“What happened back there, Lexi?” He kept his voice quiet. He was as non-threatening as possible. He would never order her to tell him. There would be no punishment if she chose not to trust him, just an aching sadness in his heart. “One minute you were giving Karen hell and the next you shut down.”
He pulled onto the one-lane highway. At this time of night, it was full dark once they left the neon lights of the fair grounds. The moon was new, so the only lights in the night came from his headlights. It felt like they were the only three people in the whole world, and yet he was alone.
He thought she might ignore the question. For a few minutes, the only sound was the soft thudding whirl of the tires on the pavement.
“I’m fine,” she finally said in a small voice that lent not one ounce of credence to her words.
Aidan felt his whole soul sag. She was shutting him out.
“Lexi.” Aidan could hear the warning in Lucas’s tone.
Aidan glanced over, and Lexi’s face had hardened into a stubborn mask. “I’m fine. Maybe I don’t like small town carnivals. Maybe I don’t like having to deal with Aidan’s old high school girlfriend calling me a whore.”
“Well, I don’t think she’ll do that again,” Lucas replied. “She’ll come with a printout from Urban Dictionary before she insults you again. And that wasn’t what got you upset. You enjoyed that. We both know what upset you. I heard what your mom said to you. Don’t you think it’s time we all talked about this?”
Aidan put his eyes back on the road. There weren’t usually a lot of people driving at night through this part of the county. The road led out to his ranch and a couple of small homes, but there were deer and small animals that could jump out. He wouldn’t be the first driver to total a car on this stretch of asphalt. His eyes were on the blacktop in front of him, but his ears were focused on the conversation. What had Abby said? Had she and Lexi argued about him?
“There’s nothing to talk about, Lucas. I just want to go home and rest. It’s been a trying couple of days.” Lexi’s eyes were down, studying the dash.
“You know you’re going to have to talk about it eventually,” Lucas insisted.
Talk about what? All of his instincts were telling him this was an important conversation. Everyone had talked about Lexi hiding something that had happened to her. What the hell was it? He wanted to stop the car and force her to talk, but that would break trust with her. Lexi was like an animal he was trying to feed by hand. He couldn’t force her, or she’d run as fast as she could.
But Lucas seemed determined to do just that. “Don’t you think it’s been long enough?”
She turned on Lucas. “Drop it, Lucas, or I swear I’ll call my mom, and she’ll pick me up. I won’t give a damn about the contract or getting back into The Club.”
Aidan heard what sounded like the whine of an engine revving, but he didn’t see another car. He looked in the rearview mirror. Nothing. Maybe it was a trick of his mind. Aidan turned his eyes back to the road, but his mind was on the woman beside him. “Lexi, you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. We can go home and go to bed. It will be better in the morning.”
He was unaccountably nervous about this conversation. Now that it was here, he wasn’t sure he wanted to have it. Indecision was clawing at his insides. It might be best for her if he let her go, but he just couldn’t do it.
“No, it won’t be better in the morning,” Lucas insisted. “It won’t go away, Aidan. She’s been trying to make this go away for years now. Don’t you think he deserves to know? Don’t you owe it to Brandon?”
Who the hell was Brandon? Aidan had been told that Lexi had only dated Lucas since they broke up. Now there was someone named Brandon? Aidan’s first instinct was to shout and try to figure out how to call the bastard out. But he’d left her. He’d walked away. If she’d slept with a hundred men, he couldn’t say a damn thing about it.
“Don’t you dare say his name, Lucas Cameron.” Lexi was practically vibrating with rage.
Lucas pointed a finger at her. Even in the darkness of the cab, Aidan could see that Lucas’s face was red, flushed with emotion. “I’m not going to do it anymore. I won’t pretend he didn’t exist. I won’t pretend it didn’t happen. You can tell him or I will.”
Aidan was just about to insert himself into the conversation. He was going to tell both of them to stay calm and wait until they got home. He needed time to figure out how to handle them. They were both on edge. Lucas was never this aggressive. Something was really upsetting him, and Lexi never yelled at Lucas. He needed to separate them and find out what was going on.
Aidan opened his mouth to take control of the situation, but the truck suddenly lurched forward. Aidan felt the truck move from the force of something hitting the back end. He had to tighten his hands on the wheel to stay in control.
“What the hell was that?” Lucas asked, craning his neck to see behind them. “I can’t see anything. Is that a car?”
It had sure felt like one.
“A drunk driver?” Lexi asked. Aidan felt her clutching his leg.
“Could be,” Aidan replied. He kept his voice measured and even. Lexi had been through this. She’d had an accident that put her in the hospital. He needed to stay calm for her sake.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to stop and sort it out with the other driver while was Lexi in the car. It was too dark and too isolated to risk her. He sped up. He’d pay for his own damage. There wasn’t anywhere to pull over. The road dropped off on either side right here. On the right there was the reservoir that fed the county, and the left sloped on to what eventually became his own land. He wasn’t far from home. He hit the accelerator.
The truck lurched again, this time harder.
“He’s trying to hit us.” Lucas’s voice was tight with anxiety.
“Don’t you take off that seat belt, Lucas,” Aidan ordered when he saw his hands moving.
“I’m trying to get a good look at him.”
“Call the cops, now.” Aidan didn’t care in that instant who was behind the wheel of the other car. Rage could come later. Now he was panicked for the people he had inside his truck. Lexi and Lucas being safe was the only thing that mattered.
Aidan forced himself to stay calm. His vision had started to recede. It was what happened when he had an episode. The world got fuzzy around the edges, and he would be able to feel the heat of Iraq on his skin. The noises around him became the never-ending sound of gunfire. He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let them down.
He focused on Lucas’s voice, calmly requesting assistance from the 911 operator. He concentrated on Lexi’s hand on his leg.
He looked for anywhere to go. The truck pitched, jerking forward in a chaotic movement. There were only two lanes here, but a half a mile ahead, the ground to the left became flat. He could pull off the road and see if the man followed.
Aidan watched the road ahead of him, waiting for that moment when the ground leveled. Then he could make his move.
The air around them cracked with the sound of an engine roaring. The sound seemed to get closer with each second.
“He’s passing us,” Lexi said with an irritated sigh. “What an asshole.”
Aidan tried to slow down to allow him to pass. He got a quick glimpse of an SUV, and then it slammed into the side of the truck.
“Fuck,” Aidan cursed as he tried to regain control. He felt the wheels grasping for purchase. The world was tilting on its side.
“Hold on,” he heard Lucas say.
There was one final crash, and the truck began to tumble. Over and over. Aidan thought it rolled three or four times before it hit the water with a slapping splash. His head snapped forward. The seat belt bit into his chest. He had to force his eyes open. The world seemed out of place.