Page 17 of Full Throttle 2
“No, you don’t. You need to finish your business there and let Team Lockwood handle our business here. We’ll figure it out.”
“Is that why you’re not eating and sleeping properly?”
“What?!” Colby sat upright. “Who told you that? Brian?”
“It doesn’t matter who told me. I’m concerned. We are all concerned that you’re burning it at both ends and doing too much. You just said you got in a little while ago and need to be back at the garage in a few hours. If today is any indication,you’re not getting enough sleep, given your profession. And as much as you might want to, you can’t be all things to everyone.”
Colby was hot! She was trying to be loyal to Brian, yet he was running his mouth. “First, I’m fine. Second, my boss should not tell my boyfriend about any concerns he has about me! Those are conversations he and I should have.”
“It shouldn’t matter, but I never said Brian told me anything. Getting information from him about you is like pulling teeth without Novocain.”
“If not him, then who?”
“Team Lockwood isworried. If they are concerned, then so am I.”
Colby tried to figure out who Liam respected enough that would tell him something so bogus. Then, the lightbulb in her head went off. “You talked to my dad?! I can’t believe this. I am a grown-ass woman surrounded by men who don’t know when to mind their own business!”
“A—you are my business, and B—you’re overreacting.”
Colby was ready to blow a gasket. “Liam, I swear if the next words out of your mouth are ‘calm down,’ I will hang up on you.”
There was an awkward silence for the longest two point five seconds because Liam was about to utter those exact words.
Finally, he broke the silence. “I meant what I said, so I’m not about to apologize. I need you to take care of yourself.”
“I meant whatIsaid, and I’m not apologizing either.”
They were at a stalemate. The argument Liam didn’t want to have, they were having. However, he was man enough to try to end it. “Let’s just agree to disagree.”
Colby was pissed, but she didn’t want to spend the little time they had arguing. “Fine, but, Liam, I already have a father. I don’t need two. I can handle myself.”
At this point, Liam wasn’t so sure. “I’ll take that under consideration.”
You’ll take it under consideration?Colby’s blood pressure was now at a slow boil. Her palms were starting to sweat. “Since everyone is so concerned about my sleeping habits, I’m going to hang up. As you well know, I have an early day tomorrow.”
She was being stubborn. It didn’t matter. Mad or not, Liam wasn’t ready to let her go. He lifted the closed lid on his laptop. “Then, go to sleep, but don’t hang up the phone.”
“Are you serious?” Colby knew she was acting like a petulant child when all Liam wanted to do was make sure she was okay, and all Colby wanted was to be wrapped in his arms. But she was also tired of people thinking they knew how to take care of her better than she could. It was starting to feel like she didn’t have any autonomy over her own body.
“I’m as serious as a heart attack.” Liam settled back into his chair and loosened his tie. He was in for a long day because he planned to stay on the line to ensure Colby slept.
“You want me to fall asleep with the phone against my ear like a teenager?”
Liam opened an email, read it, and then began drafting his response. “Yep. I have plenty of work to keep me occupied.”
Colby had to fake being defiant. She thought Liam’s concern was heavy-handed but endearing. “And if I don’t?”
His voice sounded slightly ominous. “I’ll be in East Moline before morning, and this perception you think your peers and the public have about you will be cemented into their brains.”
Colby had no doubt Liam would do it. “You’re a menace, do you know that?”
“I do. But if this is what it’ll take to make sure you get the rest you need, so be it. I’ll be a menace. Now, go to sleep.”
Colby wasn’t even pissed anymore. If she were honest, she was just too damn tired to be. Instead of firing back some sarcastic remark, she removed her clothes and slid down underneath the covers.
She turned over onto her side, placed the phone against her other ear, and released a light giggle. “This is ridiculous.”
A corner of Liam’s lip edged up into a small smile. “Maybe.”