We enjoyed the rest of our meal, Sage having effectively taken my mind off the worry that had been swirling around inside of me, at least temporarily. By the time we finished eating, I was toeing the line between comfortably full and food coma, but I was feeling a million times better about a whole lot of things.
My sister’s question from a couple weeks ago popped into my head. Have you stopped to consider maybe this won’t end?
I hadn’t, at least not until now, and now that I was allowing myself to really think about long-term with West, I found myself more excited than scared.
I was still riding that high as I backed out of my parking spot and cut the steering wheel. That was when I noticed a busted-up hatchback in an unappealing shade of green parked in front of a vape shop in the strip mall not too far from the restaurant.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, ramming my foot on the brake and giving Sage and me a jolt.
“What’s going on?”
I pointed through my windshield at the car in question. “Would you consider that car to be snot green?”
Sage leaned forward in her seat. “Which car?”
“The hatchback.”
She narrowed her eyes for a better look. “I’d say it’s more of a baby shit green, but I can see how someone would consider that snot. Why?”
I told her about the conversation I’d overheard between West and the two police officers the day before, never taking my eyes off the putrid-colored car. Just as I finished explaining, a man who looked a thousand different shades of skeevy came out of the vape shop and headed right for the hatchback.
“What are you thinking?” Sage asked, her voice holding a hint of trepidation.
An idea took form in my head. Admittedly, not the brightest one, but I was working on a time crunch here. “I think . . . I’m gonna ram him.”
“Are you sure that’s smart? Your ribs are still hurt. I can’t imagine this would make them feel any better.”
I shrugged. “Probably not. But I’m gonna do it anyway.” Once an idea took hold, there really was no ignoring it. It would needle at me until I acted.
“And have you thought of what excuse you’re going to use when the cops show after you smash your car into his?”
Not really. “I’m sure something will come to me in the moment,” I told her. “I’m quick on my feet.”
“Well, all right then. Let’s get this show on the road.”
I turned to her just as she clicked her seatbelt into place. “You’re staying in the car?”
Sage’s eyes twinkled with excitement. If I wasn’t all kinds of in love with West, I might have considered her my soul mate just then. “Hell yeah, I am. I’m not missing this.”
“Okay.”
“Wait!” she shouted just as I eased off the brake, causing me to slam the car back to a stop. “I can’t remember, should we brace or keep our bodies loose?”
“Um . . . loose, I think.”
She released her hold on the dash and shook her arms out. “All right, go. Wait!”
“What now?” I asked in exasperation.
“This bucket of rust has airbags, right?”
“Yes, wait—” I pinched my mouth to the side as I tried to remember. “Yes. I’m almost ninety-seven percent sure it does.”
“Works for me. Now gun it.”
Checking our surroundings to make sure there were no innocent pedestrians anywhere, I pulled in a breath and patted the dash. “Sorry about this, Gertrude. You were always there for me when I needed you. I hope you understand that this is for the greater good.” With the apology done, I slammed on the gas just as Vape Dude started backing out of his parking spot.
Sage let out a whoop of exhilaration as we hurtled toward the bad guy’s hatchback, and I sent up a silent prayer that my car did, in fact, have airbags.
A second later, the sound of metal against metal filled the air as we made impact.
My ribs did not appreciate the workout they’d gotten, but I was happy to announce that Gertrude did have airbags. Thank the Lord above.
Sage and I sat in the back of an ambulance as the paramedics checked us over to make sure we were okay. We’d sustained a few minor bumps, and I had a strawberry on my forearm from the airbag deploying, but other than that, we weren’t any worse for the wear.
“That was a rush,” Sage breathed beside me once the paramedics were sure we’d be fine and left to deal with the driver of the hatchback.
The two of us watched the chaos unfolding in front of us, and I couldn’t lie, I felt a tiny sense of pride that my plan had worked. The parking lot was full of police cruisers, a couple more ambulances, and a fire truck.
When Gertrude had slammed into the bad guy’s car, she’d hit at just the right spot, causing the hatch to fly open. Now the concrete was covered in all the evidence Trick and Hayes would need to put Vape Dude away for a really long time.
I watched as the detectives in question broke away from their huddle with a few uniformed officers and started in our direction, both of them trying to suppress their grins as they stopped in front of us.
“Paramedics say you’ll both be fine,” Hayes announced, telling us something we already knew. “And we’ve called your men. They’ll be here soon.”
I bit down on my bottom lip, worry starting to pulse inside my brain. “On a scale from one to ten, how mad do you think West will be about all of this?”
Trick made a snorting sound like he was trying not to laugh and dropped his head. Hayes, meanwhile, grinned full on. “Well, if it was an accident like you said, I’m sure he won’t be mad at all.”
Sage and I both nodded. “Yep. Total accident,” I chirped. “There was a bee.”
Hayes crooked an eyebrow just as Sage elbowed my side. “I thought you said it was a spider.”
Well shit. “Yep. That’s what I said. A spider. There was a spider, one of those little jumpy ones, right there on the dash. It jumped right on me and I lost control of my car as I was trying to kill it.”
“Yep, that’s what happened,” Sage confirmed, ever the picture of innocence. Neither of these guys were buying it.
“Well, we’re glad no one got hurt,” Trick said once he’d gotten a hold of himself. “That spider could have caused a lot more damage.”
Just then, I heard the sound of a big engine rumbling up and turned to see West’s truck flying into the lot. The tires squealed as he slammed on the brakes, and a beat later, four insanely gorgeous, incredibly built men came flying out of the cab.
“Stella!” West barked, his frantic gaze shooting all over the place.
“Right here,” I said meekly, lifting my hand to wave.
He started in my direction with all the grace of a raging bull charging a matador. As soon as he reached me, he took my face in his hands, and I could see the fear in his eyes as they scanned every inch of me. “Are you okay? What the hell happened?”
“There was a bee—”
“Spider,” Trick corrected on a cough.
I pointed in his direction. “Yes, that. There was a spider, and being a girl, I really don’t like spiders,” I explained unnecessarily. “Especially spiders that jump. And this one did. Right on me. And I accidentally crashed.”