Page 1 of Wreck Me
One
Crash into Me
After pulling an all-nighter,Aidan Reynolds was exhausted.
Thankfully, the good citizens of Madison Ridge had managed to behave most of the day, a relief after he and a couple of other deputies had broken up a bonfire get-together gone sideways. Of course, the Brewster brothers had never done anything quietly—even when they were all back in grade school together—especially when they’d tied one on…maybe even two. Aidan’s bad shoulder throbbed from where one of them had taken a cheap shot at it.
It wasn’t the first time he’d had to haul in the two knuckleheads for fighting, and he figured it wouldn’t be his last.
But damn, at thirty-two, they were all getting too old for that kind of stupid shit.
He circled through the square, headed for the station, where a mountain of paperwork waited for him. With Sheriff Thompkins only working part-time due to his cancer treatments, Aidan had been picking up a lot of slack as Deputy Sheriff. Part of that slack included hiring some new staff, especially with the fall festival in a couple of weeks and the holiday season coming up.
Their small town would swell in population for the next few months. As would the number of calls for crime and accidents from the influx of tourists who seemed to forget the laws of the road when visiting. It would tax their already woefully understaffed department.
At least he had the next day off. He could get some much needed sleep and work on the paperwork from the comfort of his cabin.
If he ever got there. There was some sort of traffic jam in the usually free flowing square. It’s why they’d put in the roundabout thing, to keep traffic moving. Aidan peered out the windshield to see the bottleneck was coming from the circle. Turning on the lights and siren, he maneuvered the SUV along the edge of the one way street through the town square, cars moving off to the side however they could.
The cause of the traffic jam sat in the middle of the curve where a red late-model sedan looked like it had failed to yield to an old turquoise-colored sportster. Unfortunately, the coupe looked like it got the worse end of the deal.
That was a shame. It’d been years since he’d seen a Karmann Ghia on the road. And because it had been a while, he didn’t have to look at the plates to know that they weren’t local.
He made a U-turn in the middle of the road, blocking it off to traffic until he could ascertain what went down. A woman with dark hair was talking to the other driver through the driver’s window, but started to walk his way when he parked.
Aidan slid on his glasses and got out, meeting her halfway in the middle of the road. “Ma’am, I’m Deputy Aidan Reynolds. Are you okay?”
She blinked, full pink lips parted. “Um, yes?”
“You’re not sure?” He ran his gaze over her, the professional in him looking for injuries, the man in him taking in the curves that her hip-length sweater tried but failed to cover.
He gestured to her forehead where a bright red gash marred the pale skin. “You’re bleeding.”
“Oh…” A hand went to her hairline and when she pulled it away, she frowned. “I didn’t notice.”
“Shock. Why don’t you walk over here with me to the sidewalk, and I’ll get you something to stop the bleeding. Then you can tell me what happened.”
She nodded and winced, sending concern skittering around his chest, especially when her eyes seemed to glass over.
“Ma’am?” He waved a hand in front of her face, but she didn’t react. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes…I…”
Her eyes fluttered closed and her knees buckled.
“Shit,” he muttered, but moved fast, catching her as she fell. He picked her up and carried her to the bench, laying her flat and elevating her feet on the back of it.
“Hey, Aid. Need some help?”
He glanced up to see his sister Charley jogging toward him. “Where’d you come from?”
She lifted the cup and bag that was looped over her wrist. “I was picking up my lunch over at the deli. Saw her go down. Nice catch, by the way.”
“Can you sit with her while I go check the rest of the scene?”
Charley waved him off. “Yep, go ahead. I got this.”
“There’s a first aid kit in my cruiser. Get some gauze for her head.”
