AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But a nanosecond was too late. Turning her wheel, she avoided most of Lola’s car by throwing herself onto a cement pillar painted bright yellow. Bouncing inside the car, seatbelt catching her by strangling her chest, it was painfully obvious she’d hit something.
Rage was a high-pitched battle cry warming her blood. Alive with adrenaline, Carmen all but kicked her driver’s side door open. Fingers trembling and itching for a fight, she struggled to unfasten her seatbelt, pushing the release latch three times before it finally let her go.
On wobbly legs, Carmen regretted having worn heels instead of flats, but she would have stomped out of her car even if she were on stilts. She wasn’t about to show Lola, that reckless lunatic, an ounce of weakness.
In her periphery, she could see that the sleek black BMW was now wedged into the front of her Audi. The damage was nothing compared to the huge dent she probably had in her passenger side door.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Carmen shouted, slamming her door closed before storming to Lola’s car.
Lola, in her overpriced suit, was getting out, already screaming as if she wasn’t completely at fault. She always had the uncanny ability to blame other people for her mistakes.
Stomping toward her, Lola’s small frame vibrated with misplaced anger. In the shade of the garage, her big brown eyes were darker than usual, matte black instead of a deep glossy burnt umber.
“What the actual fuck were you thinking?” Lola shouted back, indignation a flush on her tanned cheeks.
“Me?” Carmen laughed, charging toward Lola and unsure what she’d do when she reached her. “I’m not the one playing Fast and Furious trying to kill people!” She pushed past her, forcing her attention onto Julio and ignoring the force of nature thundering at her side.
In Spanish, Carmen asked the shaken-up Julio whether he was hurt. Apart from looking terrified, he said nothing happened. Even the trash can was physically unscathed.
To her shock, Lola broke out of her selfish, entitled bubble long enough to apologize to Julio. Carmen would have almost guessed she was actually concerned if she didn’t know better. Lola only cared about herself. Her faux worry was more likely a product of her not wanting to get sued.
When Julio promised he was okay and retreated to the maintenance office before Lola could assault him again, Carmen turned her ire back on Lola.
“I hope whatever the hell you were doing was worth it.” Carmen heard her mother in her tone. “All the damage you caused—”
Lola’s unexpected laugh was an icepick in her ear. She flung an arm dramatically at the crash she’d caused. “You’re the one eating my ass!”
Carmen’s eyes widened at the same moment that Lola heard what she’d said. Guessing that they’d both had the same memory flash in their minds, Lola’s throat flushed dark with heat.
“Slamming into my car’s trunk shows that you’re completely at fault,” Lola said, choosing her words more carefully. Less reminiscent of a December night six months ago.
At the use of legal terms, Carmen slipped into lawyer mode. “That would be true,” she agreed, forcing together a calmer exterior. “If you hadn’t cut me off and then come to a screeching halt, thereby acting as the proximate and singular cause of the accident.” She pointed at the undeniable black tire marks the BMW had burned into the smooth cement. “And there is a camera on every corner,” she pointed at the intersection, “what do you think they captured?”
Lola wore her every thought, every emotion, on her face. Her full lips, still unpainted that morning, half disappeared into an irate line. Her eyes, already large and expressive, grew larger. The fear reflected in them made Carmen soften, but only for a moment, only until Lola opened her mouth again.
Because Lola could never help herself. Never make anything easy. She crossed her arms over her chest and doubled down. “If you won’t take accountability—”
“You’re the one who cut me off!” Carmen leaned in, invading her space, exploiting the few inches she had over her while wearing heels — they were both roughly the same height in bare feet.
Lola’s glare darkened, her jaw clenching. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she shot back, tone dripping with sarcasm. “I should have just let you slither in first, like you always do.”
Close enough to smell Lola’s perfume, the sweet earthy scent transporting Carmen to her biggest mistake, her body forgot how it was supposed to react. Forgot about how infinitely frustrating Lola was and remembered the sensation of her hands on her body. Her touch had been as determined and unrelenting as the woman herself.
Looking back at her, Lola’s face was a slipping mask. Heart thumping in her throat and heat racing over her skin, Carmen almost anticipated an apology. A moment of something other than antagonistic insults before a new presence created a ripple around them.
Standing next to the gunmetal Rolls-Royce, Sky Bamford was clutching her white fennec fox to her chest. Sleeping in her arms, the little thing that could be mistaken for a chihuahua if its ears weren’t bigger than its body, was a strange sight. No stranger than Bamford herself, who was dressed in monochrome blush pink from head to toe with her wispy white hair shaped like a swirl of cotton candy. Oh, to be so rich and powerful that appearances didn’t matter.
“What’s happened here?” Bamford’s question was aimed at both of them, her dull brown eyes shifting between them.
“She—” Lola started.
Carmen didn’t let her finish. By the tone alone, she could tell that Lola was about to throw her under the bus, even though she was the one that nearly threw herself in front of it.
“She threw herself in front of me and almost killed Julio in the process,” Carmen said calmly, knowing that the more she pretended to keep her cool, the quicker Lola would lose hers. She was so easy to play, it was almost criminal to do it.
“She obviously saw me making a legal turn into the garage,” Lola cut in. Her calm was still an earthquake threatening to blow ash and magma straight into the sky and blot out the sun. “She hit me on purpose—”
“Why the hell would I do that?” Carmen roared at the insanity of the accusation, turning away from Bamford, Lola taking up her entire field of vision.
