Page 20 of Prince of Storms
“Yeah.”
I punched the button, and the engine came back to life easily. Then we set off. Or tried to. The car immediately started to bounce and lean to one side.
“Crap,” I grumbled, pulling off to the side of the road and getting out.
“What is it?” she called through the open door.
“Flat tire,” I muttered, crouching low. “The impact must have punctured it. The axle seems not to be bent though, which is good.”
It wasn’t that bad of a situation. Ty could pick us up easily enough, but I didn’t want to end my time with Mia. I felt guilty for getting so distracted, and I wanted to make it up to her. Alone.
“What do we do, then?” she asked as I went and opened the trunk, flipping up the mat and hauling on a loop to open the compartment below.
“I change it, and then we go on our merry way,” I said, grabbing the jack, then casually gripping the bolt securing the spare and undoing it by hand.
Mia couldn’t see, so I didn’t need to waste time using the tools. It came out easily, and I set myself to cracking each of the lug nuts on the deflated tire. Once that was done, I inserted the jack on the running board, locating the metal plate where it should rest and beginning to expand it.
As the car started to lift, I cranked harder on the metal bar that spun the jack, putting some muscle into it. That proved to be a mistake. The bar bent abruptly, sending me staggering as the resistance disappeared.
“Everything okay?” Mia asked, coming around the car from where she’d been standing on the far side.
“Sort of,” I grunted, looking at the bent piece-of-shit steel. “But I’m going to need your help now.”
I tried to contain my anger. The day wasnotgoing how I imagined it. It was supposed to be fun. Not fearful and frustrating, dammit! Her life should never have been in danger, but I hadn’t been able to keep myself collected. I’d let her distract me. And now I was getting angry at myself over it.
“What can I do?” she asked.
I moved to the SUV and gripped the running board myself. “I’m going to lift the car. Then you take the busted tire off and put the spare on. Got it?”
I didn’t wait for a confirmation. Instead, I grunted and lifted until the tire was off the ground.
“Oh, god, what?” Mia lunged for the tire.
“Just pull it toward you,” I said as she hesitated. “Grip both sides and pull. It’s already undone. It’ll be heavy, but it’ll come off just fine.”
She was staring at me with her mouth opened in shock. “How are you …”
“The tire, please,” I said, feigning being strained by the car's weight.
“Right!” she gripped the wheel and started to haul back on it. The process was a struggle, but in the end, she got it off and then, after a few tries, got the spare into place.
“Now what?” she asked.
I lowered the vehicle and put the lug nuts back on. “Now, I do it back up, and we continue on our merry way.”
“Yeah. Okay. Um, you justlifted a car,” she pointed out.
“Not literally,” I said. “I just liftedsomeof it so that this tire was off the ground. All the others were still very much on the ground.”
“I guess,” she said, staring at my arms. “Maybe, yeah.”
I finished tightening the lug nuts up, then stood up to admire the work. “Not bad. Now, come on, let’s go. We’ve got lots to do today.”
“Like cleaning?”
Chuckling, I stowed the flat tire where the spare had been and closed the trunk.
“No, not quite. I have something more fun in mind.”
