Page 25 of The Mechanic's Virgin

After she came back from town with the sandwiches, I invited her to come back home with me for the night, but she declined. She said she and her friend Emily had a best-friends date planned but that she’d see me tomorrow.

I woke up, expecting a missed call or a text with heart emojis and snapshots of her night. Instead, nothing.

I can’t decide what to be worried about. Part of me is going to a dark place, imagining some scenario where she woke up and realized that a lowly mechanic like me wasn’t fit for a high-society princess like her. And another part of me is worried about her physical safety. She lives all alone in that cottage; there’s no telling what could happen to her out there.

I pace the garage like I’ve got a thousand cups of coffee running through my veins, checking my phone for the hundredth time. Nick and Crag keep tossing glances to each other, but I don’t care.

I text her again:

You okay, babe? I’m starting to get worried here.

Still nothing.

Fuck it.

“You guys watch the shop for an hour,” I say, grabbing my keys. “I’ve got somewhere to be.”

I hop into my truck and gun it out of the parking lot. The fifteen-minute drive to her cottage feels like an eternity. The gate to her drive is closed, so I park and hop the stone wall onto her property. Christ, I’m going to look like a thief or something if anyone catches me, when in reality I’m just here to check on my girlfriend and make sure she’s okay. If something happened to her…if someone hurt her…I’ll burn the entire world to ashes.

When I reach the front, I see her car’s not in the driveway. I bang on the door anyway, shouting her name. “Grace! Grace, baby, are you okay?”

Am I losing it? It’s only been a few hours–not even a day. There’s probably a good explanation for her behavior, and here I am, shouting like a madman, hoping she’ll step outside.

But I can’t risk it. What if that creep from the other night came back, pissed that he didn’t get what he was looking for?

I call her again, and this time it goes straight to voicemail.

My stomach drops. She’s avoiding me.Activelyavoiding me.

Something happened.

I race back to my truck and drive into town. My heart is pounding, and I’m sweating as I scan every parking lot and space for her car. It stands out, and thankfully only takes me a few minutes to spot it, parked in the side lot of Tressa’s Coffee and Tea. My heart slows briefly, then starts to race again as I park.

I get out and walk to the front door, and that’s when I see her through the glass, sitting at a small corner table with her friend, Emily. They’re sitting close, hunched like they’re whispering secrets to each other. Grace’s eyes are rimmed with red, like she’s been crying, and her body is tense. She’s clutching a coffee cup so tightly I’m shocked she hasn’t crushed it.

I take a deep breath before I tug the door open.

A set of chimes ding above me as I step inside, causing both of the girls to look up. Emily’s eyes narrow as she sees me, and she instantly gets up from her seat and paces over to me like she’s going to hit me.

“You need to leave.Now.”

I blink, looking past her at Grace, who can’t meet my gaze. “What?”

“Gracedoes notwant to see you,” Emily snaps. “Not after what you did.”

Grace flinches at her friend’s voice, like this whole thing is just too much for her.

What I did. That’s what Emily just said. I feel a pain in my chest, like I’ve been speared through with a needle. My mind instantly goes to the one thing in my life that could come back to haunt me–to ruin me. Sheila Cosgrove.

It can’t be…can it?

“Grace,” I call, trying not to make a scene. “Can you just talk to me, please?”

“Get out!” Emily hisses, stepping up close.

People are starting to look over. I really should get out of here. But as I turn to go, I simply can’t bring myself to leave. If Grace thinks something bad about me, Ihave totalk to her. She needs to understand that I would never, in a million years, do anything to hurt her.

I step past Emily and sit down in front of Grace. I try to take her hand in mine, but she pulls away.

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