“Yep,” he said after a beat. “Definitely a cracked hose. Might’ve started a while back, slow leak kinda situation. Radiator’s not looking too happy either. You been topping off coolant?”
“Is that the green stuff or the orange stuff?”
He snorted. “We’ll go with no.”
I lowered the phone slightly. “So what, it’s dead?”
He finally looked at me again, eyes catching in the flashlight’s halo. “Nah. Not dead. Just pissed off.”
I exhaled. “Great. That’s…comforting.”
Beau wiped his hands on the rag tucked into his back pocket and stepped back, giving me space like he knew I needed it. Which was somehow worse. I preferred men who didn’t notice things.
“I can tow it to the shop,” he said. “Take a proper look.”
“And then what?”
“And then I’ll let you know what it needs, how long it’ll take, what it’ll cost.”
I narrowed my eyes. “That easy?”
He shrugged. “Usually is.”
Right. Because everything in small towns was justsoeasy.
“Unless, of course,” he added, “you’re one of those people who thinks small-town mechanics are out to scam city girls out of their savings.”
I stared at him. “Did you just call me a city girl?”
“Am I wrong?”
He was—technically—but I didn’t answer. He grinned, not smug, but like he’d won a game I didn’t realize we were playing.
“I’ll go grab the truck,” he said, already turning toward the street. “Stay put. Should only take a minute.”
As he walked away, I stayed exactly where I was—arms crossed, phone still clutched in one hand, the flashlight beam swinging uselessly in the gravel at my feet.
Beau Ward was too steady. Too confident. Toonice.
And I knew better than to trust any of that.
Because nice in places like this? It always came with strings.
CHAPTER 2
Beau
She lookedlike she was ready to bolt the second I slowed the truck.
Tense posture, short black hair, blue eyes darting every which way, arms crossed like armor. This was a woman waiting for things go wrong—half-daring them to, like she could smack down anyone who challenged her with words alone.
I figured she might just be right about that.
Girl had a seriously barbed tongue.
She didn’t see me watching her through the windshield as I put the truck in park and stepped out to hook the tow. Nah…she was too busy pretending not to notice the people around her, too busy calculating how far she was from the highway, or maybe civilization in general. I got it; towns in this part of the country could be scary. Sometimes, they were run by folks like the Remnant Fellowship.
But here…it was different.
