I trailed off as the man I’d just run into rolled onto his back, squinting up at me as he clutched his wrist.
A small brown puppy bounded up to him, nuzzling and licking at his ear, tiny tail wagging so hard it was a blur.
“Jesus Harv,” the man said, familiar dark blue eyes peering up at me. “I know we fought last time you were here, but you didn’t have to run me over.”
Holy shit.
Holyshit.
“Iggy?”
2
Iggy
I groanedas I picked myself up off the road, wincing as I tried to use my clearly-injured hand to haul myself up by the front of Harvey’s car.
He stared in shock for another few seconds before rushing to help me to my feet, blinking at me with his mouth hanging open.
I almost didn’t recognize him.
The gangly, awkward, acne-scarred, braces-wearing teenager I remembered was gone, and in his place stood a fully-grown man a couple of inches taller than me—he’d always been taller than me—filling out his soft-looking sweater like it’d been made for him.
His warm hazel eyes were worried, but the neat stubble and perfect bow-shaped lips begged for my attention.
Harvey washot.
At my feet, Theo whined.
I reached down to scoop him up with my good arm, cuddling him close to my chest.
“Long time no see,” I said eventually, reaching up to touch my forehead and hissing as it made my wristandmy head sting, wrinkling my nose when my fingers came away bloody.
“Holy shit, Iggy,” Harvey said, sweeping into action and pushing me toward the car. “We need to get you to the clinic. Or, like, the hospital? Do you need a hospital?”
“I’m fine,” I said. Head wounds always looked worse than they were. This was just a scrape, I was sure of it.
“You’re not fine, you just got hit by a car,” Harvey said. “I’d know, I was driving.”
I squinted to focus on him again and realized how pale he’d gone.
Harvey Kowalski.
MyHarvey.
I hadn’t seen him in over a decade.
A laugh escaped me, but the sound felt like being stabbed in the head with an old screwdriver.
“Can you hold Theo?” I asked, nausea welling up as I shoved him into Harvey’s arms.
The last thing I needed was to throw up on him. Theo was already scared enough.
Another spike of pain hit me as I used my bad hand to lean against Harvey’s car while my stomach turned itself inside out.
“Clinic,” Harvey barked behind me, another bright shard of pain hitting me behind the eyes. “Now.”
* * *
