Chapter Nine
LATE NIGHT?” TRENT asked, glancing at Lexi as he pulled their rescue truck out of the hospital parking lot and headed for the highway on-ramp.
She’d tried to hide her yawn behind her hand, but Trent must have seen it anyway. While she was tired partly thanks to making love with Dane half the night, the constant string of calls she and Trent had gone on today probably had something to do with it, too. It had been one long day of nonstop car wrecks, chest pains, trips, slips, falls, industrial mishaps, and poor athletic decisions.
“Yeah,” she said in answer to Trent’s question. “Dane and I went over to Jax’s ranch yesterday and didn’t get home until almost midnight.”
Trent checked his side mirrors as he merged onto I-635. Traffic was still crazy even at eight o’clock at night. Around them, drivers jockeyed for lane position as they approached the insanely confusing High Five Interchange that connected 635 to I-75 as well as several other surface roads. Five stacked levels of bridges, underpasses, and overpasses could get a bit tricky, and the rain didn’t help.
“Sounds like things are working out well with you and Dane,” he said as he switched on his indicator and changed lanes.
Lexi smiled. “They are.”
Actually, saying things were going well with Dane was an understatement. Things were going awesome. Then again, maybe she was a little biased considering Dane had completely worn her out last night. The guy was absolutely amazing in bed. And on the floor, too, now that she thought about it. She’d never had a night like it. Hell, if you combined the last three or four times she’d slept with a man, they still wouldn’t add up to what she’d experienced with Dane last night.
“What about you?” she asked Trent. “Was Tish in town?”
Tish was a flight attendant Trent had met a while back. She was based out of DFW but was gone a lot more than she was home, so getting together was difficult, especially with Trent’s work schedule.
He shook his head. “Nah. She texted me on Sunday saying she got transferred to LAX. Neither of us was interested in making the long distance thing work.”
Lexi frowned. “Dang. I’m sorry. I know you were starting to get serious about her.”
Trent shrugged as he took the overpass. “Don’t be. I get the feeling Tish requested the transfer so she wouldn’t have to actually break up with me.”
“Well that sucks,” Lexi said.
She was wondering if she should mention Melinda was interested in him when Trent jerked the wheel to the side, almost sliding the rescue truck right off the overpass.
“What the…?”
Lexi’s words trailed off as three cars zipped around them, one of them nearly spinning out of control as the driver clipped the front left bumper of the rescue truck.
“Shit!” Trent swore as he fought for control of the wheel on the wet, slippery pavement.
Lexi grabbed the dash, muttering a curse as the three cars darted in and around the traffic ahead of them. It was those damn street racers. Apparently, they didn’t give a crap that there was no place for the other drivers to go on the overpass as they jammed themselves through the congestion.
Trent had gotten their vehicle going straight again when one of the racers tried to force his way between two cars, sideswiping a small sedan driving in the right lane. The impact sent the sedan sliding out of control on the wet pavement and spinning in a slow circle. All Lexi could do was watch as the sedan slammed into the concrete and metal railing on the side of the overpass and kept right on going.
Lexi’s breath caught in her throat. If the car went over the retaining wall, it would be a hundred and twenty foot drop to the traffic on I-75. Even if the people in the car made it through the fall, they wouldn’t survive getting rammed by the traffic flying along the road beneath them. But somehow the car stopped, partially wedged in the debris of the broken wall.
Trent floored the engine, trying to get to the car as fast as he could even as the back of the sedan tilted up and down as the rear wheels came off the road.
The street racers were long gone by the time she and Trent reached the sedan, but Lexi no longer cared about them. She was focused entirely on the small car teetering on the brink of the overpass railing. It looked like the thing was going to go over any second.
Trent slammed to stop less than ten feet from the car, sliding sideways to block the rightmost lane of traffic and hitting the switch for the flashing lights.
“I’ll call this in then get a tow strap and try to keep the car from going any farther while you check on the people inside it,” he said.
Lexi didn’t even slow down to grab her gear but simply shoved open the door and ran for the car in the pounding rain. In the distance, she could hear police sirens as well as the distinct tones of a fire engine.
There was only one person in the car—a middle-aged woman with platinum blond hair and cuts all over her face.
“It’s okay,” Lexi told the woman through the open window on the driver’s side. “My name is Lexi and I’m a paramedic. My partner and I are going to get you out of here. Don’t move, okay?”
The woman turned tearful, terrified eyes on her. She nodded. “Hurry, please. I’m scared.”
“We will,” Lexi promised.
