Page 22 of Broken Breath (Rogue Riders Duet #1)

It’s a bright and clean room with a massage table sitting dead center, flanked by white shelves lined with rows of neatly rolled towels.

A diffuser puffs lavender mist into the air.

Only two other people are inside, both dressed in white.

One is an older man with a serious face and a short, graying beard whose attention is fixed on the oils he’s lining up on a metal tray.

“ Karl, ” Luc says by way of introduction, clapping the guy on the shoulder like they’re old pals. “This is Petit Crews.” He jerks a thumb at me. “He’s taking my spot today. Had a bad crash and wrecked his hip, probably needs a deep session.”

The woman next to Karl scowls. She’s maybe in her early thirties, and her ash-blonde hair is pulled into a high ponytail. I noticed her sharp blue eyes the second they flicked to us when we walked in. “Luc, can you please take the rat back already?”

She holds Toulouse out between us, straight-armed, but now he’s way too close to me, and I freeze.

Beady black eyes. Twitching whiskers. That long, naked tail curling like a question mark in the air between us.

I try not to recoil.

I really try.

But then a full-body shudder rolls down my spine.

“Ew. Get that thing away from me.” The words slip out before I can stop them, but at least I manage to keep my voice deep.

Luc spins on me, looking like I just kicked a puppy.

“He’s not a thing,” he snaps, eyes hard. “He’s my son. So, shut up. ”

With gentle coaxing and soft French murmurs, he scoops Toulouse back like he’s the most precious thing in the world. The rat immediately scrambles up his arm and sits on his shoulder, looking perfectly smug about the whole ordeal.

Like father, like son.

Luc strokes his little head once, then waves lazily at Karl as if nothing happened.

“Go on,” he says. “Do your thing.”

I balk. “No. God, Luc, I told you I don’t want to.”

He takes a step toward me. “You don’t want to,” he says gently. “But you need to.”

Taking me by surprise again, he grabs the hem of my hoodie. I move to stop him, but not fast enough. His fingers are already lifting the fabric, exposing my skin.

“See?” Luc says to Karl. “Crashed right on the…”

The bruise is already more widespread than it was an hour ago, but that’s not what stops him mid-sentence because the bruise isn’t the only thing he sees. His eyes are locked on my scars, faint surgical lines, some deep, some small, but they’re all over my hip and lower abdomen.

His gaze traces them slowly, like they’re a map, and the air in the room shifts, becoming tighter, hotter.

Luc crouches down and lifts the hem a little higher to follow the line of a jagged scar that curves up toward my ribcage as his breath brushes my skin, making my heart slam against my ribs.

“ Merde ,” he whispers, seeming too stunned to say anything else.

I snap out of it and swat his hand away, yanking the hoodie down hard. My face is burning, and my lungs ache with the weight of what he just saw, what I never meant for anyone to see. Silence fills the room until…

Hiccup .

Bury me already.

Luc’s eyes snap back to mine, soft and intense, but full of questions I’m not ready to answer.

Before he can decide which one to ask, the blonde woman steps in. “I’ll take this session.”

Luc turns toward her, his brows pulling together. “What?”

“You can have your massage with Karl. I’ve got a free hour. I’ll work with him.”

Luc blinks. “Really?”

“I don’t want—” I start, but she cuts me off.

“Delacroix’s right.” She steps forward and catches my forearm. “You need the session, or your body’s going to seize up by tomorrow.” She squeezes gently, and her eyes meet mine. There’s a glint in them, a silent play along.

What the fuck is going on?

“ Ah… ” Luc smirks, cocking his head. “You’ve got a thing for younger guys, Piper? Just don’t steal him. I’m starting to like having him around.”

The woman, Piper, rolls her eyes hard enough that it should be audible. “Shut up, Delacroix.”

She guides me out of the room and through the second door, into a smaller room.

“I don’t?—”

“Relax,” she cuts me off gently as the door clicks shut behind us but doesn’t let go of me until I’ve stopped moving. “I’ve been doing this a long time. Studied the body inside and out. I know my way around anatomy.”

Fuck.

My breath stutters in my throat. I can’t seem to pull in a full one.

“Don’t worry. Karl was too distracted by the bruising and those scars,” she continues, like she didn’t just figure out my secret.

Shit. Shit.

Panic claws up the inside of my ribs like it’s trying to dig out. Stepping back automatically, my legs brush the edge of the massage table.

I feel exposed, cornered, and caught, and my body screams at me to run.

Piper just watches with her arms crossed, not crowding me, only waiting for me to settle myself.

“I’ll keep your secret.”

I blink. “W-why?”

She shrugs, casual but not careless. “I’m just… interested. You would easily be the best female rider on the circuit, but you’re riding with the guys. And you’re good. ” She lets that sit, then tilts her head. “So what’s the angle, Crews ? Why does it feel like no one else knows what I do?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“But there is an angle.”

I nod. Barely.

“Someone in particular?”

Another nod.

“Delacroix?”

I shake my head so fast it’s almost a reflex.

“Good,” she mutters. “I like the idiot.”

It’s so unexpected, I let out a half-laugh.

Yeah, I guess I do too.

She grins and turns to prep the table, lowering it and laying out fresh towels.

“Get undressed. I’m gonna work your hip and back.

And I’m making room for you in my schedule from now on.

We’ll have to do it in the evenings, though, I’m pretty booked.

” I just stare at her when she glances back over her shoulder.

“If you want to kick the male riders’ asses, you’ll need a physio,” she says.

“And I’m guessing you can’t exactly have anyone else doing your sessions without blowing your cover. ”

“Why… why are you doing this?”

She pauses.

Then, with a little smile. “Honestly? This is my last season with the circuit. I’m bored.

And you?” She raises an eyebrow. “You’re the most interesting thing I’ve seen in the last five years.

” Something in my chest unknots just a little.

“Maybe someday you’ll tell me,” she adds, smile deepening. “Or maybe I’ll just wait and see.”

I can’t help it, I grin a real one.

Dane is going to kill me for this. If he finds out, but the truth is, she already knows. And somehow, she’s not looking at me like I’m crazy or broken. She’s simply… curious.

There’s nothing left to do now but trust this sharp-eyed stranger who caught me mid-fall and didn’t flinch.

So I take a breath and pull off the hoodie.