Fred Munson likes his job as a traffic cop. He’s good at it. It’s his personal life that could use some improvement. With no friends, and being too shy to talk to anyone while out of uniform, when Fred is forced to use some of his vacation time, he has nothing to fill his days. At least not until he comes home to find his driveway blocked by a stranger with car troubles. A month after losing his father, Zen Zeppelin Cave has also lost his place in the world. The only thing holding him together is focusing on a charity junk car race to raise money for cancer research. And he's crossing that finish line even if he ends up replacing every part of the car along the way. Zen had planned on completing the race on his own, but a spur-of-the-moment decision changes that when he invites the adorable, blushing police officer whose driveway he’s blocking to tag along. Going with a stranger on a road trip is completely out of Fred’s comfort zone, so when he accepts the invitation, no one is more surprised than himself. Together, Zen and Fred head south. But will the old junk car hold together long enough to reach their destination? And will crossing the finish line mean the end of the road for a budding romance, or will they find there’s more to their journey?

Banger Challenge

He looked away before he did something stupid, like kissing Fred in the middle of the store. Could he be arrested for sexually assaulting an officer if he did something while Fred was off duty? Perhaps it wasn’t any worse sexually assaulting a man of the law than it was a civilian. Zen had no intention of asking. He’d never sexually assaulted anyone, and he didn’t plan on starting, no matter how much he wanted to kiss Fred. A voice in his head told him Fred might not think of it as assault.


“Are there any gay cops where you work?”


This time Fred didn’t only hesitate, he stopped, the second Zen’s words were out of his mouth. Why did he have to be such an idiot?


“You mean…” Fred looked at a woman passing. “…in all of Whiteport?”


Zen shrugged. “I don’t know what I mean. I was thinking about sexual assault and—I’ll shut up now, for real this time.”


Fred nodded, a frown appearing on his forehead. “Why?”


Chapter 10