Page 26 of Big Daddy Mountain Man

But Betsy wasn’t listening. She seemed to have a mind of her own. And she was taking Amber and Honey on one heck of a ride.

“Honey! I can’t stop it!” Amber yelled as she kept desperately trying to mash the brake pedal down.

Apparently, the brakes had gone out on the old vehicle.

“Ouch!” Amber cried as she bounced so high her head bumped the roof.

The land was full of rocks and holes, and the truck to bounced wildly as it careened through the field. She had to keep turning the wheel, because going straight would either lead her into the trees that surrounded the clearing or toward the cabin itself. Of course, she could go past the cabin and down the gravel path that led to the main road, but then what? That would be even more dangerous! At least in the field there wasn’t any traffic.

So she kept turning in that disorienting circle, the world spinning by at a dizzying speed.

“What do we do?” she cried.

That’s when a dreadful thought hit her: she was going to have to grab Honey and jump! Would she survive? With her foot off the gas, the truck wasn’t going super fast. But when considering jumping from a moving vehicle, any speed was too fast!

She didn’t really see what other option she had. If she was going to get her and Honey out of this alive, she needed to act soon.

“Here goes!” she yelled, reaching for the stuffie in preparation of making the leap.

But just then she saw a savior zooming toward her.

Sawyer had arrived.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“What the hell am I doing?” Sawyer asked himself as he turned his Bronco onto the Collier property.

He’d told Amber he wouldn’t be back until that evening to check on her. Yet there he was, coming to see her with a sack full of stuff he’d bought for her at Joe’s general store.

“It’s not your place,” he growled. “She didn’t ask for you to take care of her. Besides, you know how well it went the last time you had a Little. Do you want to screw another one up?”

He stopped arguing with himself when his brain finally realized what it was seeing beyond the Collier cabin.

Out there in the large field was a truck driving erratically and way too fast.

“Who the hell?”

Sawyer’s blood was boiling. Had someone come onto the property uninvited? Some idiot wanting a place to do donuts or something? They were putting Amber in danger, which meant they had an ass-kicking coming.

He gunned the Bronco, taking him closer to the soon-to-be sorry intruder. But when he got near the truck, he realized who was behind the wheel.

“Amber!”

He got closer and then killed the Bronco, hopping out and traversing the rest of the way on foot. Amber wasn’t going too fast, but it would still be hard to hop into the truck at the rate of speed it was going. He had to time this just right.

Thankfully, the window was down, so even over the roar of the old engine, she should still be able to hear, Sawyer thought.

“Move over! I’m getting in!”

She nodded and slid across the bench seat. He pumped his legs hard to catch up and stretched his arms out to make a grab at the out-of-control vehicle.

His left arm found purchase and hooked inside the door. Gritting his teeth, he clung to the vehicle and ran with it, trying to keep pace, his feet thumping painfully against the uneven ground.

He bounced on his knees to build some momentum. Finally, he transferred that energy and hoisted himself up with one desperate push, sliding headfirst into the cab through the window. It was a jarring disorienting experience, but he had to move quickly as there wasn’t time to overthink it.

He twisted and writhed until he was sitting behind the steering wheel properly. Knowing the result he’d get, he tried to pump the brakes anyway.

Nothing.

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