Page 30 of Truck You

“Andshe’swho you hire?” I point behind me to where Sophia is standing.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sophia yells out, sounding offended.

I glare at her because I didn’t mean that the way she took it. She could be the best mechanic in the fucking world, and I still wouldn’t want her working here.

“Yes, Mac. I hired Sophia. And thank God she was ready to start work today, cause I needed the help.” He rests his hand on my shoulder in that stern, fatherly way he sometimes does. “It’s my job to keep this place running. She knows her shit and has a lot of talent.”

“A lot of people know their shit and have talent. Why her?”

He narrows his eyes at me. “Do you have a problem with Sophia?”

“Yes. Isn’t that obvious?”

“Then help me understand why, because she’s done more to help this morning than you three put together.” He points at Chase, Ash, and me. “I want to give you guys the freedom to focus on racing. But to do that, I need to hire help.”

Liam pushes past me and heads toward his office. Chase and Ash are unusually quiet, and Christian does what he always does. He works quietly and pretends none of us are here.

“She’s a liar.” I call out. “I don’t like liars.”

“Mac.” Sophia lets out an exasperated sigh. “I didn’t lie to you.”

I point at her and growl. “An omission of the truth is still a lie.”

I rush through the open bay door, needing to put distance between me and everyone else in that garage. I’m being a total ass right now, but I don’t care. She shouldn’t be here. I have enough problems messing with my head. I don’t need her too.

“Mac, please.” She calls from behind me. “Can we just talk about this?”

I spin around, and she runs right into me. I didn’t expect her to be this close. Her sweet scent immediately assaults my senses. Strawberries and vanilla mixed with grease.

It’s pure fucking heaven.

I stumble back a few steps, not trusting myself to be this close to her. I may be pissed at her, but my body doesn’t seem to understand that. All I can think about is pressing my body against hers and kissing her again like I did last week.

“Look,” I say. “I’m sorry. But I have enough complications in my life. I don’t need another one.”

“How am I a complication?” She steps toward me. So close, her chest almost touches mine. I want to grab her. Wrap my arms around her. Feel her skin against mine.

Her hand brushes against mine where it hangs stiffly at my side. The light touch sends a shock wave of desire through my entire body.

“I didn’t intend to lie to you,” she whispers. “I didn’t even expect to meet you last week. We had fun, and I really like you. Can’t you understand how my truth scares me? I didn’t want it to get between us before we even got to know each other.”

I let out a low huff. “Open your eyes, Sophia. It got between us anyway. Now I guess we’ll never know what could have been.”

“Mac, don’t do this.”

But it’s too late. I spin around and rush out of the garage without a look back.

What is it with the women in my life? First my mother. Isn’t a mother supposed to love her child unconditionally? What a fucking lie. She left just like my brothers’ mothers. They all leave. They all lie and hurt and cause pain to those they’re supposed to love the most.

Why should I expect Sophia to be any different?

Chapter8

Small towns are weird.

Sophia

“You have to loosen the lug nuts first,” Mac growls from where he’s been standing over me like a sentry for the last three hours.

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