Chapter 3 – Cassie
Fuck. I was late—like late, late.
I was supposed to be at the coffee shop twenty minutes ago to sign for a weekend order that was coming in.
We normally don’t get weekend orders, but the freight company called to tell me they would be one day behind, which was fine.
Except I completely forgot about it and woke up to the driver calling to ask if I was going to be there to sign for the shipment.
Thankfully, he was willing to work with me and wait ten minutes until I could get there.
This would have been a lot easier if I still lived in the apartment above the coffee shop, but it caught on fire one night a few years back, and I haven’t had the time or the money to fix what was damaged in the fire.
Now I live in a small house on the outskirts of Silver Creek. My home away from home.
One more turn and I would be in front of the coffee shop.
I whipped around the corner, almost into downtown. As I made the right turn, the sun glared through my windshield, but I could faintly make out a figure as I passed through the crosswalk.
Wham.
“Oh my god, oh my god!” I yelled as I came to a screeching halt, slamming on my brakes. I covered my mouth with both hands to stifle a gasp.
“I just hit someone.”
As my brain registered what I had done, the moment played back on super speed over and over again. I was frozen in place.
“Did I just kill someone?” I whispered to myself.
I put my car in park with a trembling hand, then got out slowly, uncertain what I would see.
Someone moaned in pain a few feet in front of my car.
I pulled out my phone, ready to call 911 as I sprinted to the front of the car.
As I approached, I recognized the boots—and face—of the person I’d hit.
“Jace?” I asked, confused.
Running anyone over was bad, but I didn’t expect it to be him.
He looked up, wincing in pain at first, then laughing once he realized I was the one who had hit him.
“Good job, sugar. You ran me over.” He laughed before he winced in pain again.
“Are you hurt? Do you need me to call 911?” I asked, looking him over for any signs of broken bones or pooling blood.
“Hold the cavalry. I don’t think I’m going to bleed out. But can you help me up? I think my foot might be broken,” he said as he reached out to me.
Grabbing his hand, I used my body weight to help him up as best I could. Jace was much taller than me and much more muscular. Pulling him up off the ground would be nearly impossible unless he could help me some.
As I pulled, Jace used his good foot to help hoist himself off the ground. Once he stood up, he leaned most of his body weight to one side, resting his hip on the front bumper of my SUV.
He tried taking a step forward, immediately losing his balance and landing against my chest as he winced in pain.
I did my best to keep him upright. It was hard, but I managed. He quickly leaned back against the car, trying to breathe through the pain.
“Definitely twisted, maybe broken,” he said, looking down at his foot.
“I am so sorry Jace. I just turned the corner, and the sun caught my eyes. I couldn’t see you in the crosswalk until it was too late,” I said as my eyes welled up. “I could’ve killed you.”
The tears flowed down my cheeks.
“Hey, hey. It’s okay, Cass,” Jace said, pulling me in for a hug. “I’ll forgive you if you take me to see Dr. Yates down the road. I need to get this thing x-rayed,” he bargained, laughing.
“Why are you laughing at a time like this? I’m about to have a panic attack.”
“Because, it was an accident. I should’ve known better than to step into the crosswalk when I saw you coming down the road. I’ve always been scared of your driving,” he said, laughing again.
“I guess I don’t really have a leg to stand on,” I said, accepting defeat.
“You can say that again,” he joked, looking down at his leg.
I glared at him. “Shut up, Jace. This is no time for jokes.”
“If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry.”
“Before you start, let me get my phone out so I can video it.”
“In all seriousness, can you take me to the doctor? My foot is throbbing,” he said, hopping to the passenger side of my car.
I hurried to get behind him in case he needed my help.
“Do you think you can get in by yourself?” I asked, waiting for him to tell me how to help him into the passenger seat.
“Yes, I’ll just hold this handle and hoist myself in.”
He did exactly that. Grabbing the handle, he turned so his back was to the seat and jimmied himself into it, managing not to fall.
As he gripped the handle, I couldn’t help but notice the tattoos that ran across his left arm.
“Did he always have those?” I thought as I redirected my gaze from his arm to his face.
Jace must have caught me staring because he looked at me funny.
“You ready, sugar?”
“Quit calling me that,” I warned as I closed the passenger door.
After sitting in the waiting room for what felt like an eternity, Jace finally came out, paperwork in hand and a black boot on his left foot.
Oh shit.
“Doc says it’s a clean break. Gotta wear this cast for six weeks until it’s all healed up,” Jace announced as he limped out.
Part of me still hoped that it was a bad sprain and he would be better in a few days. If I felt bad before, I felt really bad now. Jace was a pain in my ass, sure, but I never meant to break one of his bones.
“He also gave me a prescription for some pain medicine,” he said, holding up the prescription paper.
Alarm bells went off in my head. I knew firsthand how fast one innocent prescription could turn into a lifetime of struggles, but that was my own trauma creeping up, not Jace’s.
He was a big boy; he could do what he wanted to in the end.
He didn’t need me to trauma dump on him when I had apparently just broken his foot.
“At least it’s not my driving foot,” he said, looking down, slowly turning the boot from side to side.
“Do you want me to take you home? Or back to your truck downtown maybe? I can drop off dinner for you tonight too. That way you can rest it as much as possible. It’s the least I could do for causing this,” I said, still looking down at the black medical device in disbelief.
“Actually, can you take me to Colt and Ellie’s? I want June Bug to sign my cast with one of her glittery pens.”
Okay, that was the sweetest thing I had ever heard.
Too bad I’d never admit it.