Page 83 of When You Became Mine

He was talking to himself, so I turned back to where Pieters was standing, phone to his ear.

“Hey, man. You on the phone with the office?”

His nod coincided with the police arriving and for the next twenty minutes, I was wrapped up talking to the officers and the driver of the car in front of mine that I’d rolled into.

We were wrapping up paperwork when a familiar car came sailing in, the driver barely tapping the brakes before coming to a stop behind the officers’ cruiser. The door flew open and a blonde leaped out.

“Lawson?” Piper shouted, her face wild as her eyes scanned the faces of everyone around me. When her gaze finally met mine, she let out a yelp and then barreled across the road and straight into my chest. “Oh, thank God,” she breathed, her face buried in my chest. Her arms squeezed my waist almost painfully tight and then she pulled away and began to search my face for any signs of injury.

“What’s going on?”

Her voice was shaky as she looked me over one last time, seemingly satisfied that I was in fact okay. “Your friend texted that you were in an accident.”

I turned to Pieters and glowered at him. In response the corner of his mouth tipped up and he winked.

Asshole.

“I’m fine. It was just a fender bender.”

She shook her head. “His text was vague and he didn’t answer any of my questions. The whole way here I just kept imagining that you were dead.” A fat teardrop rolled down her cheek, but she wiped it away.

Thoughts of all the ways I could kill Pieters ran through my head as I told her, “I barely even felt it.”

Piper untangled herself from my arms and glanced at the kid’s car that was being loaded onto the tow truck. She looked back at me skeptically. “That car’s toast and you didn’t really feel anything?”

“It wasn’t anything more than a quick game of bumper cars.”

Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t argue. A moment later, Pieters sauntered over. “My ride’s here. I’ll see ya tomorrow, Reed.”

I pulled away from Piper, but made sure not to let her get more than an arm’s length away. “What kind of shit are you pulling?” I hissed through clenched teeth. “We’ve got to get to the office.”

“My back’s hurting. I’m taking the rest of the day.” He was full of shit and we both knew it. But that didn’t stop him from clutching his back dramatically as he walked away.

The stuff I needed to get sorted would have to wait. “Give me a ride home?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but can you drive?”

I held my hand out to take her keys and noticed the tremor of her hand as she passed them to me.

I tucked her into my side and together we crossed the street to where her car was haphazardly parked.

“Listen, Pippie, about earlier…” I started, not exactly sure how to apologize for being an ass. But she turned and placed a hand on my chest.

“Thank you for getting rid of Hampton for me. You’re right, I do let him steamroll over me.”

I cupped a hand around where hers still rested over my heart and said, “I still shouldn’t tell you what to do. You’re more than capable of standing up for yourself.”

She pressed her lips together and then gave me a weak smile. “Let’s just call it a truce and go home.”

“Deal.” I leaned forward to kiss her, but at the last second, she turned her head and my lips landed on her cheek. I made a mental note to ask her about that, but later, after I got her home.

The drive home had been a quiet one and it had only been when we pulled into my driveway that she had stopped shaking.

Piper slipped into the house and disappeared into her room before I’d had a chance to ask her what the deal was with her major overreaction to my very minor car accident. It was nearly midnight and I’d finally decided to call it a night and go to bed, still not seeing a trace of Piper.

Settling beneath the covers, I’d just put my phone on the nightstand when my door creaked open and Piper tiptoed into my room, silently sliding in between the sheets and curling up behind me.

She slipped an arm around my waist and her soft hand slid up my bare torso until it came to rest over where my heart was beating. Her fingers flexed, nails digging into my skin slightly.

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