10. Chapter 10
Chapter ten
“Do I need to come arrest you?”
Abe dropped the deposit at the bank, then headed home, going slow and enjoying the night air, which had cooled down now that it was getting late.
He was the only vehicle on the road until he spotted headlights coming toward him.
As the vehicle got closer, it meandered in its lane, occasionally crossing the center line and veering into the oncoming lane.
“Stupid bastard. Stay in your lane.” Abe flashed his brights and kept a close eye on the approaching vehicle.
He could now tell it was a truck. The custom brush guard, a bar of spotlights on the hood, and halogen lights told him it was Stuart Mills heading toward him too fast and probably drunk.
Stuart was a frequent flyer in Justin’s jail cell.
Abe moved as far over as he could without going onto the gravel shoulder along the side of the road.
When the truck was a hundred yards away, Stuart suddenly headed straight for Abe.
To avoid him, Abe drove onto the shoulder, barely missing the truck's fancy grill and attached winch.
Without slowing down, Stuart swerved back into his lane, laid on his horn, then sped off.
Abe barely heard it as he tried to keep control of his bike, which was going too fast on the gravel shoulder.
He tapped the brakes and tried to slow down.
When the rear wheel spun out and lost traction, Abe tried to keep it upright, but he lost the fight and was thrown from the bike as it fell and skidded away from him with a screech of metal and breaking glass.
The bike's forward momentum kept Abe moving too.
He hit the ground hard, with his left shoulder taking the brunt of the fall, followed by his head.
The face shield shattered as the helmet bounced off the ground before Abe slid several feet beyond his initial impact.
For a moment, he wondered if he’d ever stop as the rough surface of the road ripped through his pants and tore into his leg, removing a few layers of skin and leaving gravel and dirt in its place.
When he came to a stop, Abe lay in the dirt and gravel for a few minutes while his heart slowed.
When he could regulate his breathing, he assessed whether he was hurt.
He could feel his fingers and toes, which was a good sign.
No tingling. No numbness. His head was pounding, but he assumed it was a combination of his head bouncing off the asphalt and the adrenaline still surging through his body.
The helmet should’ve protected him from cracking his head open.
He sat up slowly, and a sharp pain shot through his left shoulder.
He rolled it a couple of times. It wasn’t dislocated.
Probably just bruised. His left leg felt like someone had set fire to it, and his jeans were shredded from knee to ankle.
He moved the shredded denim out of the way and sucked in a breath.
He had a nasty patch of road rash along the side of his calf, from his knee to the top of his boot.
“Well, that’s going to hurt for a while.” He rolled his shoulder again. “That too.” Considering he’d just skidded several feet on gravel and asphalt, he was pretty lucky. He got to his feet and tried to remain on them despite his wobbly knees and the fact that the world was spinning around him.
He limped to the bike and looked down at it.
It wasn’t the biggest bike on the road, but it was heavy.
He lifted it with a grunt, followed by a groan when he felt the effort in his injured shoulder.
After releasing the kickstand, he gave the bike a once over.
He couldn’t see it clearly in the dark, but the bike seemed to be okay.
There was a broken rearview mirror and major scratches along the side that had skidded across the road, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix.
He patted his pocket for his phone, then remembered he’d left it at home.
When a car approached, slowed down, then stopped next to him, Abe gave the female driver a half-hearted smile when she rolled down her window.
“Are you okay?”
He limped over to her. “Yeah, I think I’m fine.”
“Do you need me to call anyone? A tow? A friend?”
“Actually, if you could call my brother, or let me borrow your phone to call him. He’s Sheriff Buchanan. I’d like to report the guy who ran me off the road.”
“Oh, you’re the sheriff’s brother?”
“Yeah.”
She held out her phone. “Go ahead and call him.”
“Thank you.” He reached for the phone with a trembling hand, and she put her hand over his.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. It’s just the adrenaline. I’m sorry to say this isn’t the first time this has happened to me. Although, usually I’m on a racetrack and have a lot more padding on.” She let go of his hand, and he dialed Justin.
“This is Justin.”
“It’s me. Um…Abe.”
“Why are you calling me so late? Are you okay?”
His leg had begun throbbing, and he shifted his weight to take some of the pressure off it. “Hmm. Not really.”
“What happened?”
“Can you arrest someone for a DUI if you don’t catch them behind the wheel?”
“Yeah. Why? Do I need to come arrest you?”
Abe smiled. “No. I just got run off the road by Stuart Mills. He was weaving all over the place and damn near hit me.”
“Jeez. Were you on your bike?”
“Yeah.” Abe glanced at the bike. “I had to lie her down.” He rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his injured shoulder again.
“Where are you and which direction was he heading?”
“East on Mill Valley Road, about a mile from my house.”
“Sounds like he’s headed home. I’ll send Mikey to his house. We’ll get him.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. I’m a bit scraped up, and I landed on my shoulder, but I’m fine. The bike isn’t too messed up either.”
“Do you want me to come pick you up?”
“No. I can ride home.”
“Whose phone are you using?”
Abe nodded at the woman. “A very kind, good Samaritan.”
“Okay, tough guy. Call me in the morning, and I’ll let you know how it went with Stuart.”
“Thanks.” Abe ended the call and handed the phone back to the woman. “Thank you.”
“Of course. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I guess I should start her up to make sure.” He straddled the bike and turned the ignition.
When it fired right up, he gave the woman a thumbs-up, then put on his helmet as she drove away.
He eased the bike onto the road and looked both ways, wishing he’d taken Justin up on his offer to come get him.
He sighed, then made sure he’d cleared the gravel before shifting into gear and heading home.
He went slowly and found himself being hyper vigilant, aware of every little thing around him. He arrived at home without further incident and put the bike in the garage.
He went inside the house, took off his boots at the door, then headed for the bathroom to remove his pants and get a better look at his abrasions. Taking his pants off was a challenge, and he tried not to remove any more skin that might be attached to the shredded denim.
The damage was hard to see through the seeping blood, which was running down onto his ankle.
He sat on the toilet and put a warm washcloth over it before the blood could hit the floor.
It hurt, and he fought the urge to remove it.
But the alternative was to run it under water, which would hurt more.
He had to rinse the washcloth several times before he could see the cuts, scrapes, and bruises left by the roadway.
Nothing too deep or requiring stitches. There was a little bit of gravel, which he removed. He’d recover.
It took a moment to place a large nonstick pad over the area since his hands were still shaking.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was on, and he wrapped his calf in gauze.
He would need to keep it clean and dry for a few days until it scabbed over.
He stood, removed his T-shirt, and looked at the bruise on his upper arm.
The damage appeared superficial and muscular.
Something else he’d get over in a few days.
He put on a clean T-shirt, then took three extra-strength Tylenol.
It had been a good day until the last hour.
He sighed. It hadn’t started out good, but once Maggie came over, things improved.
“Maggie.” Thank God she wasn’t on the bike with him when that asshole Stuart tried to run him over.
She’d never get on a bike again. The thought of it made him angry, and he considered calling Justin again to see if they’d arrested Stuart.
Abe went to bed and tried to stop thinking about Stuart’s truck heading for him and his body skidding across the highway by deciding where he should take Maggie for their first official date.
The rodeo was in town for the week, and he decided that since she was an ex-barrel racer, she might enjoy going.
He liked to ride horses, but he wasn’t a big rodeo guy.
For Maggie, he would be, at least for one night.
He didn’t sleep well, and when he woke, his whole body hurt.
The accident had done more damage than he’d thought.
He still didn’t think it warranted a trip to the doctor’s office, though.
He couldn’t take a shower because he wanted to keep his leg dry, so he opted for a hot bath.
When he sat down, he rested his leg on the side of the tub.
His mother’s hot tub would feel really good on his sore, bruised muscles, but it’d be hard to keep his leg dry in it.
The bath would have to do. He’d brought his phone in with him, and when it rang, he dried his hands on a towel and answered.
He smiled at the sight of Maggie’s name on the caller ID.
“Good morning.”
“Hi. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“No.”
“What are you doing?”
“Um…taking a bath, actually. And don’t say it’s cute. I haven’t taken a bath in quite a while.”
“Why now?”
He scowled at his bandaged leg. “I had a bit of an accident last night.”
“Accident? What happened?”
“I was so anxious to get home last night that I forgot to make the bank deposit.”
“Oh no. You had to go back out?”
“Yeah. It was last night or first thing this morning. Turns out, though, I may have made the wrong decision.”
“How so? Did you crash your bike?”
He didn’t want to worry her, but he didn’t want to underplay the event either. “Not really a crash. More of a slow-motion fall and skid.”
“Oh my gosh. Are you hurt?”
He glanced at his leg and wiggled his toes. “A little banged up. Nothing to worry about.”
“How banged up is a little?”
“A gnarly road rash on my leg and a bruised shoulder.”
“Abe.”
“It’s fine. All good.”
“Can I bring you anything on my way to work?”
“No.” It’d be nice to see her, though.
“Will you be okay for our date tonight?”
“Yes.”
She sighed. “Good. Where are we going?”
“You said you wanted to be surprised.”
“Right. I did say that.”
“So be patient.”
“What should I wear?”
“Jeans, shirt. Nothing fancy.”
“Okay. How about a hint?”
“No.”
“Fine.”
“You’re going to be late for work.”
“I’ll blame it on you.”
“No, don’t tell Gentry I’m hurt, or he’ll worry. The guy is a major mother hen.”
“I won’t tell him.”
“I’ll see you tonight.”
“I get off at six.”
“Perfect.”
Abe ended the call and lay back in the tub. He’d need to keep himself busy today. Maybe he could get some work done on Maggie’s car.