Born in the year 1970, on a chilly Halloween night, Michael James would be the firstborn of two children to Hartman family. His parents, Luke Hartman and Carrie Owens, weren't quite ready for Michael's birth, since they technically had no business bringing a child into the world at 15 and 17, respectively. To them, there was still mountains of partying to do. Plus, they weren't yet married, but they were very much in love. So they agreed to get married as soon as Carrie turned 16 and promised baby Michael they would take the best care of him and give him a good upbringing. Carrie grudgingly gave up her partying lifestyle and settled down with Luke, who immediately quit school in order to get a job, deciding later on he would get his G.E.D.. But for now, the newlyweds had a newborn to take of and wanted to give him the best of everything they could possibly afford.

Life for Michael growing up was rough. His parents tried to do their best, but it just got tougher and tougher every year they were together. His father turned to alcohol, marijuana, and strip clubs, giving up his dream of ever going back to school. His mother, Carrie, tried to hold things together for as long as she could, taking the daily beatings from his drunken father. Their relationship kept spiraling increasingly downward until Carrie had a nervous breakdown. When she found out that she was pregnant after having her tubes tied nearly 11 years ago, she fell into a deep depression. It was then that things took a quick turn for the worse. Carrie tried to kill herself to, not only get rid of the baby girl that was growing inside her, but also herself. She was soon hospitalized for her suicide attempt, but managed to carry the baby all the way to term once she was released. And on August 22nd, 1980, Michelle Ashley Hartman was born. But it was way too late for her to have a 'normal' life. Their parents were in the process of a divorce and their mom now had a restraining order against their father. When Michelle was born, Michael had just turned 16. He hated the fact that every time he would come home from school, there would be his mom passed out on the couch, and poor Michelle, crying for something to eat because she was hungry and still in dirty diapers at four years old. There was no way he was going to let her grow up in the same environment he did. So one night while his mom was passed out on sleeping meds, Michael stole all the money out of the tin can in her bedroom, packed up what little belongings he and his sister had, and drove away into the night. He wasn't sure where they were going, but he knew that he was never looking back.

Thankfully, Michael was always very independent growing up. He knew how to do his own laundry, wash dishes, and vacuum, as well as change his little sister's diapers and fix her bottles. In learning to do all of this, Michael slowly became the "man of the house". With his father now behind bars for domestic abuse, Michael promised Michelle that he would never let anything happen to her under his watch. Michael loved his baby sister dearly and will always be very overprotective of her. He swore he would never let anything happen to her and if anyone were to ever mess with her, whomever it was, would have hell to pay. Michael adored being an older brother and easily fell into the over-protective big brother role, which still stands to this day.

After arriving at their destination, which happened to be Portsmouth, Massachusetts, Michael did his best to work several odd jobs in order to provide for his sister. There was often times that he would go without eating, just as long as Michelle wasn't hungry. They bounced from motel to motel, in order to keep a roof over their heads because he would never allow his sister to go without a bed at night. He tried to keep things as 'normal' as possible for her, by keeping the nightly routine of dinner, bathtime, and then a bedtime story to tuck her in. He raised his sister to the best of his ability, even though his days were long and he was constantly exhausted.

It wasn't until Michael got a job at Papa Romero's Pizza Villa, that things started to look up. The owner, Anthony Romero, began to find Michael's activity suspicious. He was always asking for more hours in order to make more money. He'd come in half-asleep sometimes, because his mind was consistently in work mode, but he never slept, for fear of something happening to his sister while he would be asleep. Michael soon started bringing Michelle to work with him, letting her sit in a booth in the back with her eight pack of crayons and a coloring book. He told her to stay in that exact spot and never talk to anyone. That was when Anthony cornered Michael and began to question him. At first, Michael was ashamed and embarrassed to explain his situation. But then his heart opened up to this man he barely knew, and Michael bawled his eyes out, finally breaking down from pure exhaustion. They had similar backgrounds growing up, he and Michael. So Tony felt for the boy and he reached out to him. Anthony would go on to take them both in, his wife having died three years ago. He didn't have any kids of his own and was an only child, so no nieces or nephews either. He loved the fact of finally having children to look after and graciously invited Michael and Michelle to stay in his home.

Michelle went on to start calling Anthony, "Papa Tony", and Michael followed her lead. Anthony would do anything for his 'kids', and allowed them to stay at his place for as long as they wanted. This allowed Michelle to finally go back to school on a regular basis, seeing as how Michael had dropped out. At least one of them would have an education. On his 18th birthday, it was then that their Papa Tony decided that Michael should get his education as well. And since the man was nice enough to pay for his G.E.D., Michael prayed to God that he wouldn't let him down. The day of his test, Michael came home with good news. He had passed with flying colors. Regardless of his horrible upbringing, he somehow always found a way to balance all of his studies, after school activities, plus take care of his baby sister. And since he had done so well on his GED test, Papa Tony decided to fund Michael's college education as well. When it came time to head to college, Michael stayed close to his home, attending a local technical school for auto repair. He never wanted to stray far, seeing as how he always had to be close to home for Michelle and Papa Tony. So needless to say, Michael's heart was crushed when his sister had become of age, and moved away to California, deciding on a culinary school across country. And even though Michael missed his sister dearly, he didn't argue, always wanting the best for her in life, no matter what.

After Michelle had left, Michael decided it was time to move out and be on his own again. As much as he wanted to stay at Papa Tony's, Michael was going on 26 years old and couldn't stay there forever. After finding a small apartment in town, through one of his best friends, he decided to take a tour, and immediately fell in love with it. Little did he know, that one of his mutual friend had also promised the apartment to another totally different friend, so in the end, Michael would end up sharing the apartment. The rent was definitely affordable, but he figured with a roommate, it would be more money in his pockets to send to Michelle in California. He had been working a part-time gig as a motorcycle mechanic at a local garage, slowly becoming a jack of all trades. When it came time to move in, he was pleasantly surprised to find out that his roommate would be a beautiful young woman named BLANK. BLANK turned out to not only be his next best friend but his first and only true love, as well. Things with BLANK had their ups and downs, of course. They were friends for nearly two years before they decided to even try to date and ended up being together for nearly seven years.

But the straw that broke the camel's back came when BLANK ended up pregnant. Micheal was 35 years old at the time, but not nearly ready to be a father at that point. Though, soon he warmed up to the idea of bringing a little Michael Junior into the world. He started getting excited to become a dad and BLANK couldn't be happier. Though, only a few weeks later, BLANK had miscarried and they lost the baby. Michael was completely devastated. This drove a wedge between them and Michael started to distance himself from her. He had lost only thing he was looking forward to most in life. It was then that Michael started working more hours at the shop, keeping himself as far away from BLANK as possible, and their relationship soon crumbled into pieces.

Michael eventually moved on as well as out of the apartment they had shared together, vowing that he would never fall in love or get attached to another woman again. He decided to dedicate his life to his career and that would be it. His part-time job gave had long since giving way to working full-time within the shop. Once he got in good with his boss, he was promoted to shift leader and never found himself wanting to do anything else, but tool around on bikes. That was up until Michael found himself wanting more change in his life. He had begun to find his current position at the shop monotonous and tiresome. Michael wanted something new and exciting; something that would put a spark back into his career again. It was then that he decided on opening his own custom motorcycle shop. He was definitely a good enough mechanic, so why not? There was nothing stopping him at this point. Except for the funds, which could possibly be acquired by way of his mentor and father figure, Papa Tony.

And they were. Papa Tony graciously lent him the money to start his business and Michael as well as his best friend (and now) partner, JD Montgomery. Their business has now made the money back almost tenfold in the past seven years that they've been open. Michael was finally able to pay Papa Tony back all the money that he had borrowed, even with interest. He and his good friend, JD, are now the proud owners of Mike's Custom Cycles located in Portsmouth, Mass., and he loves every ounce of what he does. From detailing, to chroming, to custom parts, Michael and his shop mechanics do it all. He took his dull every day job and turned it into his lifelong passion.