Page 104 of Burn Bag

“Yeah, baby?”

I waited for her to say whatever it was that was on her mind, but instead, she just sighed and pressed a kiss to my chest. “Nothing.”

And that nothing sat between us like a lead weight as I drifted off to sleep.

25

DAPHNE

“Areyou supposed to be driving his truck?” Harper asked as I picked her up the next day.

“Um…I’m sure it’s fine.”

I let off the brake slowly, surprised at how fast the truck moved from the simple move. The thing was huge. Like, seriously huge. I felt like I couldn’t even see the front of the truck.

“Sure, it’s fine—like, you got permission?”

I winced, hitting the gas a little too hard. “Um…not exactly, but I am his wife. What’s his is mine.”

“I’m not sure that’s how this works.”

“Sure it is. Besides, I can’t call him every time I need something.”

“You could. And I’m sure he would come running.”

“Right, but he went out on a job today. It’s not like I can call him up and say,Hey, baby. Come home so I can run to the store.”

“Well, you could. It might even work out for you.”

“Doubtful,” I muttered as I hit the gas slowly. “Why do they make trucks so damn big? I mean, seriously, does anyone need to sit this high off the ground?”

“It has somethingto do with his penis.”

I snorted in amusement, glad that had been worked out. “It’s not. Trust me, I found out, and his penis is delightfully big.”

“Okay, so the truck is in relation to how big he is. I don’t get it either. Edu has a big truck, too. I think it’s so he can run other people off the road if he needs to. Either that or because they’re forced to drive minivans at work.”

“Really? Minivans?”

“He says you can stuff a lot of people in the back.”

“Well, sure, but you could fit the same number of people in a large SUV.”

“No,” she grinned. “Dead bodies. Not sitting up.”

I took my eyes off the road, sure I had heard her wrong. “Dead bodies? They transport dead bodies?”

“Look out!” she shrieked, pointing ahead of us.

All it took was two seconds. I saw the fence ahead of us and swerved hard to the right, but then I accidentally hit the gas with the spike of adrenaline, and before I knew it, I was headed right toward a building.

“Stop!” Harper shouted.

I hit the brake, which was actually the gas, and the truck lurched forward, straight toward the glass window and the man waving his arms wildly at me. I screamed, trying to switch the brake, but panic took over and I could no longer make a decision to save my life. The scream that tore from my throat was only drowned out by the crash of glass and the truck slamming into something hard.

The airbag exploded, slamming into my face with such a harsh impact that I felt like my nose broke. The truck finally stopped moving, but my whole body still felt like it was on an adrenaline high, running at full speed.

I slapped at the airbag, my head laying against the steering wheel as my heart hammered wildly in my chest. Harper was bleeding from the head, but otherwise looked okay as she waved away the dust. I closed my eyes, saying a quick prayer, thankful I hadn’t killed us.

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