“I answered.”
My mouth snaps shut so fast, I bite my tongue. Hard. “Ouch!”
“My voice that painful, darlin’?”
No. Not even a little bit.
In fact, the drawl sounds more genuine and less over-the-top on the phone. Just the sound of it has my stomach swooping low and pitching high, all at once.
“Uh…” I clear my throat, sitting up straighter. “It’s fine. I guess.” My tongue pokes the inside of my cheek, my lips tugging up. “A little nasally, though. Kind of high-pitched.”
Kade grunts, but doesn’t respond. The sound of hammering and drilling fills his end of the call, followed by men’s voices in a low conversation I can’t quite make out.
Is he working? Maybe he found a new job. Construction, or something else local.
I flick my gaze to the clock on the dash and grimace. I’m totally interrupting his morning. Of course, he’s not going to stop whatever he’s doing to talk to me, let alone come save me from a ditch.
“Sorry, you sound busy,” I quickly say, shaking my head. God, I can’t believe I called him. I’m so stupid! “I’ll, uh, just call someone else.” I suck in a breath. “By—”
“Wait,” he barks, jolting me. A door closes, and the chaos quiets. “Sorry, couldn’t really hear you.”
I swallow hard, fingers tapping against the steering wheel. “You didn’t have to stop whatever it is you’re doing.”
“It’s fine, Georgia,” he says, deep voice wrapping around the syllables of my name, distracting me. After a minute of silence, he drawls, “So, was there a reason you called, or did you just wanna ruin my workflow?”
This time, when my stomach flips, it’s for a whole new reason. Part of me knows he’s kidding when he says it—I can hear the laughter in his voice, but that doesn't stop it from twisting something deep inside me that’s raw. An ache that never healed.
One that tells me I’m an inconvenience, a burden,unwanted.
And like always, when I’m hurt, my hackles rise.
“No, you know what,” I say, voice sharper than intended. “I don’t need anything. It’s fine. I’ll call someone else for help. Just go back to whatever it is you were doing before Iruinedyour precious—”
“Freckles!” he snaps, cutting me off mid-spiral. My teeth gnash together. “Stop rambling, take a damn breath, and tell me why you called, woman.”
“Momentary lapse in judgement, clearly.”
“Georgia.”
“Kade.”
He huffs, long and dramatic. “What do you need help with?”
I tighten my grip on my phone and contemplate throwing myself from the window and finding that rock. But my bladder screams and then my hip throbs, and I toss my pride out instead of my body.
Sighing, I rub between my brows and close my eyes. “I was sort of in a little bit of a car accident,” I whisper. “And—”
“You what?” he barks.
I wave a hand through the air. “An accident. It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s a big fuckin’ deal.” He sounds breathless, like he’s moving, and my brows crash together. “Where are you?”
My nose wrinkles as I glance out the window. This is humiliating. “About that.”
Keys jingle in the background and another door slams closed.
“Spit it out!”
