Page 18 of Mechanic Daddy's Girl
“Christ, Callie, I finally found you,” he says.
“Travi—” I clear my throat, astounded that my boss just pitched up in this sleepy town. “Mr. Donaldson? What are you doing here?”
The real question I want to ask is:How did you find me?
Meadowview might be small, but there’s a lot of country between here and the city.
“It’s been a nightmare,” he says. “I’ve been driving around these piss-stained streets for hours.”
“Why?” I swallow hard, inching farther away from his window and closer to the truck’s door.
“Because you haven’t been answering my calls. I had to make sure you were all right.” He stares at me, puzzled. Like I’m the crazy one for being freaked out by this.
“How did you know where to find me?” The question blurts out of me, but I’m not even sure I want the answer.
“Does that really matter? I’m here to take you home.”
“What the fuck?” I say it more to myself than to him. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Callie, what’s wrong? I thought you’d be glad to get out of this backwater village.”
“How did you find me?” I demand. There’s no point in letting my mind run with ideas of what he’s done. It’ll only go to the darkest places.
“The tracker on your car,” he says, as if it were something I knew about and consented to.
“You bugged me?” My eyes widen, and my heart starts galloping in my chest.
This can’t be real, can it? It has to be some kind of sick joke.
“Bugged isn’t the right word. It’s a safety precaution. You’re part of the family and I?—”
“Stop,” I cut him off. Having had it done to me so many times, it feels pretty good. “I’m only going to say this once. This isn’t a road you want to walk down. It won’t end well for you. Turn around and go back home. Forget you were ever here.”
If Boone was willing to beat the hell out of two guys because they spoke crudely, I don’t want to imagine what he’ll do to Travis for blatantly stalking me. But it’s in my best interests to warn him. Why risk Boone getting hurt or going to jail over a little weasel like this?
Instead of heeding my threat, Travis just scoffs. He shakes his head and sighs, turning his eyes back to the road ahead of him.
“All right, Callie, whatever you say.” He starts rolling up his window, but before it’s closed, I hear him add, “I’ll be seeing you soon, princess.”
Hearing that word out of his mouth makes me nauseous. Hell, this whole situation makes me sick.
I rush back to Boone’s workshop, deliberating the entire drive about whether I’m going to tell him about what just happened. But when I arrive to find the roller door wide open and a light on inside, something tells me now isn’t the time.
Boone’s sitting next to my car, with tools sprawled out around him. Noticing I’m here, he looks up at me grimly.
“Your part arrived while we were sleeping,” he says.
My heart shatters into a thousand tiny pieces to hear it.
10
BOONE
Callie stares at me, mouth agape, like I just sucker punched her with the news.
But this was destined to happen. I placed the order long before I knew how well things would go between us. The biggest damn regret of my life.
Still, I wonder if it’s for the best. Meadowview isn’t the place for someone who has their whole life ahead of them. It’s a dead-end town, with dead-end people, all coalescing in mundanity. She’ll go on to do great things, but not here.
