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“No! I don’t want to talk to you! I can’t believe you just did that.”
I heard him threaten my brother, and I didn’t want to cause more of an issue, so I let him pick me up and take me to his truck—as long as he was taking me home. I didn’t care who did. I just wanted to go lie down.
As Henley spoke to me, I decided that now might be a good time for Ethan to explain and the only way I’d let him was if we were without an audience. I stalked away from him and got in his truck.
The minute the door was closed, I snapped at him, “How dare you do that! Ethan, what the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking about the fact that I love you, Riley! That I want our child to have a family!”
I was livid, but at the same time, there was another feeling there, and I wasn’t sure what that was. “We don’t have to be married to be a family! Jesus! That was the stupidest thing you have ever done!”
“Why was it stupid, Riley? I love you! I love our child! What about that is stupid?”
“Everything! Why would you do that in front of all those people! Oh my god! You embarrassed us both! I can’t marry you, Ethan!”
This was a bad idea, the two of us screaming at each other over why I felt we shouldn’t get married. Didn’t he understand that I didn’t know how to do a relationship? Didn’t he know how scared I was that it would fail and that my heart would be broken?
I hadn’t been in love with anyone since I was a teenager. I protected my heart against it being broken. I didn’t know why I did that, but I did. It could be because I saw so many of my friends get walked on by people in their lives, and I didn’t want that to happen to me.
“Why can’t you, Riley?”
“Because I can’t!”
“Why? That’s not a reason, Riley. I want a fucking reason!”
I blinked slowly. The only thing I could do was push him as far away from me as I could, and the words came out. “Because I don’t love you! Jesus, Ethan! I don’t love you like that! Don’t you understand that? I can’t love you like that!”
His eyes locked on to mine as we barreled down the street, and I saw the words register in his mind just as something caught my eye past him. I shifted my eyes and saw a box truck barreling toward us.
I only had time for one word as I began to brace myself. “Ethan!” I watched his head turn as the front grill of the truck slammed into his pickup, and then the noise exploded around me, glass struck me, and my body was bounced around inside the cab of his truck for a few seconds as I felt like I was in a corkscrew and turning, over and over.
When the truck came to a rest, we were on our side, and I was the closest to the ground. I blinked, feeling like I was going to throw up. I could move my hands, my arms, turn my head—ouch, that hurt.
I tried to reach for Ethan but couldn’t find him. I glanced to my left, and the seat was empty. “Ethan! Ethan!” Panic exploded in my gut, and I started screaming, “Ethan!” I looked all around the inside of the truck like I knew he was supposed to be here, and then I noticed that the front windshield was torn outward, and there was something red on the edges of the glass.
I tried to get my seat belt off, tried to get out of the truck, but I was stuck. I heard voices coming closer, and someone came to me. “Ethan! Where is Ethan?”
“He’s out here. He’s alive. Help is on the way,” a man said.
“Don’t let him be alone! Go to him! Don’t let him be alone!” I told him, pushing his hand away from me.
“It’s okay. My wife is with him. She’s a nurse. Are you okay?”
“I think so, but I’m pregnant.” Suddenly the most substantial wave of fear I had ever felt washed over me as my hand went to my stomach. “Oh, my god! My baby!”
“It’s okay. Help is coming. We will get you out, and you and your baby will be okay.”
I heard a few tires squeal as if someone applied the brakes hard, and then I heard Henley's voice, and I started to cry. “Riley!” Huntley’s voice was there too, along with Wesley and Cara.
Hunt came to me. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know! How is Ethan?” Hunt looked over his shoulder, and I heard Cara scream. Hunt winced. “We need to get you out of there, but I don’t want to move you until we have a collar on you. What hurts?”
I wanted to scream that my heart hurt. It’s breaking on the road in front of us. Why had I said that to him? Why hadn’t I just told him yes and then spoken to him later in private?
“Everything hurts right now.” I heard Wes talking behind him, his voice grave but in control, although none of the words made sense to me, and Henley was with him answering back. Cara was crying, and I was going crazy locked in the cab of his pickup. I needed to see Ethan! I had to see him.
Sirens could be heard in the distance, and Henley came to me. “Are you okay?”
