If things weren't miserable enough for Robbie, now he'd helped strip the most incredible woman he'd ever seen down to her underwear after burning her. The irony wasn't lost on him but at least it'd been an accident.
He'd needed a coffee refill and had been charging next door to May's to get one and instead he'd now seen a stunning woman who seemed determined to tempt him through her laughter and teasing into making an even bigger fool of himself.
Stacy was amazing, and he absolutely couldn't ask her out right now. Or ever. Robbie was continuing to stare determinedly anywhere but at her while Alex did a quick exam.
"I think you'll survive," Alex, Stacy's best friend said. "Maybe just a first-degree burn, like a sunburn, on your belly. You can treat it with aloe if you want, but should be fine if you don't."
"Thank you." Stacy sounded like she was shivering. "I'm sure all this cold air is helping."
A clean oil rag smacked Robbie in the face. "Hey," His boss Paul said from the door. "Don't you have something you can lend her?"
Grateful for a reason to escape, Robbie nodded and headed to his locker. It sat on the far side of the garage, past the three bays that were filled with cars. He had a couple of spare outfits stuffed in there in case he was too grimy to go home in what he had on, and could lend Stacy one. John was sitting on the bench next to the lockers, sipping his beer
"Is Alex done?" He asked, peering around Robbie.
"Not yet."
John slumped and made a face at his drink. Robbie ignored him as he pulled out a pair of drawstring sweatpants and a worn Guns-N-Roses T-shirt. Hopefully, Stacy's jacket would be okay for her to wear home, because he didn't have a spare.
"Tell Alex I'll wait right here," John said as Robbie walked back by.
"I don't know where else she'd think you'd go," Robbie replied. If those two didn't start making out soon, Robbie would lock them in a closet together.
Back in the spare office, he handed the clothes to Stacy without risking a glance.
"Thank you," she said, pulling the shirt on. "I'll return them tomorrow." Robbie finally let himself face her, only to find the shirt did an admirable job clinging to her curves.
"You can keep them. Looks better on you anyway." It really did. Anything she wore probably looked sexy as hell on her.
Stacy bit her lip. "Okay, Reyes."
"I'm going to finish my lunch break," Alex said, not giving him or Stacy time to say anything before she was beelining across the garage to where John was sitting. Robbie had known she wouldn't need instructions.
"I'll tell her thanks later." Stacy's smile was wide. "And thank you, too, I probably would have been a lot more burned if you hadn't helped me."
"Or not at all if I'd been watching where I was going." He felt terrible about hurting her, and the fire of the thing inside him licked along his nerves, reminding him what it could do.
"Phish, I'll be fine, and I have a cool new shirt. Plus, I got to meet you. Bonus." Her eyes were bright.
Robbie didn't want her to go, even if he knew he'd see her tomorrow. "Um, you new here?"
"This is my first January in Queens."
"Well, be careful if you're walking, you never know who you might bump into out there." As soon as the words left his mouth, Robbie groaned. Had he really just said that?
Stacy laughed. "Dude, I'm from Los Angeles. The freaking cockroaches drive convertibles and name drop out there. Here they just scurry away when you turn the lights on."
The human ones tried to when his lights came on. He shook his head. "Yeah, still, be careful, chica. It'd make me feel better."
"For you, then. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay." She put her coat on and walked out the door. Robbie's eyes followed her until she disappeared behind the BMW he was supposed to be doing an alignment on.
Sighing, Robbie went back to work. It didn't matter how cute she was. He couldn't get involved with her. He couldn't get involved with anyone. He'd traded his life for his brother's, and Gabe had to come first.
Damn, he really had needed that extra cup of coffee, the late nights were getting to him. "She's pretty cute, huh?" Paul asked as he worked on an oil change in the next bay.
Robbie grimaced. "I'm going to tell Elena you said that."
"And I'll tell her it was because I was trying to find out if you were interested in Stacy."
"I can't be. Gabe's going to be in college soon, and someone has to pay for it. Those books are not cheap."
"Shit!" John yelled from where he was doing whatever magic he did to make the vehicle work better. Robbie and Mack shared a look.
Turning back to the BMW, Robbie did his best to focus on nothing but the vehicle. Not Stacy and her smart mouth and georgious face, or his brother and the medical bills that were piling up, not the cost of a college education, and especially not the long nights he spent haunting the streets, the Ghost Rider egging him on and seeking endless vengeance.
At least Robbie didn't have to worry about his own health. The Rider would keep him whole for as long as Robbie was needed.
Though the jackass could maybe help out with the being tired part. Seriously. Flames danced under his skin for a moment, and Robbie immediately felt much better. Now that was more like it.
Late in the afternoon, the Rider became more active as Robbie changed a timing belt on a Toyota. It poked at Robbie's memories of the day's events and circled around and around the ones of Stacy. It was annoying.
Leave her alone, Robbie mentally snapped at the Rider. It didn't always understand human conventions. The Rider retreated to a corner of Robbie's mind, biding its time as it waited for nightfall.
...
At five o'clock, Robbie punched out, said goodbye to his boss and coworkers, and fired up his Ducati. The ride home wasn't long, especially on the bike, which was why he took it instead of the big, black 1969 Dodge Charger that sat parked in front of the old brownstone he shared with his Uncle Eli and Brother Gabe.
The car was his pride and joy, and he resented that it belonged to the Rider now too, though Robbie didn't mind that no matter what happened, the car remained pristine and in perfect working order.
His uncle's car wasn't there, which didn't surprise Robbie. Eli was rarely home. He worked for some big health or pharmaceutical company, doing hell knows what, and he'd often crash in his office instead of making the commute on weeknights.
Inside, Robbie unlaced his work boots and took off his overalls, chucking them into the washer on his way to the kitchen. Gabe was in his wheelchair at the kitchen table, homework spread out in front of him. He looked up and grinned at Robbie.
"Hey, how was work?" Gabe asked.
"It was there."
Gabe tapped a pencil on his notebook as Robbie scrubbed the oil off his hands in the kitchen sink. As he dried them, the tapping stopped, but Gabe was still sneaking glances at him.
"How was your chemistry test today?" Robbie questioned while pulling ground beef out of the fridge. He was going to make burgers for dinner, but with a salad on the side, even though Gabe would grouse at him. The kid needed a few veggies, and he sure wasn't getting them in the school cafeteria.
"Aced it."
"I knew you would."
"Thanks. Hey, anything interesting happen at work today?"
"Anything interesting happen at school?"
"No. Except this stupid chem homework." Gabe went back to it, and Robbie worked on dinner, ignoring how the Rider felt closer to the surface as the sun set.
Setting the burger and salad in front of Gabe, Robbie dumped hot sauce on his before joining his brother to eat.
Gabe took a bite, studying Robbie. "Something happened." Gabe said.
"Eat your food."
"Nah, Bro. Tell me."
"No."
"Damn, was it a girl? It's a girl, isn't it? Is she pretty? What's her name?"
The Rider was doing its equivalent of an eye roll at Robbie as he sighed. "Okay, shut up. Her name's Stacy, and she works at May's now."
"She talk to you or did you just make moon eyes at her?"
"We talked."
Gabe set his burger down. "Like talked ortalked."
"Like I spilled coffee on her and had to help her clean up. And she borrowed some of my extra clothes at the shop."
Gabe was grinning. "Oh man, are you going to go all weird when she gives them back and wear nothing else for a week?"
"No, because I'm not in high school, and I said she could keep them." Now he was thinking about his shirt clinging to Daisy's chest. Not what he needed when his life was already complicated with Eli's long hours, his job, the bills, and Gabe's schooling and physical therapy. There were a lot of responsibilities that came before dating. And no one would want to get involved with him, not with the Rider demanding so much time and attention.
Robbie's life had been a small price to pay for Gabe's. "Are you going to ask her out?"
"Eat."Gabe dropped his questions, for now. Robbie had no doubt they'd start up again tomorrow.
After dinner, they watched some TV before Gabe went to bed. Once Robbie was sure he was asleep, he donned his leather jacket and slipped out, holding the trash.
Robbie carried the trash to the alley behind his house, tossing it in a dumpster there. There was a flare in the dark as someone lit a cigarette.
The Rider seethed inside of Robbie. It shifted of him, eager to be on the prowl.
The guy smoking wasn't even paying attention to Robbie, wasn't even doing anything incriminating, but the Rider could sense the evil that rolled off of him in waves
Robbie walked further down the alley towards the man. The guy looked up. "You got a problem?" He asked, his hand going to his pocket. There was probably a knife there.
"No I don't have a problem," Robbie said as the flames consumed him. The Rider grimaced. "But You do."
The man turned to run but felt a strong hand grasp his shoulder and spin him around. The flaming skull growled at him before throwing him into a brick wall with force.
"Please, I don't want to die. I didn't do anything wrong!" The man pleaded.
"They all say that." The Rider growled. He looked directly into the man's eyes and saw every evil deed he had committed in his life.
The Rider, using his abilities, made the man feel all the pain and suffering he had dealt onto others. Then, ghost Rider hoisted him in the air and burned the man into ash.
The Rider made his way back to Robbie's driveway, pulling a pair of keys out of his pocket. Standing on the sidewalk and letting his eyes dart left and right.
Eventually, the Rider opened the Hellcharger's door and got in, taking off. There was evil there to burn.
His hands gripped the steering wheel as the muscle car roared with power and it continued down the street.
Everyone knew the legend of the Ghost Rider. It hunts down the evil shit bags in the city and makes them pay for what they've done.
The Charger turned the block and stopped. Ahead were three men dragging a subdued girl into a van and the rider watched as the Vans doors closed.
The Charger sped forward as its wheels and blower engulfed in flames and it collided into the back of the van, sending glass everywhere and destroying the back of the man, but not damaging the Charger because of the Rider's abilities.
Ghost Rider stepped out, swinging his keys in his hand as he walked up to the driver side door and dragged out the driver into the dirty street. "What the hell?"
The man's skull was repeatedly slammed into the pavement by the Rider as his blood splatters everywhere, painting the surroundings.
The Rider threw his body to the ground and turned around to see another one of the men with a shotgun. The thug fired the gun and watched as it didn't affect the flaming skull. The Rider charged and took the shotgun quickly.
He turned it around and shot the man directly in the face. The Rider liked the weapon, so he held onto it and rounded to the back doors of the vehicle.
He swung the doors open and stared at the terrified woman with a gun being held to her head by the final man. "Don't get any closer. I'll kill her! Believe me I'll do it!"
"I believe you." He growled as he swiftly raised the shotgun and fired it, using his powers with the gun so the bullets were now combined with his flames.
He grabbed the girl as the man burned to death and brought her outside. He ripped her restraints off and removed the tape off of her mouth without saying anything.
He turned, heading for his charger. "Who are you?" The rider turned to the girl and said nothing and then continued until he was back in his car. "Thank you!" She said as the Charger pulled back and then speed down the street.