All Chapters of Love On Two Wheels : Chapter 1 - Chapter 4

PrologueJoan’s POV The first time my phone rang, I didn’t answer.It was past midnight, and I was still wide awake, lying in the dark with my heart trying to slow itself down. I told myself it was just nerves. Tomorrow or today, technically I was getting married. The venue was set. My dress was pressed. My father had kissed my forehead three times before bed and whispered, “You’ve got this.”So when my phone lit up for the second time with the same number I finally picked it up.“Hello?”There was silence on the other end. Muffled noise. A clink of glass. Then his voice came through, thick and slow like honey gone sour.“I just wanted to say... I’m proud of you.”I paused. “Who is this?”He didn’t answer my question. Just kept talking.“You made something real. You built something out of nothing. That’s rare, y’know? You’ve always been rare.”My throat tightened. I knew that voice. I’d memorized it. Slept beside it. Built a life on it.It was Darren.But something about the way he

Cremation was colder than I expected, not the process, but the silence. The finality of it.I stood in the crematorium chapel, alone in black, arms crossed. No crowd, no eulogies, just the hum of the air conditioner and flickering fluorescent lights.There was no one to invite. My father had no close family. Just me. Always just me.He was well-liked in the community, known for fixing engines and offering discounts to those struggling. But I couldn’t bear the thought of a spectacle. So, it was just me. I signed the papers, held the urn, said goodbye, but it didn’t feel like goodbye, instead it felt more like a pause in a scream.Outside, I saw a motorcycle.Parked at the edge of the lot, chrome gleaming even under the dull sky. It looked like my father’s bike, the one he used to polish every Sunday. I walked toward it without thinking, heart racing. But it wasn’t his, wrong handlebars, different rust pattern. Yet, it tore something open in me.I turned away before anyone could see my