After taking time to collect her thoughts over the filling breakfast, Marie had decided to take control of the situation at the mechanic. She had become accustomed to sitting back and letting Bobby handle these types of issues.
However, that was no longer an option. Not just with Bobby, she needed to take complete control of her life. Wrong or right, all decisions were hers to make starting now.
Chanting that mantra in her head, she walked to the shop, grabbed the door, and mentally prepared for battle. Only to realize the shop was filled with a lot more people than earlier. She had barely any room to squeeze up to the desk.
The red headed lady reigned supreme under the lusty eyes of the male dominated shop.
Throughout the cacophony of noise, she heard the tiny chime of a bell and a familiar voice.
"Jeannie, call that girl from earlier and tell her she needs to get over here if she wants that piece of shit fixed any time soon."
Despite the volume of his voice, Jeannie, as she now knew her name to be, didn't react. She continued to flirt with some guy in a polo shirt, khakis, and sunshades. Running her fingers delicately up and down the back of his hand.
"Goddamnit, Scooter. What have I told you about keeping it in your pants while she's at work."
The guy in shades jerked violently as if he had forgotten that anyone else was around. Two splotches of color appeared on his cheeks. One would assume he was embarrassed but Marie caught a glance at his bunched up hand and knew it was anger.
Reacting purely on instinct, she pushed through the crowded shop, placed both hands on Logan's chest, and pushed him back into the garage bay.
Once they were alone, she raised her head. Eyes locking onto his once again. This time, she noticed they were hazel, with specks of gold. Just as before, she felt a jolt go through her and she had to force herself to look away.
Not even realizing that her hands were stroking the material of his work shirt that was plastered to his chest. Apparently crawling under and into cars was sweaty work.
"You wanna explain what that was about just now, darlin?" The earlier gruffness in his voice had faded into a more sensual gravel that weakened her knees. His mouth inched up one side in a smirk when he felt a hand clench momentarily.
Marie forced her head up, once more, and mustered up some of her sass.
"Seems to me you boys were getting a mite heated. Thought you needed a little time out." Her voice dripped pure Mississippi.
Logan's eyebrow hitched up as the words washed over him. The syrup heavy words planted images in his head that he was best without.
Fighting the urge to continue their flirting, finding out how far it would lead, he gave himself a mental full body shake and pulled away from her.
"It's good you were here, saves me time waiting for you to get back. Turns out you got some decisions to make. You have a leak in your radiator and to be honest, just about everything in the front end needs to be replaced. It's a minor miracle that the car made it from your hotel to the shop this morning, much less from wherever you came from."
Marie felt the burn of tears in her eyes.
Logan watched as she fought back the tears threatening to leak out. Her chin wobbled dangerously before she clamped it firmly shut. He had a lot of respect for her at that moment.
"How much is it gonna cost to fix it?"
Logan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He hated this part of his job.
"$4,000 if I can get the parts locally. It will take at least a week to get most of the parts shipped out here. You're lucky it's spring and not winter."
With a somewhat steady nod of her head. Marie turned and walked across the garage until she stood next to her car. Without warning, she suddenly screamed and began to kick and beat her hands against it. Bobby had promised to buy her a new car for the last few years. But something always happened and now here she was, stuck in some bumfuck turn in Canada with a piece of shit not worth the money it would take to fix it.
As soon as the lady had released the guttural cry and lashed out at her car, Logan had swooped in and pulled her back against his chest. He let her cry as the anger burned through her body.
If he was anybody else, he would try soothing her, but he, of all people, knew life was shitty and fake platitudes didn't fix anything.
Once the anger burned off, Marie felt her body go limp. She felt as though she had burned up all her energy reserves for the week in just that short time. She forced her body to stand straight, pushed Logan's hands from her body, and walked out into the glaring sunlight.
She would call Jubilee and give her an update. Maybe she could sell the car to Logan for parts at this point. Hank could drive down and pick her up. She'd even pay for him a room tonight and the cost of food and gas.
But for right now, she just needed to sleep. A quick stop by the front desk insured she had the room for at least another night. She'd figure it out after a nap.
Back at the shop, Logan couldn't tear his eyes away as he watched the little hellcat stumble brokenly across the highway, into the office of the hotel and a moment later into one of the rooms.
With a frustrated sigh, he shook himself and walked back into the crowded lobby. He had a list of paying customers he needed to focus on right now.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I'm 100% not a mechanic. After hitting brick walls will trying to research, I decided to just "umbrella" the issues with Marie's car.
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks for reading. Hoping to get the next chapter written in the next day or so.