Page 18 of One Good Crash
I gave him a dubious look. "Oh, really? Then what is it?"
He gave it some thought. "Protection."
I felt my eyebrows furrow. He was tall and muscular. And, as I'd seen firsthand, he could handle himself just fine. I asked, "Protection from what?"
"Say yes, and you'll see."
Now,thatmade me curious. But it wouldn’t change my decision. Even if I believed what he was saying – and I still wasn't sure that I did – I wasn't going to be anyone's date for money.
No.That was the kind of thing my mom did. And, as I constantly reminded myself, I wasn't my mom.
I said, "I can't take your money."
"Why not?" he asked.
How to explain?"Well," I began, "it sounds like you need a favor more than anything."
"And what if I do?"
"Then I can't charge you for it." I tried to smile. "I mean, you've already done me a ton of favors tonight, so I'm sure I oweyou, not the other way around."
"No," he said. "You don't owe me anything."
I didn't bother hiding my disbelief. Thanks to me, he'd crashed a car, gotten into a fight,andhad been nearly molested by my mom.
Of all these things, it was the crash that worried me the most. I was no car expert, but I did know that the damage would cost a lot more than a thousand dollars.
As if reading something in my expression, he said, "Stop thinking about it."
"About what?"
"Everything." His voice became deadly serious. "You don't owe me."
I sighed. "How can you say that?"
The car ahead of us started moving again, and he turned his attention back to the road.
As we inched forward, I gave our surroundings a worried glance. "What do you think the holdup is? I hope it's not an accident."
"Trust me, it's no accident."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I know what's ahead."
"What?" I asked.
"You'll see." He gave me a sideways glance. "Assuming you say yes."
"To what? Pretending to be your girlfriend?"
He gave a half-shrug. "Psycho-jealous girlfriend would be better."
In spite of everything, I had to laugh. "Okay, now Iknowyou're joking."
"You think so, huh?"
"Honestly, I don't know what to think."
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18 (reading here)
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185