Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
One second, I was upright, and the next I was slamming against my car at a breath-stealing velocity.
My back hit hard and I felt my head snap back, all the oxygen fleeing my lungs.
Yeah, definitely not the best thing to do, provoke her.
But before another hit could come, I heard a scuffle.
Stunned, I slid against the car until I was on my bottom and stared at the two people on the ground.
Quinn had Elliette on the gravel pavement, stomach on the ground, with his body straddling hers.
He had both of her hands behind her back, and he was easily subduing her while Elliette tried everything in her power to get free.
Quinn looked completely unfazed.
“Get off of me!” she screeched. “I did nothing wrong!”
“You might actually have convinced others of that, but not me after catching you attacking her in a Cracker Barrel parking lot,” he stated calmly.
Too calmly.
The one and only time I’d seen him this deadly quiet was the day he’d walked in on two boys cornering me in a bathroom in high school. He’d already graduated at that point, and he’d been outside waiting to pick me up since my car hadn’t started that morning.
When I’d taken too long to come out, he’d come in, and found me there, two boys blocking me, and one of them trying to stick their hands down my pants.
He’d calmly knocked both of them out, then we’d left the school grounds just far enough that he could call the cops.
“Quinn,” I said quietly, worried now that he was overly angry.
I’m sure some of that was my fault.
Had I not left, I would’ve been at the hospital safe, and he wouldn’t have to find me to save me.
Jesus, I was a trainwreck.
Quinn looked over at me, cataloged me for injuries, and reached for his phone.
He called and had just hung up when the first police officer arrived.
I looked over, unsurprised to see his mom pull up.
“Mamasauce,” I said quietly.
Mamasauce, aka Garnett Carter, looked over at me and did the same cataloging of injuries that her son had just done. Once she decided I was okay, she walked to the woman on the ground and hiked her thumb to the right, indicating that Quinn needed to let her go.
Quinn got up, and Elliette rolled over, spitting mad, and kicking.
“Don’t,” Garnett ordered harshly. “Quinn was a whole lot nicer than I would’ve been had I walked up on that scene. Now, you can calmly walk to the police cruiser, and I’ll take you in, or you can do it the hard way. Which, might I add, will end up with you in the cruiser anyway, just hurting after.”
Elliette gritted her teeth and wisely stood up.
Quinn and Garnett both tensed, likely waiting for Elliette to run. Yet, she didn’t. She calmly walked to the back of the police cruiser and waited for Garnett to open the door for her.
Once the door closed, Garnett walked to me and calmly helped me to my feet.
She tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear, and I felt my eyes well with tears.
“You okay, my baby?” she asked.
Garnett was the mother I never had.
Even though her son and I had broken up all those years ago, she didn’t allow that to affect our relationship at all. She and Ande continued to treat me like part of the family, even if I tried everything in my power not to be around any of the Carter boys.
Meeting Garnett and Ande for lunch? That was more than acceptable. Doing anything at all at their place? Absolutely not. Because if I saw one brother, I saw them all.
Every last one of them resembled each other, and sometimes the rugged good looks of the Carter men hurt my heart.
“I’m okay,” I lied.
I probably wasn’t okay.
As it was, my heart was still pounding, and I was having trouble breathing.
“Good,” she pulled me in for a hug, and I felt something shift in my chest.
The breathing got harder, but I stayed where I was, feeling lightheadedness start to creep in.
“All right,” she pulled away. “I’ll get this one to the station. I’m assuming that you’re taking her back?”
“If they’ll take her,” Quinn grumbled, arms crossed.
That was, sadly, true.
Usually when a patient left AMA, the hospital washed their hands of them.
But I doubted that would be the case this time. I was a medical worker, even if all I did was fly the plane that got the nurse and the patient to the hospital. Not to mention, there were all of the Carters who were in that hospital just as much as a nurse would be, it felt like.
“Love you, Mamasauce,” Quinn said as he opened her door for her.
I had to lean against the car again when I felt my legs start to shake.
Quinn waited until Garnett was gone before turning back to me, a look of concern crossing his face at what he saw there.