Page 16 of The Art of You

“Oh my God,” she cried out. “They’re coming right for us.”

“Brace for impact,” I yelled, doing my best to dodge a direct hit by aiming for the side of the road.

Avoiding a collision completely was impossible, but instead of a head-on, the other vehicle sideswiped us. With the slick roads, no amount of weight I put on the brakes or steering wheel would keep us straight, and we spun in the other direction.

From the corner of my eye, I hissed out her name, realizing she’d slammed the side of her head into the window at the abrupt movement to the right.

“Bella,” I hollered again, on the verge of reaching for her, but my intention was derailed when we were hit again.

Like hell was this a weather-related collision. Everything happened fast. The seat belt jerked my body, catching some of my weight, but my head whipped forward anyway. I turned the moment before my face made contact with the steering wheel so I didn’t break my nose.

I barely registered the fact my airbag didn’t deploy, but Bella’s did. From my peripheral view, I noticed hers had ballooned out, keeping her face safe.

My head was spinning. Blood slid down the side of my face, hitting my eyelashes. I tasted it in my mouth as I tried to understand what happened.

I did my best to look over at her as my ears rang, a feeling of nausea gathering in my stomach.

“Bella, are you—” My words died when we were hit a third time, the other vehicle slamming into my side of Enzo’s Porsche. I brought my arm up in front of my face, hoping to avoid hammering it into the steering wheel again. We flipped and slowly rolled over onto the roof.

Everything went black for a second or two as my mind tried to process what happened. It took me a moment to understand we were hanging upside down, our seat belts still holding both of us in place.

Twisting my head, fighting the violent pain in my skull, I worked to put eyes on Bella. “Are you okay? Bella?”

Her arms were hanging limp, and she wasn’t moving. She’d lost consciousness, and based on how I was feeling, it was likely I wouldn’t be able to keep my eyes open much longer, either.

I had enough experience with head injuries to know what was coming.

“Bella.” I went to reach for her arm, but my9mm fell from the back of my pants, sending me quickly securing hold of my Glock instead.

I began to replay the last several minutes in my mind, trying to focus. Constantine was calling to warn us about something, and I had a feeling thatsomethingwas now outside the car.

Fighting with every last breath I had to stay awake, I waited for the person to come into view so I could handle them.

But the dizziness from the crash had my eyes falling closed despite my resistance to stop it. Everything became a blur.

And I was no longer in the car. Not even in the country.

Fucking hell, the crash and multiple hits to the head sent me back to the last place I wanted to be. To Afghanistan.

Chapter 5

Hudson

Eastern Afghanistan – Summer 2010

“I’msure you’re planning to re-up again, but we miss you.” Bianca’s soft voice floated across the line. “All of us do.” She had three brothers, but I might as well have been her fourth with how much she worried about me.

“And when was the last time you gave Constantine this speech? He’s coming up on his eighth year soon.” Dodge and deflect, because how could I tell her the only way I’d ever leave the military outside of retirement was in a box? She’d think there was something wrong with my head. I mean, maybe there was?

“Last week,” she said with a light laugh. “He had the same response. Swerved free and clear of the conversation like you just did.”

I leaned back in the desk chair, eyeing the most recent photo Bianca had sent me with her letter. It was of her and her little sister at a bookstore. Bianca was not only a prolificwriter, she was an avid reader. “How’s Isabella doing? Keeping out of trouble?”

“Izzy’s a typical seventeen-year-old.”

I frowned. “And that means?”

“Rebellious. And before you ask me to elaborate like Constantine did, believe me, you don’t want to know. You’ll hijack a jet and fly here to lecture her.”