“Not yet!”
Her triumph was short-lived. In the next round, she led once more with the rock—knowing, of course, he’d never guess she’d go with a rock three times in a row—and his hand was flat as a pancake—or a piece of paper.
“Damn it! That’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair, Doc? I beat you, clean and square. But if you’re going to be all pissy about it, I’ll give you one more shot. Winner takes all.” He leaned back and folded his muscular arms over his carved chest.
“It’smycar!”
“That’s my final offer.”
God, he was infuriating! “You’re on, Mountain Goat.”
He smirked. “Get that fist up.”
“I will. So I can clobber you with it when I win.”
“Does that mean I get to clobber you with mine whenIwin?”
“Funny man. Ready? One, two, three!” This time, she led with paper. When she realized he showed two extended fingers, she groaned. Then the jerk had the audacity to make a snipping motion with those fingers before throwing his head back and laughing.
“Gotcha!” he crowed.
“I hate you,” she growled.
“You know you don’t. You love me.”
Unfortunately, he spoke the truth—which made her curse him even more.
He nudged her shoulder with one of those stupid scissor fingers. “I was just trying to lighten things up with a little humor for the drive home, Neve. To show what a good sport I am, I’ll let you drive.” His eyebrows bounced up and down.
She refrained from ripping her hair out by the roots—or his.
The ride down to Fall River began in awkward silence, with Reece pinning his gaze to the wintry landscape outside the passenger window while Neve’s temper settled into simmer mode. Dirty ice sheeted the road, and dark pines stretched toward steel-gray clouds that carried a promise of more snow. The world outside the Tahoe was cloaked in ominous afternoon shadows.
Before long, her troublemaker of a passenger was asleep, and Neve pushed out a relieved breath. In a bid to clear her mind, she turned her attention to the only other car on the road. She kept her speed steady at a little under the posted limit, while the vehicle ahead seemed to be putting more distance between them. Probably an impatient local exceeding the sixty-mile-an-hour limit on this deserted stretch of highway, but their choice of vehicle was odd for these parts—a silver Accord or a Camry, she wasn’t sure. She lost sight of the vehicle around a curve, and just as it cameback into view, something big and dark streaked out of the woods straight for it. Next came a thumpingcrack, and the car jerked to the side, spun wildly, and disappeared over an embankment, leaving an obscuring cloud behind.
Oh no, oh no, oh no!
Chapter 13
Road to Rescue
Brain trying to processthe surreal sight, heart hammering in her chest, Neve let instinct take over and pulled onto the shoulder, cutting the engine. She gave Reece’s shoulder a hard push. “Car off the road!” She didn’t wait for him to rouse. Grabbing her phone and down jacket, she jumped from the Tahoe and ran toward fresh skid marks where the car had left the road. The acrid smell of burned rubber filled her nose. About six feet below, the car sat mostly upright, its hood crumpled and the driver-door crushed. Smoke or steam or a cloud of snow—she wasn’t sure which—rose up.
“Oh shit!”
She scrambled down the slope, somehow pulling on her coat as she went. Searching out the gas cap, she crouched beside it but didn’t see any fluid, nor did she smell gas. She approached the driver’s doorcautiously, sharpening her hearing. Nothing. The woods were eerily silent, as if a car hadn’t just been hit by an elk and veered off the road.
She peered through the driver’s window, and her brain needed a tick to process that the glass was white. In the next second, she realized airbag curtains were obscuring her view. Popping up, she checked the windshield. Covered in spiderwebbing cracks, it was also opaque from an airbag. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pushed two shuddering lungfuls of air through her chest to steady her rapid-fire breathing. She reached for the door handle. Fear of what she would find inside gripped her hard, but she pushed through it and gingerly unlatched the door, opening it a few inches.
“Hello? I saw you go off the road. Are you all right?”
An unsettling wheeze was her answer, followed by a moan and a rush of breathless words. Whoever was in there was alive! The adrenaline pumping through Neve’s veins surged anew, and she heaved the door open enough so that she could fight through the airbag and put her hands on a slight shoulder, an arm. The driver was a woman. Her head brushed Neve’s chest as she leaned in, and blood dribbled onto her sweatshirt.
“My name is Neve. I’m here to help. Can you hear me?” She was mildly surprised by the evenness in her voice.
“The baby!” The words were garbled, barely understandable, but they were filled with palpable anguish. The driver rocked feebly against Neve’s hold.
