Page 74 of His Forever

“Nope. A girl should have some secrets. Do we need anything else?” she asked as she looked at their cart.

“I think we have what we need, mi siempre hermosa. Let’s go get the animals fed so we can play office.”

Grinning, she pushed the cart toward the check-out line.

Chapter Twenty-two

They had just gotten back to the office when his phone rang. “Álvarez Automotive and Towing, can I help you?”

“Zeus, hey, it’s Cory, got a wreck out on U.S. 1 and it’s a bad one. You’re up for the pick-up.”

“Will be there shortly, man. What do I need?”

“There are two fatalities. We’re waiting on the coroner to get the bodies but I gotta tell you, I’ve never seen anything this horrific.”

He closed his eyes and said a prayer for the people lost before saying, “Give me about ten minutes, okay?”

“See you when you get here.”

***

Arriving at the accident scene, all they could see were lights. The car was nearly half the size it was supposed to be and it looked like the engine was in the front seat. Getting out, he looked at Marleigh and said, “Stay here, mi siempre hermosa, while I see what we’re dealing with.”

She nodded. The scene was like something out of a nightmare. It looked like a logging truck had lost part of its load and there was a log that protruded from the rear of the car on the driver’s side. Glancing at the car again, she thought it looked familiar but shook her head in disbelief. She would wait on Zeus.

***

He walked over to the sheriff’s deputy and said, “Hey, Cory, what’s the status?”

“Still waiting on the coroner man. Listen, I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think…I think it’s Suri and that guy she was seeing.”

“Need me to go look?”

“I hate to ask you but honestly, her parents don’t need to make this identification.”

He nodded and headed toward the car. As he got closer, the smells assaulted his nose and he was grateful that they hadn’t eaten yet. Stepping to what was left of the front half of the car, he looked into the passenger side window and immediately turned and headed to the ditch where he threw up everything in his stomach. Once he was sure he wouldn’t lose it again, he returned to the car and looked in again. ItwasSuri but she was not going to recover from her injuries. She had apparently been giving the driver a blowjob when the accident occurred. The engine coming into the car cut her in half. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he glanced at the driver, who had also died but not because of the engine damage. No, he was impaled on the steering wheel, his pants undone and Suri’s head, upper torso and arms still in his lap. The log had sheared off the left side of his body and glancing in the backseat, he gulped again seeing the man’s arm, palm side up, sitting in the backseat.What a messhe thought. He turned back around and walked toward Cory again.

“Man, I’ll probably have nightmares after seeing that,” he told the officer. “And it is Suri, as well as the guy she was seeing, Colton. I need to go tell Marleigh but will keep an eye out for the coroner and once he removes the body parts, I’ll get it towed. Will that work?”

“Yeah, thanks. I think this is going to fuck a lot of us up for years to come,” Cory replied. “The truck driver is in the back of a squad car now. Poor guy can’t quit shaking and the accident was not his fault at all. They crossed the center line and hit him nearly head on. He jackknifed trying to avoid them, the banding snapped and the logs went rolling. I think we’re going to be out here for a while.”

“Me too.”

***

He got back into the truck and didn’t say anything. “Zeus? Are…are you okay? Did you know them?”

Pulling her close so she was in his arms, he said, “Si. We knew them both.”

“Oh my God, how terrible! I saw you getting sick so I presume it’s not something I need to see.”

At her words, he shuddered. There was no way in hell he would let her see the horrific nightmare that resided in the demolished car. “No, mi siempre hermosa, you do not need to see that at all,” he told her. “Give me a minute, okay?” He grabbed his kit from the backseat of the truck and jumped back out. Going to the back, he made short work of brushing his teeth. Years of cleaning up accident scenes had taught him to be prepared because he often saw the absolute worst things and it sometimes made him physically ill. Back in the truck, he pulled her close and softly kissed her.

“Mmm, minty fresh, thank you, handsome,” she said.

“Marleigh? The…the victims are Colton and Suri,” he replied. “And it wasn’t pretty and I had to make the identification on Suri because her parents don’t need to see her like that.”

She closed her eyes at his words. While she didn’t want to speak ill of the dead and from what it sounded like, it was an ugly death, shewasglad she wouldn’t have to go to court. “I’m sorry, Zeus.”

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