Chapter 29 #2
I told her about the conversation I’d overheard between West and the two police officers the day before, never taking my eyes off the putrid-colored car.
Just as I finished explaining, a man who looked a thousand different shades of skeevy came out of the vape shop and headed right for the hatchback.
“What are you thinking?” Sage asked, her voice holding a hint of trepidation.
An idea took form in my head. Admittedly, not the brightest one, but I was working on a time crunch here. “I think . . . I’m gonna ram him.”
“Are you sure that’s smart? Your ribs are still hurt. I can’t imagine this would make them feel any better.”
I shrugged. “Probably not. But I’m gonna do it anyway.” Once an idea took hold, there really was no ignoring it. It would needle at me until I acted.
“And have you thought of what excuse you’re going to use when the cops show after you smash your car into his?”
Not really. “I’m sure something will come to me in the moment,” I told her. “I’m quick on my feet.”
“Well, all right then. Let’s get this show on the road.”
I turned to her just as she clicked her seatbelt into place. “You’re staying in the car?”
Sage’s eyes twinkled with excitement. If I wasn’t all kinds of in love with West, I might have considered her my soul mate just then. “Hell yeah, I am. I’m not missing this.”
“Okay.”
“Wait!” she shouted just as I eased off the brake, causing me to slam the car back to a stop. “I can’t remember, should we brace or keep our bodies loose?”
“Um . . . loose, I think.”
She released her hold on the dash and shook her arms out. “All right, go. Wait!”
“What now?” I asked in exasperation.
“This bucket of rust has airbags, right?”
“Yes, wait—” I pinched my mouth to the side as I tried to remember. “Yes. I’m almost ninety-seven percent sure it does.”
“Works for me. Now gun it.”
Checking our surroundings to make sure there were no innocent pedestrians anywhere, I pulled in a breath and patted the dash.
“Sorry about this, Gertrude. You were always there for me when I needed you. I hope you understand that this is for the greater good.” With the apology done, I slammed on the gas just as Vape Dude started backing out of his parking spot.
Sage let out a whoop of exhilaration as we hurtled toward the bad guy’s hatchback, and I sent up a silent prayer that my car did, in fact, have airbags.
A second later, the sound of metal against metal filled the air as we made impact.
My ribs did not appreciate the workout they’d gotten, but I was happy to announce that Gertrude did have airbags. Thank the Lord above.
Sage and I sat in the back of an ambulance as the paramedics checked us over to make sure we were okay. We’d sustained a few minor bumps, and I had a strawberry on my forearm from the airbag deploying, but other than that, we weren’t any worse for the wear.
“That was a rush,” Sage breathed beside me once the paramedics were sure we’d be fine and left to deal with the driver of the hatchback.
The two of us watched the chaos unfolding in front of us, and I couldn’t lie, I felt a tiny sense of pride that my plan had worked. The parking lot was full of police cruisers, a couple more ambulances, and a fire truck.
When Gertrude had slammed into the bad guy’s car, she’d hit at just the right spot, causing the hatch to fly open. Now the concrete was covered in all the evidence Trick and Hayes would need to put Vape Dude away for a really long time.
I watched as the detectives in question broke away from their huddle with a few uniformed officers and started in our direction, both of them trying to suppress their grins as they stopped in front of us.
“Paramedics say you’ll both be fine,” Hayes announced, telling us something we already knew. “And we’ve called your men. They’ll be here soon.”
I bit down on my bottom lip, worry starting to pulse inside my brain. “On a scale from one to ten, how mad do you think West will be about all of this?”
Trick made a snorting sound like he was trying not to laugh and dropped his head. Hayes, meanwhile, grinned full on. “Well, if it was an accident like you said, I’m sure he won’t be mad at all.”
Sage and I both nodded. “Yep. Total accident,” I chirped. “There was a bee.”
Hayes crooked an eyebrow just as Sage elbowed my side. “I thought you said it was a spider.”
Well shit. “Yep. That’s what I said. A spider. There was a spider, one of those little jumpy ones, right there on the dash. It jumped right on me and I lost control of my car as I was trying to kill it.”
“Yep, that’s what happened,” Sage confirmed, ever the picture of innocence. Neither of these guys were buying it.
“Well, we’re glad no one got hurt,” Trick said once he’d gotten a hold of himself. “That spider could have caused a lot more damage.”
Just then, I heard the sound of a big engine rumbling up and turned to see West’s truck flying into the lot. The tires squealed as he slammed on the brakes, and a beat later, four insanely gorgeous, incredibly built men came flying out of the cab.
“Stella!” West barked, his frantic gaze shooting all over the place.
“Right here,” I said meekly, lifting my hand to wave.
He started in my direction with all the grace of a raging bull charging a matador. As soon as he reached me, he took my face in his hands, and I could see the fear in his eyes as they scanned every inch of me. “Are you okay? What the hell happened?”
“There was a bee—”
“Spider,” Trick corrected on a cough.
I pointed in his direction. “Yes, that. There was a spider, and being a girl, I really don’t like spiders,” I explained unnecessarily. “Especially spiders that jump. And this one did. Right on me. And I accidentally crashed.”
West pulled me from the ambulance and wrapped me in his arms just as Xander reached Sage and did the very same thing, and at the realization I had the same exact thing she did, I melted a little deeper into him.
“Everyone’s okay?” Linc asked Hayes as he scanned the scene.
“Everyone’s just fine,” he confirmed.
“Well, not everyone,” I murmured, looking at my car mournfully before tilting my head back and frowning up at West. “I don’t think Gertrude’s going to come away from this.”
I could have sworn he was fighting back a smile. “We’ll get you another car, baby.”
I sniffled and nodded, blinking back tears. “She was such a good car.”
“I know. And we’ll send her off in a way she deserves.” Then he looked back to the police. “And the other guy? He’s not going to press charges, is he?”
“What for? It was an accident,” Trick said in a teasing tone.
Hayes added, “I think he’s got bigger things to worry about.”
Sage snorted from Xander’s arms. “Yeah, like all the meth scattered around the parking lot.”
“As soon as the fire department finishes cutting that piece of shit out of his car, he’ll be taken straight to booking. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
West heaved a sigh of relief and squeezed me even tighter. “So they’re free to go?”
“They are. Get them home, give them a few Advil, and they should be good by morning.”
I snuggled into West as he led me to his truck and tucked me into the passenger seat. I was sad to be leaving Gertrude behind, but I took comfort that her last act on this earth was putting a bad guy in jail.
“So,” West said as he started the engine and pointed us in the direction of home. “A spider huh?”
“Yup. A big one. And that’s all I have to say on the subject,” I decreed.
“I bet.” Then he let out a deep, soulful laugh that made that made me feel all warm and squishy, and all sadness over Gertrude was forgotten.
Because I was heading home with the man I loved. Which made everything totally worth it.