Page 15 of Puck the Halls
“I love you, too. Be safe.”
“Always,” I say, even as I turn the phone so she can only see me and the passenger window, not me swatting Nathan’s hand away. “See you soon.”
“Give me the phone,” Nathan insists.
“Stop, asshole! I ended the call.” This was fun to fuck with him until it wasn’t. Now I’m starting to get annoyed. “You’re acting like Isabel when we won’t let her have something that isn’t safe,” I tell him.
“Crew,” Nathan growls. “Call Dani back.”
I sigh, about to give in and call her back because Nathan is stubborn enough to try to call her himself while driving.
But I don’t get a chance.
I don’t know if it’s because all his grabbing and maneuvering in his seat has caused his eyes to drift off the road or whether the roads are just bad, but all of sudden the tires are spinning.
“Oh, shit,” I say, gripping the door and staring through the windshield as the car starts to fishtail. “Nate. Turn the wheel. Turn the wheel!”
“I am! Stop yelling, for fuck’s sake.”
I can’t decide if I want to turn and look at Nathan or stare straight ahead to make sure we don’t go off-road.
In the end, there’s no time for either.
In about two seconds, we’re off the road, being jolted around and bounced on our asses.
Then we’re in a ditch and the car comes to a hard stop.
My head jerks forward and I swear.
Once the car is still I release my breath.
“You okay?” Nathan asks.
I realize his arm is across me, parent-style. Like he was going to personally prevent me from going through the windshield with his fucking forearm.
“I’m fine. You?” I turn and look over at him.
Nathan’s face is pale but he nods. “Yeah,” he says gruffly.
“What the fuck, Boss?” I ask him. “Now what?”
We’re in a ditch in the middle of nowhere Illinois.
Nathan doesn’t say anything.
I’m bent over fishing my phone off the floor when it hits me.
Shit.
His parents died in a car crash.
He was just a kid and he was with them in the accident. He doesn’t talk about it much but it completely changed his life. This had to bring back long buried emotions.
I want to rip him a new asshole and now I can’t because…fuck.
“I’m sorry,” he manages to say. “That was just…reckless.”
It was also his fault but now I can’t even say that.
