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

Useless. Why did he have to be so fucking useless? He stared at a small bird flying between the branches on an oak tree, twittering and carefree.


Zen hugged him from behind and kissed his neck. “It’ll take a while, but they’re coming. We’ll go to Redspring where the guy claimed there’s a garage. I need to remove the wheels to see if brake fluids are leaking.”


He needs to?Wouldn’t it be better to leave it in the shop? If they’re lucky the mechanic could fix it today, and they could continue either tonight or tomorrow morning.


“Shit, it’s getting hot again.” Zen stepped away and raised his Iron Maiden shirt to let the air touch his skin. “I hope it doesn’t take long.” He turned to Fred, a worried expression on his face. “What if we don’t make it?”


The desperation in his voice took Fred by surprise. “We’ll make it. You know your way around a car, you can fix whatever needs fixing, and we’ll go.”


Chapter 28