“It’s fine,” Taylor said.
“Your boyfriend isn’t a big ol’ bodybuilder who will track me down and beat the crap out of me, is he?”
Taylor smiled at that. “No. He actually works at Silverstone Towing, so I’m sure he’ll know someone who I can bring my car to so it can be fixed sooner rather than later.”
“Ah, that’s good, then. You can’t trust anyone these days.”
Taylor nodded.
“With that, I’m going to let you get going. I’ll be sure to be more careful from here on out. Someone else wouldn’t have been as forgiving as you, Taylor.”
Than gave her a polite nod, then turned and walked back to his Cadillac. She walked around the front of her Kia and nodded back as he pulled out from behind her and went on his way.
After he was gone, Taylor realized she should’ve written down his license plate number . . . or at least gotten his full name and number, so she could check back with him if she didn’t hear anything from her insurance company. Sighing, and just relieved the entire encounter was done, she got back into her car.
She was going to call Eagle and let him know what happened, but figured she’d see him in ten minutes or so anyway. Besides, there wasn’t anything he could do at this point. Her car was drivable, and she wasn’t hurt.
Taylor arrived at Eagle’s apartment complex and went into the lobby. A man was standing there, and as she walked toward him, he said, “Hey, Flower.”
Surprised but pleased to see Eagle in the lobby, she smiled. “Hey.”
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“You should’ve been here about fifteen minutes ago. I was worried. I texted but didn’t get a response.”
Taylor was surprised. He steered her toward the stairwell as they talked. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t hear your text, otherwise I would’ve answered. And I’m late because someone hit me from behind when I was at a stoplight.”
They’d just reached the second-floor landing when Eagle stopped in his tracks. “What?”
“Someone hit me—”
“I heard you,” he interrupted. He put his hands on her shoulders. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Shit, Taylor. Why didn’t you call me?”
Taylor frowned. “Because it was just a fender bender. It wasn’t a huge deal.”
“Come on, I’m not talking about this in the stairwell,” Eagle said and grabbed her hand, practically dragging her down the hallway toward his apartment.
She wanted to point out that she wasn’t the one who’d stopped and insisted on discussing why she was late before they’d even gotten inside his place. But she kept her mouth shut as he unlocked his door and gestured for her to precede him inside.
Feeling a little irritated at his reaction—and his assumption she couldn’t deal with a fender bender—Taylor did her best to control her temper.
The second the door shut behind him, Eagle spoke. “Are you sure you’re all right? Does your neck hurt? Do we need to go to the emergency room? What happened? Did you get a police report?”
Taylor held up a hand. “One question at a time, jeez,” she said in what she hoped was a light tone. “I’m fine. My neck will probably be a bit sore tomorrow, but it’s nothing a few aspirins won’t fix. I wasn’t moving, and the guy was only going probably ten miles an hour, if that. As I said, I was sitting at a red light, and he ran into me with his big boat of a Cadillac. We pulled off the road, and he got my insurance info, since there wasn’t any damage to his car.”
Eagle stared at her for a second, a muscle in his jaw ticking.
“What?” Taylor asked.
“You know that men do that shit to get their hands on women, right?”
Taylor felt her frustration rising. “What was I supposed to do, Eagle? Ignore the accident? That’s against the law. Besides, we weren’t in the middle of nowhere. There were plenty of people and businesses around.”
“Give me his info, and I’ll check him out,” Eagle said, holding out his hand.
Taylor crossed her arms. She felt defensive that he was being so over-the-top obnoxious about a simple accident. “I don’t have it.”
“What? Why not? Isn’t it on the police report?”
“There is no police report because we didn’t call them. My car wasn’t that damaged, just the bumper. It’s gonna need to be replaced. He took my insurance info and said he would call them and get it taken care of. I didn’t need to get his information.”
“For God’s sake!” Eagle exploded, turning his back on her and striding farther into his apartment.
Taylor followed slowly, watching as he paced back and forth. When he turned to face her, she braced herself.
“Did you even get his name?”
“Yes,” she told him. “It was Thanatos. He goes by Than for short.”
“What’s his last name?”
She paused.
“Shit! You don’t know it, do you? Thanatos could even be a made-up name. It’s too stupid to be real,” Eagle said in disgust. “Jesus, Taylor, he’s not going to call your insurance company—and you handed over your info to a complete stranger without a second thought. Was your address on your paperwork?”
Now Taylor felt stupid . . . and she didn’t like Eagle making her feel even worse than she already did. She pressed her lips together.
“And you can’t recognize him if you saw him again,” Eagle went on. “He’s probably laughing his ass off right about now. Thrilled he hit someone so gullible she didn’t even call the police. And he could walk right up to your apartment, since you gave him your address, and you wouldn’t know it was him. He could hurt you or rob you blind, and you’d never be able to tell the police anything! God, how could you have been so stupid?”
The pain of his words took a second to register. And when they did, Taylor wanted to throw up.
For the first time since she’d met him, Eagle had made her feel like less of a person. He’d thrown her condition in her face and made her feel about two feet tall. And it hurt all the more because she’d been convinced he was her friend. That he would never judge her, no matter what.
Once more, she’d opened herself up in the hope that this time, things would be different, only to be reminded that her prosopagnosia would always make her an outcast. Someone to be ridiculed, made to feel like a pariah.
Knowing if she tried to say anything, she’d burst out crying, Taylor turned on her heel and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Eagle asked.
Taylor didn’t answer, simply opened his door and started to step out into the hall.
Eagle stopped her by taking hold of her arm. “Taylor? We aren’t done talking about this.”
And that pissed her off enough for her to push back her sorrow, anger rising swiftly. “We weren’t talking. You were. I get it, Eagle, I’m stupid. Not only that, I’m apparently going to get murdered in my bed because I won’t know a bad guy until it’s too late. Thanks for your vote of confidence and letting me know how you really feel.” She yanked her arm out of his grip and took a few steps into the hallway, then abruptly turned back around.