Page 66 of Long Road Home

“Sure, sure. I won’t get in your way, but youwill bereleasing my friend.” She folded her arms, still not wearing a coat. The warmth from the coffee had worn off. “Have a great rest of your day.” She waved as he drove off.

Theo and Alonzo were chuckling, putting theirchairs away, when she strode back over.

“Coroner’s office?” she suggested.

Theo said, “I’ll drive.”

“I can follow you.”

Alonzo shook his head. “You can come with us.”

After Kenna locked up the house and ended the call with Maizie, they headed out. Theo played country music through the car speakers. Alonzo stretched one leg across the back seat. At least he let her ride in the front seat, not in the back like a kid.

“Is there a reason we can’t drive separate and meet there?” She turned to the side so she could see both of them. “Some secret, local thing I don’t know about?” As long as they actuallyweregoing to the coroner’s office and not some clandestine location. “Guys?”

“Trust us,” Alonzo said, his attention on his phone.

Theo said, “It’s safer to stick together than it is being alone.”

She had to think on that for a moment, since for so long she’d believed that alone was safer. Why would it be better if people she cared about were at risk just being with her? Sure, they could watch each other’s backs. But two were more vulnerable than one.

She couldn’t reconcile it in her mind. “Let’s just go see what the coroner has to?—”

In that split second, she spotted the truck through the driver side window.

Barreling straight toward them.

“Watch out!”

Her words were swallowed up in the crash. The force of the truck slammed into them, sending them spinning. Metal screamed, and she could smell burning from somewhere.

The car went off the side of the street and rolled.

Chapter Nineteen

Kenna sucked in a sharp breath through her nose. She blinked, trying to figure out what had just happened. A fog of powder hung in the air around her that smelled like fireworks. The airbag in front of her had smacked her in the face. She pulled the knife from her right boot and deflated it.

Her face felt like she’d been punched, and she was having trouble focusing.

Crash.

They’d crashed. Because that truck had hit them from the side.

She touched her face, ensuring her nose hadn’t been broken. The familiar twinge of pain in her forearms anchored her.You’re alive.She gave herself the survival peptalk.You’re breathing. You’re not done yet.One day she would be—but not today.

The sun hung in the sky behind the heavy clouds.

The car engine ticked as it cooled, shut off by the force of the truck slamming into the side of their car. Twisting around, she saw the grill in the window on the driver’s side. The truckwas still right up against them, where it had shoved the left side of Theo’s car in at least ten inches.

He lay slumped against the airbag on his side, blood down his face. But if she deflated his airbag, he’d have nothing to rest against, so she left it.

Phone. She needed to call for help, but her phone was…who-knew-where.

Kenna twisted all the way around and let out a yelp. Her chest hurt where the airbag hit her, and she’d probably feel the full force of whiplash tomorrow. But that wasn’t all the reason she’d cried out.

Alonzo lay across the back, his leg at an odd angle.

She gritted her teeth and breathed through her nose, which hurt not just her head but also her face.Move.Phone. Ambulance. “Hang on.” Her voice sounded far away to her ears.

---