Page 12 of Savage

After tugging my mitten off with my teeth, I pulled out my cell from my purse and called in to work. As it rang, I took in the snow that had fallen overnight. Not much, but enough to add another inch to the last round. It was flipping cold out, and I stomped my booted feet on the driveway as I stared at my car.

“Talia, hey, it’s Becky,” I said when a fellow nurse answered in the labor and delivery department. “Look, I’ve got a flat tire, and I’m going to be late.”

My driver’s side tire had been slashed. It had been obvious when I’d come down the walk, seeing the car off kilter, and even more obvious when the cut was on the side wall. No nail ever punctured that part.

I needed only one guess who’d done it. Todd, my deranged ex.

Yes, Todd. Slashing my tires will definitely make me come back to you.

“That sucks,” she replied. “Don’t worry. It’s quiet now. Only one patient, only four centimeters dilated, so you’re good.”

I sighed in relief, my breath coming out in a white cloud. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I hung up, tucked my phone away and went around to the trunk to find the jack and the spare. There was no way I was driving anywhere right now, and no way I could afford a tow truck to help.

I stomped my foot on the ground again, this time in total frustration. Why couldn’t Todd just leave me alone? Sign the fucking papers and move on with his life? What guy wanted to be with a woman who didn’t want to be with him?

I’d met Todd when I’d worked as a nurse in the ICU at a hospital in Billings. It had been my second job out of school. I’d been warned about dating a doctor, but I’d fallen for Todd’s attention and charm. He’d been sweet even. Told me everything I wanted to hear. Growing up with parents who considered me theiraccident,I’d craved love. Looking back, it was so obvious how desperate I’d been. How stupid. But Todd had been good, though. Manipulative. Twisted. Cutting me off from friends, deciding which shifts I worked. Hell, even which department I worked in. Little by little, he’d chipped away at my independence.

I hadn’t even noticed as it happened, adapting as best I could to keep him happy. In love with me. Until he hit me. Only once. Sure, it was a dick move, but I was actually thankful for it. It was literally the slap in the face I needed to wake up and catch on to the shitshow that was my life.

He’d gone out to drink after blaming me for making him angry enough to hit me. I’d quickly packed my car with whatever I could fit and left him that night. I’d gone to an attorney, got divorce papers started.

Almost two years later, I lived two towns over and on my own, yet I was in the same fucking situation. Still married to the asshole who refused to sign. Who went before the judge and threw out all kinds of shit to drag it out. To drag out the costly expense for my lawyer. At this point, I had no doubt my bills would be putting her son through college.

I huffed and kicked the flat tire as I thought about having to pay for Todd’s school loans. Being married still meant being legally tied to Todd’s debts. It had been one thing to float him as he finished his residency while I worked, but another to pay his bills now when we hadn’t lived together for years.

“Fucker,” I muttered. I hadn’t seen him in months, not since the last court visit when I had to argue that the new granite countertops he’d had installed at his house,in my name,were not my financial responsibility.

And now this.

I put the jack under the car and managed to pump it until the carriage lifted enough for me to get the wheel off the ground. Then I put the lug wrench on one of the lug nuts and turned it counter-clockwise. Correction. Itriedto turn the damn thing counter-clockwise, but it literally wouldn’t budge. It was hard to grip with my mittens on, and I wasn’t strong enough to get it to move. Not even an inch.

I was sweating beneath my heavy winter gear from the strain.

I ignored the sound of a car pulling up the street. I’d never been one to play a helpless female. Yeah, a decent guy would stop if they saw a woman trying to change a tire. Especially in this small Montana town. But I wasn’t going to flag someone down or anything. I could figure this out on my own. I was used to dealing with shit by myself.

The car stopped, even though I didn’t think I was visible from the road. I heard a door slam and the sound of a heavy pair of boots packing down the snow. I peeked around the side of the car, and my heart skipped a little.

Clint. All six feet plus of him.

My sexy cowboy was here to check up on me. No, notmysexy cowboy. Justasuper sexy, bossy, sexually potent and skilled, cowboy. He had on sturdy leather work boots, jeans and a thick coat. He wore his cowboy hat, even in twenty-degree weather. His hands were bare, and I doubted he felt the least bit cold. I was sweating now for an entirely different reason.

It was his dark stare that took in every inch of me that had me licking my lips.

He might have the most impeccable timing imaginable. If I wasn’t happy to see him because of it, I’d wonder why he was here in the first place.

He was quick on the uptake because he was already taking in my tire with narrowed eyes.

I cleared my throat. “Hey. What are you—”

“Someoneslashedthat?” he barked, cutting me off. Like he was pissed off. No, more like he was going to kill someone over it.

It immediately reminded me of the punch he’d taken to the nose at Cody’s. How he hadn’t even winced when he’d been hit or when I’d set it later. He hadn’t even shown anger, really. He’d just delivered his form of justice—swift and sure—by lifting the loser by his neck right off his feet which showed how strong Clint was. Unusual. Most guys would have decked a guy right back. But no, Clint had just shown the guy his strength. The potential for harm. He left my would-be suitor practically scrambling home to his mama.

“Yep,” I said, standing up and setting my hand on the car window since I was lightheaded. Fuck, for a second there, I’d forgotten I was pregnant. I hadn’t been nauseated yet this morning. Shit. I shouldn’t have been doing the stupid tire.

“Any idea who did this?” he asked, looking around as if Todd lurked behind the bushes.