Page 105 of Burn Bag

At least, not yet.

I heard the door jerk open, but I was too busy trying to calm myracing heart to pay attention to anything else around us. I almost killed us. I panicked, and that was it. In a flash, I had sent us through a building. I actually drove through a freaking building.

I was going to puke.

“Daphne!”

Groaning, I rolled my head and stared at the man standing in front of me with terrified eyes. I recognized him, but didn’t know enough of the people to put a name to the face.

“Thank God! Is anything broken? Are you hurt?”

I shook my head slowly, though I wasn’t certain I was actually okay. I hadn’t bothered to take stock of how I felt. I just laid there in shock. Holy crap, I almost just killed us.

“I ruined his truck,” I cried, tears filling my eyes.

“That’s okay, sweetie. The important thing is that you’re okay.”

Was it really? That’s when I heard swearing and a man throwing stuff around. “My fucking shop is destroyed!”

Tears started pouring from my eyes as I laid there. Fuck, why had I gotten in his truck? Why hadn’t I called him? “Is Harper okay?” I asked, my breaths coming out ragged.

“Yeah, she’s fine.”

I cried harder, squeezing my eyes shut. “I don’t even know your name!”

“It’s Slider. We met at the wedding,” he said gently.

“Is that because you’re bald?” I cried harder.

I could have sworn I heard a huff of laughter, but couldn’t tell for sure over the sound of my own crying.

“Just sit still. The ambulance will be here soon.”

“Oh God!” I groaned. “He’s going to kill me. He told me not to do anything. He said no more hospitals. He said to call him!”

“Alright, alright,” he said soothingly, his hand rubbing up and down my arm as he tried to calm me down.

“I can’t go to the hospital! They’re going to arrest him for spousal abuse!” I cried. “They’re going to think he beats me!”

“Not when the paramedics get here, okay? They’ll know you were in an accident.”

“You swear?” God, I couldn’t stop crying. Or shaking. My heart was racing and I was pretty sure something was dripping down my face. And all I could think about was that I had ruined his truck and he was going to be so pissed at me.

“Hey, just calm down, okay? Everything’s going to be fine.”

“Everything is not fine! I ruined his truck. I destroyed his life with cats and litter boxes! And I can’t cook without burning food!” I wailed. “He’s going to regret the day I walked down the aisle!”

“No, he won’t. I swear.”

“You can’t swear because you don’t live with a hundred cats!”

“Neither do you. And you know what? I heard him telling Red the other day that he secretly loves those cats.”

“No he doesn’t.”

“Yeah, he does. He said that one curls up on his chest and purrs the whole night. Is that true?”

I sniffled, remembering how one of the cats did that just last night. “Yeah.”

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