Page 48 of Heatwaves

Turning my attention to Oliver, I shoot him a quick smile that he returns. Ty hasn’t wanted us to even touch him lately. That he’s letting Oliver massage his shoulders is fucking fantastic.

A blaring horn cuts through the silence, our heads snapping up as we take a corner just in time to see Lila’s car jerk out of the opposite lane before spinning out.

“No!” Ty screams, leaning forward as her car crashes into a tree.

My seat belt is off before Carter pulls off onto the side of the road. Oliver has his phone out, already calling for emergency services, when I throw my door open and run for Lila’s car. Carter yells at me about not waiting until the car is stopped, but I ignore him as I hear their doors open and close.

Reaching the car, I realize she was able to turn the car enough to only hit it with the passenger side. It could’ve been so much worse if she’d hit the tree head-on. I wrench open the door, growling at the sight before me. The windshield is shattered, glass covering the entire front seat and Lila. The airbag deployed—probably saving her life since she isn’t wearing a fucking seat belt. She’s covered in cuts, blood gushing from her face, hands, andtorso as she’s bent over sideways across the center console.

There’s so much fucking blood.

My heart is beating so loudly. I swear I can hear it in my ears.

She has to be okay. Shehasto.

I lean into the car, intent on pulling her bent body from the destruction inside the car, but pull up short when Oliver’s voice rings out.

“They said not to move her in case of a spinal injury!” He and the others crowd around me to peer into the car.

“Is she even breathing?” Ty asks, voice quiet, and I want to hit myself for not checking sooner.

Leaning over and into the car once more, I press my fingers to her neck as carefully as I can. My heart stutters when I don’t feel a pulse.

I need to calm the fuck down.

Taking a deep breath, I move my fingers across her neck until I can feel her pulse beating, slow and sluggish.

I exhale as I move my hand beneath her nose, trying to avoid the blood gushing from it.

I swear my heart stops beating then, only restarting when I feel the faintest bit of air escape her nose.

“She has a pulse, and she’s breathing,” I tell them as I slide back out of the car, Oliver relaying the information to the person on the phone.

Sirens fill the air, relief rushing through me at their response time.

She has to be okay.

There’s no other outcome that I’ll accept.

“Is she okay?” an unfamiliar voice asks, and I glance over to find a man in his fifties standing there. “She pulled into my lane, so I blared the horn. It took me a while to find a place where I could stop and park my truck.”

“You’re the truck driver?” Carter asks, and he nods.

Before any of us can say anything else, an ambulance comes to a stop in the road beside us before two EMTs appear, nudging us out of the way.

Two cop cars and a fire truck pull up moments later. One of the cops speaks to us, but I can’t make out his words as my eyes stay locked on the car where Lila is likely fighting for her life. It takes three firefighters and the cop to push us away from the car.

“I need to know what happened. I can tell you’re worried about the girl, but I need you tofocus on me.” The cop’s words finally seem to sink into me, and I face him.

“I think they’re in shock,” the truck driver says, a look of sympathy on his face. “I can tell you what happened from my side of things, but I think they’re the only ones who witnessed the accident.”

I turn my attention back to the car as the paramedics pull Lila from the car and place her onto a backboard. They check her over before loading her into the ambulance and jumping inside.

“We have to go,” I cut off Carter from whatever he was saying to the cop. “They’re leaving with Lila.”

The cop glances over his shoulder to watch the ambulance drive away. “This should only take another…“ Whatever he sees on our faces has him trailing off.

“Let them go. They clearly care about the girl. You’re going to have to go to the hospital to see if you can speak with her anyway,” one of the firefighters tells him, slapping a hand on the cop’s shoulder.

---