Page 99 of Lucky Strike

A sob. “Daddy!”

He’s alive, he’s okay.

“Are you okay, buddy?”

A wave of nausea rolls over me, intensifying the pounding in my skull, the ringing in my ears. I try to take a deeper breath, but it hurts. My seat belt is so tight.

“Bria!” Fumbling, a click. His seat belt, probably. Hands on me, gentle but insistent. “Bria, open your eyes, baby. Bria …”

26.Lucky

Now

Istruggle to catch my breath as the car shudders to a stop, my heart racing with adrenaline. I hear someone shouting, but I can't make out the words. “Liam!” I whip my head around, terrified of what I might see.

“Daddy,” he sobs, clutching his arm. Blood trickles down his forehead, and he’s as white as a sheet, but otherwise he seems intact.I hope. I pray.

"Are you okay, Liam?" My voice is shaking so hard I can barely get the words out.

“My arm is hurting,” he cries, dissolving into tears.

Light from outside shines in, illuminating the mess inside the car. I look at Bria, who’s slumped against the airbags on her side. My heart drops, leaves my body. “Bria.” My seat belt won’t open, so I give it a good yank, forcing it. Reaching for my girl, I touch her arm, her shoulder, her face. Her lashes flutter against her cheek. “Bria, open your eyes. Bria!”

“Daddy!” Liam wails. “Daddy, wake her up!”

Someone bangs on my window, wrenching open my door. Tristanreaches for me, his face a mask of terror as he looks wildly around the car. “Lucky?—”

“Get Liam,” I beg, but Finn’s already back there, trying to get the rear door open.

“It’s stuck!” he calls, racing around to the other side. He climbs in behind me, scrambling across the back seat to free Liam from his car seat.

“Are you hurt?” Tristan asks, patting me down.

“Watch his arm, Finn. The right. He said it hurts,” I warn, holding Tristan off as I watch Terry fight to open Bria’s door. Trembling, I reach across Bria’s lap and unlock the door, trying to shove it open from the inside, but it’s stuck. That side took the brunt of the impact. My stomach rolls.

“Are you hurt?” Tristan asks again. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah.” I let him pull me from the driver’s seat, my legs like Jell-O. Liam reaches for me from Finn’s arms, his cries growing increasingly agitated, and I take him, careful not to touch his right arm. Our car is totaled, the passenger side crushed in. I look around, trying to make sense of what happened. The intersection is empty, the other vehicle nowhere to be seen. People have started to gather nearby, watching from the sidewalks.

“I called 911,” a woman in pajamas calls, rushing over. “I can’t believe it! They just drove away!”

A man in a hoodie jogs along behind her, carrying a first aid kit. “I’m a paramedic; I live right over there. Can I take a look at you?”

“Can you check my girlfriend first?” I point to the car, where Terry is still working on Bria’s door. “She’s stuck, but?—”

“Of course.” The man pushes past me and eases into the car from my side.

I turn to the woman who called 911. “You saw it happen?”

She nods, her eyes wide. “My kids just came home, they’d been out trick-or-treating with their dad. I heard the crash, and when I looked out the window, I saw a big pick-up truck backing up and leaving! I couldn’t believe it!” She shakes her head. “I think it was black. Or gray.”

Tristanand I watch a pair of medics load Bria into the back of an ambulance. She’s awake, but she’s a little out of it. “If I can’t ride with her, I’ll just go with you,” I tell my brother.

“You should really let us look at you and your son,” a nearby paramedic says briskly. “Sometimes you don’t realize the extent of your injuries until the adrenaline wears off.”

I blink, looking over at Liam. He’s quieted now, sitting in the back of another ambulance as a female paramedic looks over him.What am I thinking?“Fuck,” I whisper, sagging as the last of my energy drains from my body. “Of course. I’ll go.”

“It’s okay, Lucky,” Tristan says, his hand gentle on my back. “You’re in shock. Just get in the ambulance, and we’ll meet you there, okay? I’ll call Maeve and Mom. And everybody else.”

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