She put her foot on the brake to slow down. Maybe the guy would pass her if she slowed down. She assumed it was a guy. She couldn’t imagine a female driver being so aggressive. Although, you never knew.
She squinted into the mirror, trying to make out who the driver was. Short dark hair. Definitely a man. Still riding her ass, the jerk. She slowed even more.
She rounded another curve and there was a blessed straight open stretch of highway. Finally. Now he could pass her and leave her alone. She slowed even more, now well below the speed limit, and waved a hand to motion the driver behind her to pass.
But he didn’t. Her frown deepened as he stayed right behind her, so close she could feel him. What the hell? Her eyes kept going back and forth between the highway and the car behind her, and then she was going into another long curve around the mountainside and he was still hugging her butt. She gripped the steering wheel with both hands.
Enough. This was stupid. She was going to pull over and let him go by. If she stopped, surely he’d pass her. If he didn’t, she’d get out and give him a piece of her mind. He was a fucking moron. But what if he was some kind of lunatic? What if she pulled over and he pulled over behind her and got out and he had a gun or something, and was insane…
Stop! She could not let her mind keep imagining these worst-case scenarios. Dr. Cogan told her to think best-case scenario, not to always imagine the worst. She would pull over.
She set her foot on the brake and started to slow her car. The shoulder was unpaved and very narrow here, the low guardrail flimsy. When she felt she’d slowed enough, she directed her wheels onto the shoulder, felt the jolt as they left the paved road, held tightly to the steering wheel to control her car on the loose gravel.
And then she felt the bump. A small bump, but a bump. The car behind her had actually hit her! Jesus! What the hell was he thinking!
She glanced in her mirror, gripped the wheel and hit the brakes, but the car had now come up beside her—close! She reflexively jerked the wheel to avoid the collision, a glimpse of a dark blue SUV flashing into her vision, and then her car hit the guardrail and to her horror crashed right through it.
She wrenched the wheel back, trying desperately to get back on the road, but her rear tires skidded off the gravel and over the edge of the embankment. No. Oh, no. This could not be happening. Her wheels spun, the car shuddered and then her front end headed over the edge.
Eyes wide, hands gripping the steering wheel, her mouth opened and she wasn’t sure, but she might have screamed as her car skidded. She jammed her foot on the brake but it was too late. The front end drove into nothingness.
Horror made everything happen slowly—the vast spread of greenery far below her, the sensation of falling, like in one of her dreams, the tree that appeared in front of her windshield—and then blackness.
Shane ran a hand through his hair impatiently, standing in the crowded waiting room of the hospital ER.
“Should we call her next of kin?” Jim Mahon asked. He’d been first at the scene of the crash, had radioed for emergency help. The California Highway Patrol along with officers from the Kilkenny PD and an ambulance had rushed to the scene.
When Shane had first heard of the accident, he hadn’t thought much of it, had let his staff deal with it. But when he heard it was Keara, his heart had slammed into his ribs and he’d torn out of the station and raced to Kilkenny General. He’d actually gotten there before the ambulance, which arrived moments later with lights and sirens blaring.
Watching them carry Keara into the ER on a stretcher had just about knocked his legs out from under him.
“No,” he answered shortly. “Just let me find out how badly she’s hurt. If I have to, I’ll go get Maeve.” He swallowed, his chest tight. Jesus, she had to be okay. He could only imagine showing up at Maeve’s shop with news that Keara…he shook his head. “That’ll be better than phoning her and getting her all upset.”
The nurse had promised to report back to him in a few minutes. They were still checking Keara out back behind the reception desk. He paced back and forth, wanting just to stride back there and yank her curtain open to demand answers. He scrunched his nose at the smell of antiseptic and sickness and rubbed his face.
“Her vehicle?” he asked Jim.
“Wrecker got it. Towed it to their compound. Probably a write-off.”
“Fuck.”
What the hell had happened? He knew that stretch of highway, the steep drop off beside the highway. There were too many accidents on that highway.
“My son has a sore throat,” he heard a woman tell the nurse at the desk. He frowned. Jesus. A sore throat. He rubbed the back of his neck, turned and paced back down the hall, behind the reception desk as far he thought he could get away with.
The nurse he’d spoken to earlier whisked the curtain open and stepped through it. She inclined her head and motioned him to follow her away from the bed where Keara lay, hidden from his sight.
“She’s okay,” the nurse began. “We can’t find any broken bones. They’re checking for any possible internal injuries, but looks like just bumps and bruises.”
Relief poured through him, making him feel almost lightheaded. “Can I see her?”
“In a few more minutes.” She nodded. “But do you have to talk to her right away? Surely you can get your report tomorrow.”
“It’s not…I’m not getting a report,” he muttered. “I’m a friend. Uh…family friend.”
“Okay.” She studied him. “Are you okay, Chief?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He scowled. “I need to let her aunt know. But I want to see her first, make sure she’s all right. Will they keep her here?’
“I don’t think so. Unless we do find internal injuries. Otherwise she’ll probably be released.”
“I’ll wait for her. Take her home.”
A man in a white coat emerged next from the curtained cubicle. “She’s going for a CT scan,” he said to the nurse, handing over a chart. He glanced at Shane. “Let me know when she’s back.”
“Of course.” The nurse took the chart. “Come on,” she said. “You can talk to her for a minute before she goes.”
She pulled aside the curtain and let him in. Shane stood beside the hospital bed and stared down at Keara.
Her fiery-bright hair spread out on the white pillow around her face, almost as white as the bedding. She opened her eyes.
“Hey,” he said in a low voice, bending lower. “You okay?”
Her eyes went liquid and she blinked. “I think so,” she whispered. “My head hurts. Well, my whole body hurts. But apparently I’m in one piece.”
“That’s what they said.” He resisted the urge to reach for her and touch her. “I’ll wait for you. If everything’s okay, you should be able to go home.”
“Maeve…”
“Do you want her?” He leaned closer. “I can call her or go get her if you do.”
“I don’t want to scare her. I’ll call her.”
He snorted. “No you won’t.” Her voice was so weak and shaky she’d scare the shit out of Maeve if she tried to talk to her. “We’ll talk when you get back.”
Hospital personnel in scrubs arrived to take her for her CT scan and he watched them wheel her down the long wide hall. Fuck.
He turned back and saw Joe still standing there. “Hey,” he said, striding back to the waiting area. “You can go. I’m gonna wait for her.”
“Okay. She can come in and make her report when she’s up to it.”
“Yeah. I’ll make sure.”
Joe looked curious, but said nothing more as he left. Shane wandered over to a vending machine and fumbled some quarters into it to get a cup of coffee. Pretty disgusting stuff, but it was hot. He tried to sit but couldn’t, ended up pacing more with his cardboard cup of steaming brew. He’d finished it and was debating another one, when the nurse came to tell him Keara was back.