Page 108 of Burn Bag

“You drive him,” Eli ordered. “I’ll wrap shit up and meet you there.”

I heard Red saying something to him, but my head pounded with possibilities of what could have happened and whether or not Daphne was okay. Somehow, Red got me to the truck and tucked me inside, but I barely noticed a thing. I stared out the window the whole drive, wondering why God would do this to me when I just fucking met her.

Love? I didn’t know about that, but I knew she was someone I wanted in my life, and losing her would be fucking devastating. I vaguely heard Red saying shit to me, but there wasn’t a damn thing that broke through the thoughts in my head.

I couldn’t lose her.

I couldn’t lose another person.

Fuck, I was just getting to know her.

Our lives together were not supposed to end like this.

“We’re here,” Red pointed out the obvious when he stopped at the drop-off zone. “I’ll meet you inside after I park the truck.”

I nodded, not bothering to look back at him as I shoved the door open and stepped out. Each step was hauntingly slow. It was like walking to my doom. He said she was okay, but what did that mean? Was she truly okay or just not dead yet? There was a very big difference, one that I couldn’t handle yet.

The doors whooshed open and I stepped through, watching through someone else’s eyes as Slider stood up from where he sat and walked over to me. I felt like my knees were about to buckle, but I somehow managed to stay upright. She would be fine. She had to be.

“Is…is she okay?”

“The doctor is still back with her, but I think she’s okay.”

I nodded, still not able to breathe, not until I knew she was really okay. “What happened?”

“She took your truck out. Harper was with her. They were goingto the store and…I don’t know. She got distracted, overreacted when she was about to hit the fence, and then drove straight into Duke’s shop.”

All the thoughts in my head stopped at his words. “Wait, she wasn’t hit by another vehicle or run off the road?” He stared at me. “She got in an accident onourproperty?”

He gave a curt nod.

“She smashed my truck into Duke’s shop and there wasn’t even another vehicle or…a cow in the fucking road?”

“That’s about the gist of it.”

The gist of it. My wife drove my truck into a shop and there literally wasn’t anything else involved. Just her. Just her and my truck. My knees weakened. “How’s my truck?”

He clapped me on the shoulder, giving me a sympathetic look. “I’m really sorry, man. I don’t think it’s going to make it.”

“Fuck,” I hissed, dropping my head in my hands.

“What? What is it?” Red asked, rushing to my side.

“Why?” I cried out. “Why the fuck did this happen to me?”

“Oh shit,” Red murmured, his hand coming to rest on my shoulder.

Slowly, I peeled my face from my hands and looked back at Slider. “Are they sure? I mean…what if they?—”

Slider shook his head. “I’m really fucking sorry. There was nothing he could do.”

Nothing he could do. The truck was gone—my baby was gone.

“Gone? Just like that?” Red asked.

“Shit happens, man,” Slider shrugged.

“Shit happens? That’s all you have to say after the man lost—what the fuck is wrong with you?”

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