Page 19 of Truck Up

“What’s it doing?” Sophia asks.

“I found a puddle under it when I left work. I didn’t know where else to go.” My body tenses because that’s Amelia’s voice. There’s also a hint of panic in her tone that has every nerve ending in my body on high alert. Something is wrong—very wrong—and it has nothing to do with her car.

“Okay, we can get it in and take a look. Can’t promise we can fix it today, though.” Based on Sophia’s tone, she’s not picking up on the tension in Amelia’s voice. Then again, she doesn’t know Amelia the way that I do. If Badger hurt her or even tried to, he’s not going to survive to see another day.

I start for the door, but Sophia and Lia enter before I make it a few steps.

“This shouldn’t take long,” Sophia says. She glances my way and gives me a wink and a sly grin. “There are a couple of chairs over there by Liam’s office if you want to grab a seat.”

Amelia nods and looks in the direction Sophia pointed while avoiding me. Maybe Sophia is right. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Amelia walks past me and sits down. I don’t miss the way her hands shake or that she can’t stop worrying her bottomlip. She only does that when Badger is around. That fucker did something, and I’m going to kill him for it. No one hurts my girl and lives to talk about it.

I look over my shoulder, and Sophia is already outside and sliding into Amelia’s car. She’ll be occupied for the next several minutes, giving me plenty of time to question Amelia.

I’m more concerned about Amelia than I am with Sophia’s suspicions, so I slowly make my way over to her.

“Lia?” Her eyes snap to mine and I don’t like the way they look. There’s fear in them. “You okay?”

I glance over my shoulder to make sure Sophia isn’t in earshot. She hasn’t even pulled the car up on the lift yet.

Turning back to Lia, I tense when to see tears welling up in her eyes. My hands itch to reach out for her and take her into my arms, but I don’t.

“Baby, you’re scaring me,” I whisper. “Please tell me everything’s okay.”

“I can’t.” Her voice cracks as she makes eye contact with me. She’s on the verge of tears and I hate it.

“Did Badger try something?” My voice drops low as my worry turns to anger.

“Oh God, Christian.” Her tears break free and run down her cheeks before she covers her face with her hands. Her shoulders shake as she loses control of her emotions.

I kneel next to her and place my hand on her knee. I no longer care if anyone sees me touching her.

“What did he do to you?” I growl.

“No!” she blurts out and snaps her head up. “This isn’t about him. This is about you and me.”

“What about us?” I furrow my brows. Fear instantly replaces my worry and I panic. As wrong as I am for her, I don’t want to lose her. “Are you here to break things off with me?”

“No! Never.” Her hand shoots out and squeezes mine. “It’s just—” She pauses and takes a deep breath. “Can we go outside? Find somewhere a little more private to talk?”

“Lia, you’re scaring me.” I admit. “Just tell me what’s wrong.”

“Please, Christian.” She glances over to where Sophia is working. She’s not exactly close, but if she focused, she could hear every word we say. “Not here.”

“Okay.” I push to my feet and look around. Sophia isn’t paying any attention to us. She may be curious about what’s going on, but she’s giving us privacy. Another reason I like Sophia.

I look out the bay door. No one is in the parking lot either. My brothers shouldn’t be back from the tracks for at least another hour. It should be safe out there.

I lean down close to her ear and whisper, “My bike is parked along the side of the building. No one will see us there. And if they do, we can pretend I’m showing it to you.”

“Okay.” She nods and wipes her face dry, but her eyes still glisten with tears.

I head out first, leading her around the workbench. There’s no way to hide that we’re going outside together. All I can do is trust Sophia to keep this to herself. If she tells Mac, everyone will know. He can’t keep his mouth shut to save his life.

I glance over at her, and she nods, indicating she’s got my back, and then disappears under the hood of Amelia’s car.

As soon as we’re around the side of the building and out of sight, I spin around and pull Amelia into my arms. I need to hold her—feel her body close to mine. “Baby, what happened?”