Page 145 of Bang

"Don't blameme!" she yelled. "It wasyouridea!"

The guy made a sound of disgust. "Since when do you listen to me?"

As they bickered back and forth, I whirled in my seat to study the road behind us. Snow was falling so hard, I could hardly see anything. Even Mason's black sedan – it was a gray, hazy blur amidst the swirling snow.

As far as the road itself, we were now on a long country stretch, with very few houses and no other vehicles in sight.

Through the rear window, I was still eyeing the fuzzy outline of Mason's car. The way it looked, he was having a heck of a time keeping it on the road. And was it any wonder, given the conditions?

But he wouldn't give up.I knew this, just as sure as I knew my own name.

One thing about Mason, he always got what he wanted.Including me.

God, I'd been such an idiot.

And I wasn't getting any smarter, considering that I was more concerned forhissafety than for my own. And now, I could only imagine his disbelief when he caught up with us and learned that his chase had been all for nothing.

Willow wasn't here.

And me?I wasn't family.

I was "The Help."

The driver said, "Fuck! He's not giving up!"

I couldn’t resist. "Told ya."

As I watched through the rear-view mirror, the sedan lurched forward, as if Mason had abandoned all reason. My stomach clenched.Oh, God.

I whirled forward and yelled to the driver, "Seriously, just stop, alright?"

"No way," he said. "I told you, that guy's fucking nuts."

I whirled again to look behind us.Oh, yeah.Mason had definitely lost his mind. Already, the sedan was closing in on us fast, like he was putting the pedal to the metal in spite of a million fluffy reasons to do just the opposite.

Suddenly, his sedan shifted lanes and roared forward. Within mere moments, it passed us in a blur of speed and disrupted snow.

The guy in the driver's seat said, "What the fuck?"

But then, a split-second later, Mason's car swerved directly in front of us. The female screamed, and I might've too.

It was like Masonwantedus to hit him.

The thought had barely crossed my mind when that's exactly what happened. With a sickening crash, our SUV slammed into the back of Mason's sedan and sent both of our vehicles spinning.

I heard a series of bangs as airbags deployed all around us – in the front and even on the sides. The guy in the driver's seat gave a girlish scream as we spun like five times before coming to a slow stop in the shallow ditch.

Frantically, I glanced around.I was okay.And so, apparently, were the two idiots in front, because already, they were arguing about whose fault it was.

The female yelled, "You should've swerved!"

He yelled back, "Ididswerve!"

"Yeah, but you swerved too much!"

"What? You wanna drive?"

"I can't now," she said. "The car's toast."