No one answered, and I realized Kieran hadn’t said a word. Drawing back from the back seat, I looked around, seeing him standing off to the side at the back of the car, glowering.
“This is your car?” he asked. His voice was weird.
“It looks worse than it is,” I said, adding a silent,I hope.“Once I get it dried out, the window replaced, and…” I looked toward the front end, which was looking less fixable by the second. I gulped. “Do some other minor repairs?—”
“Are you out of your mind?” Kieran burst out, his voice strangled. The coloring of his cheeks was a bit mottled too, and his eyes… they sort of looked like a chihuahuas. You know, a little bulged. “This thing isn’t even worth the two fifty I paid to get it out of here.”
“Hey! That’s my car.”
He snorted and jabbed a finger at it. “That isnota car. It’s an excuse for a tetanus shot!”
“It’s a little rusty,” I defended.
“A little rusty?” He scoffed. “You could sand it down and sell it as paprika,” he deadpanned.
My mouth dropped open.
“And the tires are so bald they need AARP!”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “It’s not that old.”
“A shopping cart would be more reliable,” he mocked. Then, “Does it even have seatbelts?”
I threw my arms up. “Of course it does.”But only two of them work.
“There are weeds growing out of the trunk.”
“There are not,” I argued, storming around to the back end.
My face fell. There were weeds sticking out from beneath the trunk. Confused, I grabbed the keys to open it up and see how that was even possible. They clinked together as I raised them, and it took me three tries to get the lock to work. When it finallypopped open, I pushed the trunk up, the hinges making a loud squealing sound.
“It’s a fucking deathtrap,” he muttered behind me.
“How is that even possible?” I pointed at the weed definitely growing out of the back. Leaning in, I noted it was coming from beneath the loose carpet liner along the side.
Kieran’s arm wound around my waist and pulled me back. “Get out of there before you get some incurable disease.”
I started to tell him what I thought about his opinions of my car, but before I could, something else caught my eye. “What the hell is that?” I burst out, yanking away from Kieran and stumbling forward.
I dropped on my uninjured knee to look closer at the large dent in the back fender. There was a crack running through the center. I ran my hand over it, my fingers following the concave shape.
“Just how many wrecks have you been in?” Kieran wanted to know.
“None!” I defended myself. Then, “Well, one. The one from the other night in the rain. This wasn’t there.”
I gasped. Hazy memories of the storm, the loud bang, and the way my car fishtailed off the road replayed like an old movie in the back of my mind.
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed, bursting up, my sore body protesting in some places while the stitches in my knee tugged. “Someone ran me off the road!”
“What?” Kieran’s voice was like a whip cutting through the memories. His hands grasped my shoulders, giving my body a shake. “What do you mean?”
I wet my lips and shook my head. “I thought I’d hydroplaned because of the storm. I’d been driving cautiously and trying to stay alert, but then, all of a sudden, there was a bang and ajolt. My car was spinning out of control and slamming into the guardrail.”
“What are you saying, Hazard?” Kieran pressed.
I met his eyes. “Someone hit me. They ran me off the road.”
He cursed.
