Page 30 of Hers to Call
- 8 –
An hour later, Cali left her room anticipating brunch. She was excited and she realized, happy. With Simon lying next to her, she’d slept dream free in what felt like forever. Optimism, something she’d not felt in years buoyed her. She was walking through the lobby when the clerk waved her down. She was on the phone, so Cali waited patiently at the counter until she finished. Tessa was typing away as she approached.
“Yes, I have it. A week, what’s the name for the reservation. David Barnes, can you spell that?”
Calita’s body went cold, her hands started trembling. There were plenty of men named David in the country. It could be purely coincidental. Nevertheless, she found herself debating whether or not to cancel brunch with her potential friends. Anxiety churned her stomach, and her skin prickled. She took a deep breath as the clerk hung up and smiled at her.
“Hey, I have a message for you. You’re supposed to meet Charmain and the ladies in Hilton at…” Tessa picked up a little sticky note, “the Grand Ellis, for brunch and not Morton’s.”
Calita nodded, her face frozen with a fake smile as though she wasn’t nearing a panic attack. “All the way over in Hilton?”
Tessa smiled. “I know right, fancy.”
She’d have to plug it into her GPS. They were going to meet her there, she couldn’t in good conscious cancel. She sighed “Thank you.”
She walked out to her barely used vehicle and climbed in. She didn’t bother downing the window to let the heat out since chills raced through her body. She put her head on the steering wheel for a moment to catch her breath. No way would David use his real name to check into the hotel. It would be stupid. He was on the run from the law. Her brain processed the logic, but her body was in full freak out mode. She swallowed and looked back up towards her room. She should just go back upstairs, forget brunch. She could dig through her paperwork and call the detectives that had worked her case and let them know he was here. She grabbed the door handle, intending to do that but the more she thought on it, the crazier it seemed. She hadn’t even heard the whole conversation. Didn’t even know when this David would check in.
Would she spend her free time holed in her room on the off chance that it was him?
She came to Georgia for a new life, she would not let old fears rule her. Taking a shaky breath, she pulled out of the hotel parking lot and turned onto the main road leading out of town. She managed to calm herself by the time she’d gone a few miles. There was nothing but trees on either side of the road, she’d learned early on that cell coverage was a joke on this stretch. It was one of the reasons she actively avoided driving to Hilton alone. Driving the deserted stretch made her nervous. She much preferred the other route out of town. That way at least had small clusters of houses in between the towns.
Glancing up into her rearview mirror, she frowned as a blue car came barreling down on hers. Why in the hell were they driving so fast? There was a blind turn coming up, and no way was she taking it faster than the fifty-five miles an hour she was driving. They would have to pass her.
She’d grown up in Chicago, taking the train and bus everywhere she needed to go. She barely drove as an adult and according to Selena she drove like an old lady. The car rushed up to her bumper and started blowing the horn. She frowned and looked into the car to see who it was. All she saw was a figure in big shades, a hat and…. a sweatshirt, in this heat? She couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. Calita slowed down. There were double lines, but hopefully they would just go around her. The turn was coming up so she slowed down to forty. The car tapped her bumper and let out a blast on the horn. She squealed as the car bumped her again, this time harder. She sped to avoid another bump, swallowing a scream as the car tires screeched into the turn.
The blue car hit her on the corner of her bumper sending her careening into the other lane. Calita turned sharply on the wheel to get back into the correct lane and sent the car into a fishtail. Trees were coming up quickly, she slammed on the breaks and pulled the wheel. Her car swerved into the dirt embankment avoiding the tree head on, but she careened into it with the driver’s side backseat. Her car sputtered and died, and silence blanketed the morning.
Stunned from the impact of the airbag, shock kept her in place, her breathing erratic. Smoke was seeping from the hood of her car and it spurred her into action. She didn’t know if it would catch on fire. She tried to open the driver’s side door, but the tree had bent the frame of her car, sealing the door in place. Grabbing her purse from the middle console, she climbed over to the passenger side. Gingerly, she worked her way out of the car. She wiped a shaking hand down her face, gasping at the blood covering her fingers. A sob escaped and searing heat went through her chest with every breath she took. Her legs gave out, and she sat on the ground hard. She could’ve died, and as she looked around, she realized the person who’d caused the accident was nowhere to be found.
With shaking hands, she pulled her phone out of her purse, whimpering as she bent her wrist. History told her it was sprained and not broken, but it still hurt. She’d had more than one sprained wrist in her relationship with David, so she blocked out that pain to lift her phone. There were no bars. God, there was another mile before she would get a signal. She needed to get up and move, or she’d be stranded on the side of the road. Though it was morning, the heat would no doubt climb, threatening her with heat exhaustion. She went to stand and cried out in pain, as she put weight on her sprained wrist. She fell back into the soft dirt of the shoulder.
It took her two more tries to stand. She froze at the rustling sound nearing her car. Heart in her throat, she waited. A bear shuffled from the woods and circled her car. Real bear or shifter, she couldn’t remember how to tell, and she didn’t want to risk calling out. Backing up, she cursed as she stepped on the dry leaves scattered across the ground. The crunching sound alerted the bear and his head whipped to her. He lifted his snout and sniffed. Standing on two legs he transformed in front of her. She quickly averted her eyes from him once mahogany skin replaced the fur. She recognized the veterinarian that came into the diner often.
“Are you okay?” Marcus asked, his voice gruff.
She swallowed and nodded. She turned her head as he continued to stand there with his legs apart, hands on his hips. She put up a hand to cover his privates from her gaze.
“Yes, I’m okay. Just some minor injuries.”
He stared at her a moment. “Of course, I only work on animals, but that gash on your forehead probably needs some stitches.” He turned to examine her car. “What happened?”
“Someone ran me off the road.”
He spun back around. “Did you see who it was?”
She shook her head.
He growled. “My clothes and phone are back a few miles, I can make the distance in my skin faster, but the alpha would kill me if I left you here alone. Do you have a phone on you?”
She nodded.
“Well, we should be able to get a signal a little ways up the road, are you okay to walk?”
“Yeah, I can walk.” She winced.
He started towards her, and she backed away. “You’re just going to walk naked?”
He looked confused for a moment, then shook his head. “I forget how prudish humans are. If it will make you feel better, I can get in my skin.”
