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And my world would have never been the same.
NINETEEN
LISA
I froze, still not knowing how to react, as his hands dragged me tight against his body. The last few seconds were a whiplash of events that I was still trying to wrap my head around.
Because what the actual the fuck just happened?
I didn’t even see the car coming. It whipped out of nowhere, and before I knew it, I was standing in its path, the headlights on my face, and I was frozen in fear as they got brighter and brighter. I supposed I was confronting my own mortality during that time, making peace with my death. If not for Nick yanking me out of the way, I would have gotten crushed.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he muttered again into my hair. Every single one of his muscles was tight, and I suddenly remembered the enraged look on his face after he saved me. When he yelled, I sensed the desperation and panic in his voice. I never thought I would see Nick Walker be anything but cool and collected, but he certainly looked destabilized now. And it was all my fault.
I brought my hands up to his shoulders, feeling the way his muscles were drawn underneath his shirt.
“It’s okay,” I murmured, rubbing circles on his back. I didn’t know what else to say to comfort him, so I kept saying it again and again. “It’s okay. I’m okay. We’ll all be okay.”
I felt him shaking his head. “Tell me you’re not trying to comfort me right now.” His voice was hoarse and full of disbelief.
“Would it be so bad if I was?”
He pulled back, giving me an incredulous look. “If you haven’t noticed already, you nearly died.”
“I know. And you saved my life. Thank you.”
He shook his head again and immediately let out a string of expletives, his eyes blazing in anger. “I don’t want your fucking gratitude, Lisa. I want you to never ever do that again. Never put yourself in danger like that again.”
“Hey, it’s not like I did in on purpose.” I wasn’t suicidal. “I didn’t even see the car coming. And why was it going so fast in the parking lot anyway?” And the asshole didn’t even stop to see if I was okay after nearly running me over. Rude.
“I don’t give a fuck what he was doing or why he was doing it,” he grouched. “There are crazy people driving all the fucking time. That’s why you have to be extra careful not to end up in danger.”
“I feel like you’re victim-blaming a little bit here.”
“Lisa…” He shut his eyes like he couldn’t take it anymore. “Just…get in the car.”
“But we haven’t even gotten what we came here to get,” I protested, and he shook his head in response.
“You stay in the car. I’ll go get it.” I opened my mouth to argue, then thought better of it when I saw the look on his face. Now wasn’t the time to go toe to toe with him, and not just because I thought he would bite my head off if I tried.
Not that I thought he would get violent or anything, but he looked…unsettled. He looked like he was about to throw up any minute now, like he was still haunted by what just happened. It might seem like an overreaction to me, but I could tell it clearly wasn’t for him.
It was like I triggered a horrible memory.
So I simply nodded and got in the car quietly. I saw him head into the store, and not even five minutes later, he was out again with a bag in his hand. He walked determinedly to the car and pulled open the door, getting into the driver’s seat without another word. The entire car ride home, he was quiet.
I could tell there were troubled thoughts running through his head. His jaw was tight, and his hand clenched around the steering wheel from time to time. He looked mad and upset, so I let him have his silence.
At the same time, I was reflecting on the near incident. I still wasn’t as freaked out about it as I should have been. Perhaps it was the shock, like maybe the magnitude of it hadn’t sunk in yet. But I could still see the lights getting closer, and the screech of tires against the ground as the car sped toward me.
Did it speed up as it got closer? I could have sworn it did, but I wasn’t sure. It was probably just me being paranoid because why would a car want to hit me on purpose? Then again, why didn’t the car stop after it almost hit me? Most people would be freaked out if they nearly accidentally killed someone, but then the driver just kept going.
I sighed, clearing my thoughts. The person driving was probably just avoiding the eventual confrontation from their mistake. Or maybe they might not have even seen me. Either way, it was time to move on. Yes, it almost turned into a tragedy, but the important thing was that it didn’t. Big deal. Time to get over it. Because I especially didn’t want us to maintain our current mood around Violet.
When Nick pulled the car to a stop in front of Ingrid’s house, I asked, “Are you okay?”
He nodded tersely.
“Then can you maybe tell your face that? Because you look like you’re about to murder somebody.”
