Page 84 of Truck Off

“I said, I can’t take your money.”

I growl. “And I said, I’m paying for my damn car. Now tell me how much I owe you.”

I see movement behind me and a moment later, Christian is standing beside me.

“Chase insisted on taking care of this,” he says in a low growl that sounds almost as frustrated as mine.

“I don’t give a shit what Chase said. I am paying for my car.”

I feel Christian’s eyes on me, but I keep my determined gaze focused on Liam. He’s the man in charge and the one I need to convince to let me pay.

I’ve no clue how long we remain in this weird sort of standoff, but it feels like forever. They can both stare at me with those angry scowls all day long. It won’t cause me to back down. After the life I’ve lived, those looks don’t scare me.

“Just take her money,” Christian mumbles and shakes his head. “It’s clearly not gonna work.”

I snap my gaze to his and furrow my brow when I see something resembling disappointment on his face. “What does that mean?”

He steps closer to me and drops his head so he’s eye level with me. His brown eyes turn to ice and a chill washes over my body. “You and Chase. It’s not gonna work. Leave him before you hurt him.”

“What?” I say at the same time Liam says, “Christian,” in a low rumbly threat.

Christian turns to Liam and gives him the same icy stare. “She clearly has no clue who Chase is or she wouldn’t be acting like this. Take her money and get her out of here.” Then he turns his gaze back to me. He looks me up and down with derision and irritation. “I don’t want her in my garage.”

“Our garage,” Liam says.

The brothers share one more glare before Christian saunters back into the garage and gets back to work on his bike. I can’t help but watch him in disbelief. What an ass. I can’t believe I had a crush on him for so long. If that’s how he always acts, we would have killed each other in a matter of minutes.

I turn back to Liam and shove my card at him again. He lets out a resigned sigh and takes it. “You ready to deal with Chase when he finds out about this?”

“Are you?” I ask with a raised brow. This earns me a chuckle.

“No, but I can handle my pissed off brothers. Don’t let Chase’s jovial personality fool you. He’s got an angry streak in him that can rival his twin.”

“You should see me pissed off.”

He raises both brows as if to ask me if I’m not pissed off right now. I am, but this is nothing. He hasn’t seen a truly pissed off Lina Lange. But if his brother keeps it up with all these expensive acts of kindness, he’ll see just how pissed off I can get.

“Fine.” He picks up an invoice and studies it for a moment before he looks back at me. “Would you believe me if I said it cost a hundred dollars?”

I snort. “Hell, no. That doesn’t even cover the parts.”

He huffs. “Okay, then I’m only gonna charge you for parts. Labor is on the house.”

“I can’t let—”

He raises his hand. “Lina. This is already gonna cause shit between me and my brother. You’re going to take this deal or give us nothing. Got it?”

With a curt nod, I back down. I don’t like it, but at least he’s giving me something.

“Maybe think about not telling Chase I paid. Save us both the headache.”

His glare turns from irritation to anger, and I can’t help but smile. All the Mutter men have a growly dominant side to them that adds to their hotness factor.

“You clearly don’t understand how our family works,” he says as he takes my bank card from me.

I shrug, resting my hands on my hips. “And you boys clearly don’t understand how I work. So we’re even.”

For the first time since I marched into his office, Liam smiles. “There ain’t nothing even about this deal. You just wait and see.”

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