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

Zen gritted his teeth. Jayden was a nice kid, but today he was acting weird, not to mention he was being rude to Fred. Or maybe not rude, but he kept acting as if Fred wasn’t there.


“Thanks, but we were talking about leaving.”


“Haven’t you had a little too much to drink? You can’t drive now, can you?”


Zen stared at him. “Fred is driving.”


Jayden glanced at Fred. “Oh, of course. You’re staying at the same place?”


Something snapped in Zen’s mind. “We’re sleeping together.”


The blush blooming on Fred’s cheeks should have made him reword his sentence, but he didn’t. Instead, he leaned over and kissed Fred’s temple.


Jayden pouted; not something Zen ever wanted to see on a man no matter how young he was.


“Does Justin know you’ve replaced him?”


Chapter 17