Page 49 of Mountain Struggle

Damien held his breath, waiting for his friend to continue.

“A few witnesses saw everything, Damien. They claim the car was aiming straight for Tess. This wasn’t an accident.”

Damien’s body shook.

“She’s fine,” Drake repeated. “She’s right here. Let me put her on the phone.”

“I’m fine, Damien,” Tess said. She sounded out of breath or in pain or scared, or maybe all three at the same time. “I called your dad, and he went to pick Jamie up. Thank God he wasn’t with me.”

“What happened, Tess?”

“I hardly know, it was all so quick,” she replied in a quavering voice. “I was walking on the sidewalk, when suddenly a car appeared out of nowhere. I jumped out of the way but … can you come here, Damien?”

“I’m already on my way. Wait there for me, honey,” he said, already moving towards the car.

Kat and Gael followed, all traces of their earlier joking erased from their faces. Damien watched Gael dump the cone with the French fries in a nearby trash can.

Damien hung up the phone and started the ignition, barely waiting for Gael’s ass to hit the seat before peeling out of there.

She’s okay, she’s okay.

But there’s no damn way this is a coincidence.

Damien’s heart beat hard against his chest.

“Is Tess okay?” asked Kat, who’d been close enough to him to hear part of the conversation.

“I think so—but a car tried to run her over. Once we get there, I’d like you both to take the car and go to my father’s house. Stay with Jamie, please, until I get there.”

Both nodded quickly. “Of course.”

Damien didn’t hesitate to flash his lights at other cars, running two red traffic lights in order to get there quicker. He saw Drake standing there with two other gendarmes. Behind them was an ambulance.

Damien left the car keys in the ignition and ran to the ambulance, almost bumping into Tess, who was being helped out of the back of the ambulance by a medic.

Her green eyes stood out from a face a shade paler than usual.

“Tess!”

Damien grabbed her shoulders, enveloping her in a hug. He loosened his hold quickly as she made a soft pained noise.

“Where are you hurt?” he asked.

“Mainly my shoulder,” she breathed. “But it’s just road rash—don’t stop holding me, please.”

He noticed now what he should have noticed before crushing her in his arms—her entire right arm was covered in gauze from the hand up to the shoulder.

The medic behind her stepped out of the ambulance. He and Damien had met before. Damien thanked him profusely.

“I cleaned the wound and gave her some antibiotic ointment. I still recommend she gets it checked out at the hospital tomorrow, just to be safe.”

“No hospitals,” she said. “I want to go home.”

A couple minutes later, Tess had signed the necessary release forms, and was discharged. Together, they watched the ambulance drive away.

“What happened, Tess?” Damien asked, hoping his voice didn’t sound as shaky as he felt.

“I was thinking about other things, didn’t even notice the car as it came around the corner. It’s only as it started getting close that I realized just how fast it was going.”