are, it's about how you use the leverage, though I guess your guys just like to hit things until they break," she said, laughing a little bit as she checked the internal gears for wear and tear.
I stayed where I was, just watching the way her hair was falling out of that messy bun and how her eyes lit up when she talked about the mechanics of the bike. My wolf was starting to make a lot of noise in my chest, because seeing her take charge in a room full of steel and grease was doing things to my head that I couldn't explain. She didn't act like a weak Omega who needed someone to hold her hand, instead she looked like she belonged in the dirt and the noise just as much as any of us did.
"So, where did you really learn to do this, because you don't just pick up that kind of skill from a truck in a trailer park," Jax asked, hopping up to sit on the edge of the workbench while he watched her work.
"My dad was a mess, like I told you, but he was actually a really good mechanic when he was sober, so I spent most of my childhood holding the flashlight and handing him wrenches while he fixed cars for the neighbors to make extra cash," she explained, picking up a smaller screwdriver to poke at the wiring harness.
"He used to tell me that machines are easier than people because if something is wrong with a bike, you can just find the broken part and replace it, but people stay broken no matter how much you try to fix them."
"Your dad sounds like he was a smart guy," Jax said, nodding his head while he took a sip of his drink.
"He was smart, but he was weak, which is why I promised myself I would never be like him," Aria replied, her voice getting a bit quieter as she focused on the wires.
"I spent four years doing Jess's work and letting him take all the credit because I thought that was how you stayed safe, but being here in this garage makes me realize how much I missed actually doing things with my own hands."
I finally decided to step into the room, which made both of them jump a little bit as I walked toward the bike. Jax stood up straight and gave me a nod, while Aria just looked at me and tried to hide the grease-stained rag behind her back like she was in trouble.
"I told you to stay in your room, Aria," I said, although I couldn't really sound angry when I looked at the work she had done on the engine.
"I got bored, Grayson, and I saw Jax struggling with this bike, so I thought I would help out since I couldn't sleep anyway," she said, standing her ground even though I was looming over her.
I looked down at the engine and saw that she had perfectly aligned the timing belt, which is a job that usually takes my lead mechanic an entire afternoon of swearing and sweating. My wolf was howling in the back of my mind, wanting to claim her right there because she was showing a kind of strength that was rare even among our own females.
"You did a good job," I admitted, reaching out to touch the metal she had just cleaned, although I made sure not to let my fingers brush against hers.
"But you still need to be careful, because this isn't a playground and there are tools in here that can take a finger off if you aren't paying attention."
"I've worked around bigger machines than this, Grayson, so don't treat me like I'm a child just because I'm not a six-foot-tall wolf," she snapped back, crossing her arms over her chest.
Jax looked between the two of us and cleared his throat, sensing the tension that was thick enough to choke on.
"I think I’ll go check on the night guards, Alpha, since Aria seems to have this bike under control for now."
He hurried out of the room, leaving me alone with her under the bright fluorescent lights of the garage. I could hear the rain hitting the metal roof of the building, and the sound of her breathing was the only other thing in the room. I wanted to tell her to go back to bed, but part of me wanted to stay here all night and just watch her work, because she was the only thing in my life that didn't feel like a corporate meeting or a pack war.
"You have grease on your face," I said, stepping a bit closer and reaching into my pocket for a clean cloth.
"I can get it myself," she replied, but she didn't move away as I reached out and gently wiped the black smudge from her forehead.
The contact made the curse flare up in my chest again, but for a second I didn't care about the pain because she was looking at me with those grey eyes and I felt like I was finally seeing the real Aria. She wasn't just a victim of Jess or a girl I had to protect, she was a force of nature that I didn't know how to handle