Grind (Powertools: The Original Crew Returns Book 3)

  Grind

  Powertools: The Original Crew Returns, Book 3

  Jayne Rylon

  Happy Endings Publishing

  Copyright © 2020 by Jayne Rylon

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or shared in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means—including email, file-sharing groups, and peer-to-peer programs—without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  If you have purchased a copy of this ebook, thank you. I greatly appreciate knowing you would never illegally share your copy of this book. This is the polite way of me saying don’t be a thieving asshole, please and thank you!

  If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Refer to the don’t-be-a-thieving-asshole section above for clarification. :)

  V2

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-947093-19-5

  Print ISBN: 978-1-947093-20-1

  Cover Design by Jayne Rylon

  Editing by Mackenzie Walton

  Proofreading by Fedora Chen

  Formatting by Jayne Rylon

  Contents

  About The Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Discounted Boxset - Powertools

  Discounted Boxset - Hot Rods

  Powertools: Hot Rides

  Claim A $5 Gift Certificate

  What Was Your Favorite Part?

  Jayne’s Shop

  Listen Up!

  About the Author

  Also by Jayne Rylon

  About The Book

  The original Powertools crew is back in a brand new series!

  The crew has overcome enormous odds to live and love together. Can it survive being divided?

  Dave knows where he’s needed most is back home, helping his wife rebuild her business—and her dreams—which burned to the ground while they were partying with friends. But is it right to expect their friends Devon, Neil, and James to be there too if it means giving up opportunities to join Mike and Joe on the project of a lifetime in Middletown? And how will they manage on their own if not?

  Resentment could be the final nail in the crew’s coffin if they can’t find a way to move forward together. Because in addition to their careers, the Powertools’ intimate bond is in jeopardy. It’s up to them to find a way to strengthen it even if it means grinding away at the past in order to prepare for a bright future.

  This is a standalone book set in the Powertools universe. All your favorite Hot Rods and Hot Rides characters will be making appearances as well. So come make new book boyfriends or hang out with old ones!

  Additional Information

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  A complete list of Jayne’s books can be found at www.jaynerylon.com/books

  1

  Smoke rose from the charred wreckage of Kayla’s dreams. It curled upward like the tentacles of some sinister monster from hell, threatening to drag her into its dark and fiery underworld. She was suffocating.

  Orange clouds and eerie limited visibility lingered in the aftermath of the deadly forest fire that had swept the surrounding mountains. It only added to her inability to draw a deep breath. Not that there was much left to see beyond the ominous haze.

  It was gone. Every last bit of her naturist resort—the cabins, the home she’d shared with her husband for fourteen years, the lodge. Even the trees and animals that had infused them with serenity and tranquility to observe.

  Their future.

  All of it had gone up in the blaze that had decimated thousands of acres in a matter of hours.

  Smoke and flames. So. Many. Flames.

  “Thank God the resort was closed and we were in Middletown at Ollie, Van, and Kyra’s wedding. This would have been so much worse if there was anyone here. Guests. Us.” Her husband Dave’s voice was even deeper and raspier than usual, whether from the thick char poisoning the air or his emotions, she couldn’t tell.

  Kayla blamed her watering eyes on the soot and not the blackness settling in her heart as it had on everything around them. How could they possibly come back from this?

  Along with her agony, anger began to smolder in her core. They’d worked so hard all these years. And for what? For it to be stolen from them overnight, destroyed before they’d even known it was in jeopardy.

  She blinked, then blinked again. But nothing changed.

  This was a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from.

  Behind them, Neil, James and Devon stepped closer, as if their presence could somehow shield them from the horror of what they were seeing and the things they were not. How could her entire life’s work disappear with hardly a trace? The dense wall of smoke made it impossible to spot the lake in the distance, the panoramic views obliterated as surely as everything else on the mountainside.

  It was probably for the best. If she could scan the horizon and it was only more of this unrelenting scorched earth that greeted her, Kayla would likely be driven to her knees. How could this have happened? It seemed like a movie or the apocalypse.

  It certainly didn’t seem real.

  She wandered over the gravel that had been their driveway, which now only led to a vague outline of a square on the ground. The ashes of her home were interrupted by a single stone pillar, crumbled a bit on top, which had been the mammoth hearth at the heart of their home. Melted blobs of steel marked the place where the kitchen had stood.

  Memories smashed into her one after the other. The Powertools crew get-togethers. Special meals they’d cooked and shared. And the times they’d made love on the plush rugs right there, in front of that fireplace.

  Kayla shuddered. She’d never be able to see flames, controlled or not, in the same cozy way again.

  Some things had been ruined forever.

  The trick was going to be figuring out what damage was irreparable and what she could fix. Or maybe she was kidding herself. This was too much. Too impossible to come back from.

  She sank onto the bench that had been part of their fireplace and dropped her face into her hands. She had to block out the devastation, at least for a second, or she was going to suffocate. It became harder to breathe when her body began to hitch and sobs burst from her chest.

  “I’m here.” Dave plunked down beside her and gathered her to his side. He surrounded her in his massive arms, though for once in their lives, he couldn’t protect her. Not from this.

  She held as much of him as she could, clinging to his warmth and strength like a baby koala. His love was like this hearth, her rock, unwavering and indestructible, even in the face of so much adversity.

  Of course they argued, like every couple, but never for long, and they always made up afterward. Hugging him tight enough that she could detect his familiar scent through the wall of smoke finally made her be able to draw in a shaky breath and then another, her tears eventually drying up enough that she could focus on the world around her again.

  Devon, Neil, and James stood
guard, each of them looking worried as hell as they took in Kayla and the utter wreckage strewn across the mountaintop.

  Kayla concentrated on filling her lungs again without choking, then separated herself from Dave, pushing to her feet. She wiped her shaking palms on her jeans and said, “I don’t know how, but I’ll find a way to bring it back. To put it right. To make it again like it was before.”

  “Kayla, we’re in this together,” Dave reminded her, standing too and resting his hands on her shoulders, squeezing lightly.

  “Whatever you need, we’re here for you,” Devon echoed. Neil and James nodded their agreement.

  While their immediate and steadfast support should have reassured her, instead it only caused some of her uneasiness to creep back in like the insidious smoke that wafted all around, filling every breath with a reminder of what had happened, and the hurdles she was going to face. “That’s what I’m afraid of. I don’t want to drag you all with me on some impossible mission when you have opportunities to do more, make something new for yourselves instead.”

  For nearly two decades, the Powertools construction crew—made up of Dave, Devon, James, Neil, and two of their best friends, Joe and Mike—had worked together day in and day out, building their own business from the ground up. Recently, Joe had taken a chance a few states away to help his cousin expand Hot Rods, the guy’s classic car restoration garage, and the living quarters for its mechanics. They also happened to be in a poly relationship not so different from the one Kayla and Dave shared with the crew.

  One thing had led to another, and soon their foreman, Mike, had also been approached with a new business opportunity, overseeing the construction of a tattoo shop and tourism destination that could become the Midwestern version of Gatlinburg if he played his cards right. Each member of the crew could step up and run their own crew if they wanted, expanding their empire and transitioning into work that paid better without taxing their bodies as much as they got older. There was enough work, and they were skilled as hell.

  Would it be selfish of her to take four of their team members and keep them for herself?

  Dave was first to cut her off and keep her from going farther down that road paved with guilt and self-doubt. “Hey, you remember after my accident, I felt the same way? Like I was a burden or some shit? And what did you tell me over and over?”

  He used his grip on her shoulders and turned her so that she had to look at him instead of the embers, which used to be her vision come to life. A place where they and others had been so damn happy. But it hadn’t always been that way.

  Kayla thought back to the dark times Dave was talking about, which seemed much less scary now that they’d passed and she and Dave had put their troubles years behind them. “That if you gave up I’d never forgive you.”

  “Right. And what else?”

  “That you could get back what you’d lost, even if it didn’t look quite the same. That we would work on it together and get a little stronger every day. That life would be worth living again.” Kayla got a little annoyed at herself even as she said it, because she remembered how scared she’d been then for him and worried she might be making him equally as afraid now.

  She didn’t do self-pity. At least not usually.

  “Exactly.” Dave drew her into his arms and surrounded her in a warm embrace. “And that’s what we’re going to do. You and me and…”

  He trailed off then, peeking over her head at Devon, James, and Neil. Just because they’d always been best friends didn’t mean that she expected them to sacrifice their careers and their futures for her dream. Not even Dave could, or should, make them promise more than they were willing to give on their own.

  This, Bare Natural, had been the only thing holding Dave, Kayla, and the rest of the crew in their hometown. With the developments cropping up in Middletown, maybe they would see this as an omen, the push they needed to make a permanent change.

  Kayla wouldn’t blame them one bit if they decided this was where their paths diverged.

  Devon stepped forward then ducked under Dave’s arm, so he was hugging them both. Devon might be petite, but she was fierce and determined as hell. Whatever she committed to, her guys would go along with it. Hell, more like they’d likely feel the same. The three of them were so close, it was hard to separate them sometimes. “’Kay, come on. You know we’re here for you. For as long as you need, we’ll stay. We’ll work. We’ll make this right again.”

  “No, not just that. But better than before.” James swooped in closer and put his hand on Kayla’s back, rubbing lightly.

  Neil squeezed Dave’s shoulder. “You’re not alone. None of us is ever alone when we’re part of the crew. Even if we’re spread out right now, that hasn’t changed.”

  Kayla melted in Dave’s arms, going lax in his hold as their reassurances sank in. Then and only then, did she start to cry again. This time out of relief.

  “You’re breaking my heart,” Dave murmured to her.

  But when she sniffled and raised her head, there was a fire at least as bright as the one that had razed the land now burning in her core. “You’re right. All of you. I’m not a quitter. I’m not giving up on this place or this dream. This is my whole life. I can do this…if you’ll help me.”

  “We will. Of course we will.” Dave leaned his forehead on hers and smiled softly. “This is the woman I love. My partner. And as long as we have each other, nothing is impossible. You brought me back from the brink of death, held my hand as I learned to walk again. And now, maybe, I can repay you a little.”

  “I love you,” she whispered because anything else seemed too frivolous for the emotions charging through her.

  “I love you too.” He sealed the promise with a kiss.

  Devon, James, and Neil surrounded them in a group hug, and Kayla began to believe there was a way forward for them all. Together.

  2

  They’d stayed for a while longer, documenting the damage with pictures and videos from all angles to share with the insurance company and their friends in Middletown. Every time Kayla clicked the shutter button she tried to imagine what had been there before and how she would not only put it back but enhance it.

  It took a lot of emotional energy, though, and before too long she was exhausted and ready to go…well, where she wasn’t sure, since home was out of the question.

  She ambled over to the van they’d ridden in together from Middletown, where they’d gotten the terrible news before the ass crack of dawn. Devon must be even more wiped than she was. They hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before and she’d driven the whole way, most of it in the dark.

  Devon turned her head and stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. Kayla felt it straight to her soul. “We can get out of here. There’s nothing else I can do right now and I’m sure you’d like to take a nap.”

  “You guys staying with us or what?” Devon asked Kayla and Dave.

  “Honestly, I hadn’t even thought that far ahead.” Kayla looked into the backseat of the van at the tiny black rolling suitcase she’d packed for their weekend getaway. “That’s all we own. Wow. I guess…”

  Still numb, she looked over at Dave, and he nodded. “Thanks. Yeah. It’ll be nice to be somewhere familiar while we get this figured out. And if you get tired of us long-term, feel free to kick us out at any point.”

  “I doubt that’s going to happen.” Neil snorted. “I mean, let’s set a goal to make Mike, Kate, Joe, and Morgan as jealous of us as I am of them. Maybe we can start some kind of sex tournament.”

  The crew was divided, but at least no one was alone.

  “I see where you’re going. Two teams. Of course, we have an advantage with five people to their four…” James was already sketching out the rules for their sexual Olympics as he hopped into the passenger seat. Whether he was indulging Neil’s somewhat immature and always funny side in the hopes of distracting them from the shit sandwich they’d been served or he really thought it was a good idea, he r
an with the idea while Devon and Neil joined him in the van.

  Dave’s big hands encircled Kayla’s waist. He boosted her into the vehicle, where she sat between him and Neil. The heat from their bodies, which bracketed her, soothed her as they rolled carefully out of their long driveway and then down the mountain.

  Eventually dead earth gave way to golden grasses and then the wildflowers of late summer lower in the valley near town, where Devon, Neil, and James lived. Kayla leaned on Dave, her head resting on his shoulder as she let her friends’ brainstorming and laughter swirl around her. She couldn’t have repeated a single thing they said, but it felt nice for at least one thing to be normal.

  And when they pulled into their driveway, Kayla considered lying down on the bench seat of the van rather than wasting effort on walking into the house. Exhaustion made her bones feel four times as heavy as usual.

  “Come on.” Dave took her hand and eased her to the doorway before lifting her into his arms. He didn’t do that often given that she was the tallest and heaviest of the Powertools women—hell, she probably weighed more than James—and his balance wasn’t always terrific.

  “Thanks, but I can walk.” She squirmed until he put her down, stealing a quick kiss almost as a reflex. He looped his arm around her waist and supported her until they’d made it inside and she’d kicked off her dirty sneakers.

  She oozed onto Devon’s couch and wondered if she could camp out there until the insurance company opened the next morning. She was going to need every bit of energy she could muster to sort through this mess.