Page 29 of High Side

Kylie bristled a little. “You don’t have to—”

“It happened on work time, so yes I do.”

“Dammit.” She hated feeling like she’d fucked up enough to involve Liz.

“Better to get it looked at.” Liz crossed her arms and stared, the expression so wickedly familiar that she had to laugh.

“Okay, I’m ready.” Brit had tossed on a sundress and put up her hair, and, God, she was the prettiest thing Kylie had ever seen, making her heart beat faster. A lot faster.

“Give me a hand, you two,” she asked, holding up her arms.

They heaved her to her feet, well, foot, and she limped out to the truck with Brittany.

“Check in and let me know how it goes,” Liz said, then patted the hood of her truck.

She nodded, settling in as Brittany got them rolling.

“So are you two related?”

“Huh?” She gave Brittany a sideways glance. “Why?”

“You have some very similar expressions.” Brittany shrugged. “None of my business, really. I was just making conversation.”

“Oh. Yeah. I get it. So yeah. I’m not in a place to talk about it right now, but we are.”

“Sure.” Brit looked totally unconcerned, which was nice. She didn’t want to get into how she was actually going to inherit the damn business someday. Or get it when her mom retired.

Her birth mom. Wow. It still felt so weird to say that.

“Thanks. Most folks would dig.”

“You’ve been straight with me. If you wanted me to know about it, you’d tell me.”

“Thanks,” Kylie said again. In fact, Brittany’s lack of curiosity made her want to tell her the whole tale.

But that was for another time.

“So, where am I going?”

“Oh! Sorry. Turn right.”

Brittany turned up the highway toward the urgent care. “No problem. Hurt a lot?”

“Yeah. As much as I hate to admit it. I slipped right off that damn rock, and something twisted. I don’t think anything popped, but I bet there’s an X-ray in my future.”

“I bet there is.” Brittany grinned over at her. “That’s what happens when you get old.”

“Brat.” She pinched Brit’s arm gently. “You didn’t think I was old last night.”

“Nope. I didn’t think you were old today on that last run, either.”

That was why she’d slipped. The adrenaline had been running high after a near flip, which she’d saved pretty much without any help from her clients, who’d been frozen in place.

It could have been a lot worse, she guessed. One of them could have been injured.

“You did amazing. You’re a stud.”

“Thanks. This is it up here on the left.”