“I think...” She looked at the car again. “Four-door?”
“I don’t suppose you can see the license plate?”
“He’s close, but not that close.” She clenched her hands on the wheel, horribly afraid that Mike was in that car.
“I’m only a few minutes away from you now, babe.”
“I don’t think I’ll have—” From the woods along the side of the road, a small dog ran out in front of her. Glory half screamed, hit her breaks and tried to swerve to avoid the dog, but instead, the car spun. The driver of the white car barely missed her as she went off the road and came up against a tree with teeth-jarring impact.
“Glory!”
She tried to move, but something pinned her in place. “I... I hit my head.” She realized her voice was faint, sort of hazy, and everything was spinning around her. “I can’t move my left arm.”
She knew Kam couldn’t hear her when he shouted her name again.
“Kam?” Her left arm ached and felt impossibly heavy. When she tried to move it, indescribable pain coursed through her torso and stole all her breath. Something liquid dripped into her eyes and she had the awful thought that she might be dying.
No! She wouldn’t... Oh, God. She’d been through this before.
That time, her mother and father had died, and she’d just been... damaged.
I don’t want to be damaged again.
Neither did she want to die, damn it.
What if the man following her came after her now? If it was Mike, at least he was familiar. Unhinged, but still, better a known threat than an unknown.
The sudden screech of tires, then the slamming of a door, filled her eyes with tears. She couldn’t die, not when she was so happy with Kam. Not when she was finally coming into her own, learning to speak up for herself—albeit slowly, but still, she was making progress.
Callie would be devastated. How unfair for her to have to deal with this when she should still be celebrating her new marriage. “No,” she whispered, her voice barely there. “I don’t want to die.”
“Glory,” came a gravelly, emotional voice. “Jesus, honey, hang on. An ambulance is on the way.”
“Kam?” She couldn’t see very well through the film over her eyes.
“Don’t move, okay? Your driver side door is smashed and the airbags deployed.” A loud screech proved that he’d wrenched open the passenger door. “I’m right here, okay?” His rough, broken voice was closer, as if he sat right beside her now. “Callie and Tanner are on their way.”
“Don’t tell Liz.” The last thing she wanted was more surgeries. No more, not ever again. “Promise you won’t—”
The backs of his fingers touched her face. “It’s okay, baby. I won’t tell.”
She suddenly remembered. “The other car!”
“No one else is around. Whoever did this is long gone. The police will be looking for him.”
“Kam.” With new desperation, she remembered the dog. Dear God, had she hit it? A sob tried to edge up her throat. She couldn’t quite swallow it back, but breathing and speaking hurt, so she could only imagine how bad crying would be. “There was a dog. A little dog. Maybe a puppy.”
“I didn’t see a dog.”
“You have to find it! Find the dog.”
“Shh. Calm down.”
No, she wouldn’t. Tears leaked out and she knew she was a terrible crier. The ugliest crier ever, but she couldn’t get it together. “Please.” Gaining strength, she tried to move, but dear God, it hurt.
“Be still, honey.”
“Pleasefind the dog.”
