Page 78 of Home: Posy 5

Looking out of Ash's window, I saw he was right. Panicking a little, I hurried to grab the steering wheel and step on the brake, but I mixed up the pedals and hit the gas. The car lurched backwards before I got my foot on the brake, then I slammed it down, jolting us all forward.

"Owie!" Ash covered his nose with his hand this time.

"Posy, put the car in park now." Wyatt's voice was even calmer than before.

Nodding frantically, I did, then unbuckled and tried to pull Ash's hand away from his face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I chanted.

"I'm fine, cubcade," he insisted, but he didn't sound fine.

And the blood dripping from his nostrils didn't look fine, either.

"You broke your nose, didn't you?" Wyatt began to laugh so hard, he fell onto his side in the back seat. "That's what ... you get ... for not wearing ... your seatbelt!"

My eyes burned and two tears streaked down my cheeks.

"Don't cry, cubcade. Wyatt, stob laughing and comfort our girl! And, Sid, stob giggling and heal me!"

Of course, I knew his wolf could fix a broken nose in seconds, but that was cold comfort when I'd been the one to hurt him.

"Cutie, it was an accident. They happen." Wyatt sobered up, reached around my seat, and wrapped his arms around me. "He didn't have his seat belt on. It wasn't your fault."

"But I hit the brake too hard—"

"Every new driver does that," he told me. "Even some experienced ones do. And if you have to come to a sudden stop, that's what it will feel like, okay? Did it make your seat belt tighten up?"

I nodded and tugged at where it dug into the side of my neck, despite Ash's plastic gadget.

"Yeah, that'll happen. See? This was good for you to know so you don't panic more in an emergency." He dropped his arms. "Go ahead and take off your seat belt and let it recoil, then put it back on and it should be fine again."

Sniffing, I did that and found he was right. Then I stared down at my white-knuckled fists, not daring to look at Ash.

"Posy. I'm fine. Sid healed me no problem, and Wyatt's right. I did a dumb and forgot to buckle up again. It's all on me."

"But I hurt—" My breath caught in my throat, and I couldn't finish my sentence.

"Youdidn't hurt me. The car did. Look at it that way. Come on, princess, please stop crying and blaming yourself. You're breaking my heart!"

Wiping my face on the backs of my hands, I sniffed and saw a white tissue being waved in front of me. I took it and blew my nose, then steeled myself and finally looked at Ash.

There was a pile of red-stained tissues in his lap, but his nose wasn't bleeding anymore. He smiled crookedly at me, then leaned across the console and kissed me very gently.

"I'm fine. I've had a thousand times worse. And it was my fault. Don't worry about it anymore, okay? I want you to put it out of your mind."

I wasn't happy with that, but I nodded and tried to let it go.

Despite the rough start, the rest of my lesson was smooth sailing. I practiced backing up, braking gently, and accelerating smoothly up and down our driveway. By the fifth time, I was surprisingly confident in myself, and Wyatt and Ash insisted they were very happy with how I was doing.

As I parked back in the lot, my other mates piled out of the house and waited for us on the front porch, so I knew either Ash or Wyatt had linked them that we were done. Ash got out of the car, came around the hood, and opened my door, then held my hand as we walked toward the house.

"Well? How did it go?" Mason asked as we walked up the steps, then his eyes widened slightly at the dried blood on Ash's shirt. "What happened?"

"Did you get fed up and punch him in the nose?" Jayden snickered.

I pouted, but Ash put his hand under my chin and made me hold my head up.

"Dudes! She did awesome!" he hooted.

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