Page 2 of Wreck Me
“Aidan, I got this. Go.”
For some inexplicable reason, he didn’t want to leave the woman, even though he trusted his sister. Something in her hazel-colored eyes made his gut tighten, and he itched to protect her.
But he had a job to do and he didn’t need any distractions.
He jogged over to where a smattering of onlookers talked to a young girl. “How’s everything…” he trailed off when the girl turned to him. “Damn it. Again, Ashley?”
When the girl broke into tears, Aidan blew out a breath, wanting to kick his own ass for making her cry. Maggie, an older lady who owned the local diner, wrapped an arm around her and shot him a look. He held up his hands in a silent apology. “Ashley, are you okay? Any bumps, bruises?”
She shook her head against Maggie’s shoulder. “No,” she squeaked out through tears.
“Okay, good. Can you tell me what happened?”
Ashley hiccupped through a short explanation of how she was making a right turn but never saw the car she hit.
Aidan nodded. “Did you call your dad yet?”
She shook her head and Aidan frowned. “I hate to do this, but you know we have to call him, right?”
Tears coursed down her face, but she nodded and swiped them away. “Yeah, I know. But I don’t know where my phone ended up. It was in my hand when…” She stopped and her mouth formed an O.
Busted. Aidan dropped his head and shook it. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and handed it to her. “Call your dad, Ashley.”
While Ashley made a phone call Aidan didn’t envy, he took pictures of the scene from several angles for his report. Maggie brought his phone back to him and could only shake her head with a grim smile.
“Not good, huh?” he asked.
“Nope. We may not see Ashley much this year. Or next. Sounds like she might be grounded for the rest of her teenage years.”
“Thanks for staying with her, Maggie.”
“No problem, son. Come by for breakfast soon and tell your mama I said hi.” Her eyes crinkled at the corners when she smiled and patted her beehive hair, a style she’d had since he was a kid and probably before that.
“Will do.”
He called a tow truck, since it looked like the sporty little coupe wasn’t going anywhere on its own, and walked over to the bench, where the woman was awake and sitting up. Charley ran a hand over her back in a way that reminded him of their mother. The woman’s head bent forward, holding the bandage to her head with one hand and a bottle of water in the other. The gauze had a bright red spot that was stark against her increasingly pale skin. He squatted down to catch her gaze.
“Hey, feeling any better? Did I need to call 911 for you?”
“There’s no need for all of that. I’ll be fine.” Her voice was low and barely a rasp over the sounds of the birds chirping and the cars and activity in the square behind them.
“What’s your name?”
She lifted her head and closed her eyes as she leaned back against the bench. The movement made her wince before she answered. “Megan.”
“Okay, Megan.” He stood and shoved his hands into the back pockets of his tactical pants. “Can you tell me what happened?”
She opened her eyes and looked up at him. Fuck. Those eyes. Grayish green with gold flecks and a brown ring circled her slightly dilated pupils. He supposed they would be called hazel. He called them incredible.
Something in his gut confirmed that she was going to be nothing but trouble for him. It was time to get this wrapped up and move her along. He didn’t have time for any sort of entanglements, but especially a woman with eyes that had the power to take a man out at the knees.
Megan cleared her throat. “I was driving through the square and came upon the roundabout there. I was in the circle, headed this way. I saw the red car coming from the side street and thought they’d yield. By the time I realized they weren’t, I had no time to stop.”
Aidan nodded. “Yeah, she said she never saw you. She admitted she was looking at her phone.”
“Well, that’s just great.” Megan sighed deeply and chuckled without humor. She grimaced and put a hand to her forehead.
“Listen, I need to write up my report and try to get the vehicles moved out of traffic. You be okay here?”
