Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
“Yep,” Hack said. “How you getting on with it?”
“Got it road worthy. At least to get you where you’re going. But I would get a few things done before I go across the country in it.”
“Understood.”
“Truth is, it’s probably gonna cost you more to fix than it’s worth.” He gave Greer an interested look and Hack moved to stand in front of her, blocking his sight.
He gave the man a firm glare. She wasn’t his to look at admiringly.
Strangely, the guy just looked amused.
“Got the paperwork for you in the office. Come on, we can take care of it there and your girl can get a bit warmer. She looks like a popsicle. You might want to get her some proper boots. She’ll get pneumonia.”
Hack nearly growled at the implied insult that he wasn’t taking care of Greer.
“We were going to go shopping yesterday, but we ended up in an armed robbery,” Greer said, surprising him.
By her own admission, she steered clear of conflict. And she didn’t like speaking to strangers much. Yet, she’d just spoken up . . . in his defense?
He didn’t need her to defend him. But it still filled him with warmth.
“Down at Marge’s Diner? What’s the fucking world coming to? People think they can just take what they want.” The guy was muttering as they followed him to the office where an older woman was working.
“Got the paperwork for that yellow car that came in a few days ago?”
“Right here,” she said, handing it over. She gave Hack a confused look. “Don’t get why you called earlier to make the payment, though. You could have just done it now.”
“You must be thinking about another customer,” he said. “We haven’t paid yet.”
She rattled off the car’s details and then showed them the receipt.
Hack turned to Greer, who looked just as shocked as he was. “Do you have any idea who would have paid? You didn’t call and pay, did you?”
If she had . . . he was going to be very upset.
“Definitely a man,” the woman replied, then she looked Greer up and down. “Unless you got a really manly voice, girlie.”
“I don’t think so,” she whispered.
“Nope. That wasn’t the voice. Maybe a relative or something? Good Samaritan? Weirder shit has happened.”
“Oh, what about Aidan?” she said. “Maybe it was him.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“All right, then,” the mechanic said. “You’re free to take it.”
“Thanks, man,” Hack said with a nod.
The guy walked them over to her car.
Christ, it looked even worse today than it had the other day. This thing was on its last legs. The snow tires were the only things that looked solid and in working order.
“Baby, no. This isn’t happening.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I’m not letting you drive this heap of junk.”
She gasped dramatically, looking up at him angrily. “Buttercup is not a heap of junk.”
“Smooth move, man,” the mechanic said.
He gave the man a sharp look. Did he have to stick around? Didn’t he have something else to do?
But the guy just leaned back against the workbench and crossed his arms over his chest.
Like he was settling in for the show.
Asshole.
“Baby, it’s being held together by duct tape and a prayer,” he told her. What was Sav thinking, allowing his baby sister to drive this?
He’d be giving that fucker an earful when he next spoke to him.
Then she bent over the car, whispering to it soothingly.
He rolled his eyes. It was a car, not a person. It didn’t have feelings. Although, damn, that ass was in the prime position for him to swat it. Or squeeze it.
Kiss it.
Fuck. He glanced over at the mechanic, only to find that asshole was staring at her butt too.
Oh, he so didn’t think so. He stepped toward the guy, blocking his view of her as he scowled at the dead man walking.
“Avert your eyes, fuckwit,” he snarled. “Before I pull them out of your face and stomp on them.”
The mechanic held up his hands. “Easy. Just looking.”
“No looking at my girl.”
“Hack?”
He glanced down to find her next to him. She was staring up at him worriedly, her eyes wide.
Fuck. He was scaring her.
“It’s all right,” he said in a soft, soothing voice. “Just having a little word with my friend here. We’re all good, aren’t we?”
That bastard better not do anything to upset his girl further.
The mechanic gave him a slightly bewildered look, then shook his head. “Yeah. Just having a chat. I’ve got to get to work. Both of you need to get moving.”
Yeah. They did.
But not in this heap of junk.
After the mechanic walked off, muttering to himself about nutjob assholes, Hack turned to his girl with a smile.
“See? All good.”
She gave him a suspicious look. “Were you threatening that guy because he looked at me?”
“Of course not. I’m a doctor. I took an oath to heal, not to harm.”