Page 47

Ever since then, his sales have been slipping. He’ll get a lead and chase it, and when he settles back to let the client think it through, they ghost him. He calls, and it’s like they’ve forgotten all about him.

Everyone’s distracted. That’s what Bryce says, always Raymond’s biggest cheerleader.

Yeah, my biggest cheerleader because he reaps the rewards.

That’s not fair, and while Raymond can be an asshole, he isn’t a big enough asshole to pull that shit. He let Bryce into his life, and he reaps plenty of rewards himself.

Also, Bryce is right. There’s so much upheaval, everyone distracted, everyone worried about money. It isn’t the time to be in this business.

Is that why Bryce had left, though? Had he listened to Raymond grumble about losing a few deals and decided it was time to go? Don’t wait until Raymond’s fortunes plummet so low that dumping him would be a shitty thing to do. Duck out like a nervous investor in a volatile market.

Well, that’s always the wrong move. Raymond just has to show Bryce that. He was supposed to stay in the city a few more days, schmoozing a couple of longtime clients, but he bowed out of those lunches, claiming an emergency at home, which is exactly what this is.

A relationship emergency. Also, let’s be honest, swooping home mid-trip is a power move in the romance department. Like running after a train when your lover is about to leave your life forever. Bryce is a sucker for shit like that. And now that Raymond’s driving along some godforsaken empty highway, at night, in a thunderstorm, his GPS signal gone? That just makes it better. Once he’s close to home, he’ll get out of the car, let the rain soak him, maybe even say he had to stop and change a flat tire.

The point—

What the fuck is that? Something on the road? That’s the last thing he needs—a deer demolishing his new car.

Oh, shit, no. That isn’t a deer. It’s a vehicle. Why the fuck is there a vehicle in the middle of the road with its lights off?

Speaking of lights, thank God for expensive new cars with expensive new headlights. His high beams picked up the sedan in plenty of time. He taps the brakes and—

Nothing happens. He presses harder, and his foot goes all the way to the floor, and nothing happens.

Holy shit, holy—

The ABS brakes finally kick on … just as his car slams into the other one.

NINETEENELLIE

At the sound of the crash, we all run from the bar. Or the four of us do—me, Henry, Caleb, and Noemi. The bartender and the woman stay where they are. I’m the last out, the door slapping shut behind me.

Outside, everything is dark and silent, the rain pouring down again.

“That was a crash, right?” Caleb says. “Or was it thunder?”

Henry’s already jogging down the steps. I lunge to grab him back, but I know it won’t help. He will always run for a crash, the danger in the forest be damned, but Noemi’s words will drive that determination higher. It doesn’t matter how certain you are that you did the right thing, if someone second-guesses your choices—and suggests that choice might have gotten someone killed—it’s going to leave a mark.

I wheel to Noemi and Caleb. “Get back inside.”

I don’t know whether or not they do. I just know they don’t follow as I race after Henry. Or I try to, until my knee gives out, reminding me that I’m still injured. I keep going, hobbling as fast as I can hobble.

Henry is about fifty feet ahead, and neither of us has a flashlight. When lightning strikes, a figure appears on the road, and I move as fast as I can to catch up and grab Henry’s sweatshirt. But by then the figure has resolved into an ordinary man.

In moments, we’ve almost caught up to each other. The guy’s older, maybe in his fifties, tall and sturdy, balding, and dressed in a suit.

“Are you okay?” Henry calls to be heard over the storm.

“No thanks to you,” the man shouts back. “I presume you idiots are the owners of those cars I just ran into.”

“Are you okay?” Henry shouts again.

“Of course I am,” the man snaps. “I don’t drive a shit-box like that one up front, crumples at a touch.”

Henry’s mouth sets, but he just waves the man toward the bar. The guy stalks in that direction without even a glance my way.

When we get inside, the first thing he says is “What the fuck were you all doing? Just leaving a pileup there? No hazard lights. Nothing.”