Say You Want Me(63)

Wyatt tries to correct the wheel, but we skid over the wet ground. There’s no way to stop this.

The deer slams into my door, and the sound of metal and glass breaking fills the air.

Pain shoots through my arm as we continue to spin.

Another loud bang cuts through the chaos, but I can’t focus on anything but the pain that’s blooming in every part of me.

“Angie!” I hear his voice, but agony erupts from every inch of my right side as I’m slammed against the door, wrenched left, and then thrown forward against the dash in some twisted dance where someone else is pulling my strings.

My body violently shifts to the left before being thrust forward and against the dash.

My mouth fills with the metallic taste of blood and warmth trickles down my face.

The airbag deploys, and it hits me so hard that whatever air is left in my lungs is pushed out.

I can’t breathe.

It hurts so much.

Then everything is still and dark.

I try to move my body, but it doesn’t cooperate. I feel the blood sliding down my head and the way my lungs struggle to work.

I hear my name over and over, but I can’t open my eyes. I’m going to die here.

I know it.





Wyatt

“NO!” I SCREAM AS I watch her eyes shut. “Angie! Stay awake!” I scream, trying to get to her. She doesn’t move or acknowledge me at all.

I push my airbag out of my face and do the same to hers. I reach behind my back, grab my knife, cut my seat belt, and try to get the door open.

It’s completely mangled shut.

“Angie!” I push her head up. “Angie, baby, wake up.” She doesn’t move. I check for a pulse, it’s there, but it’s weak. I shift a little, and the car jolts.

We’re face down in a ditch.

Fuck!

My hands shift around her body, trying to see if I feel anything. When I pull them back, my fingers are covered in blood. “I have to get us out,” I say to her, but she’s unconscious, and I’m panicking. “I’ll fix this. Just hang on, Angie. Hang on. Please don’t leave me,” I beg her.

I hold pressure to her head as I try to figure out what to do. Using my other hand, I try to open her door, but it’s worse than mine. The deer slammed into her side, and the impact must have buckled the metal.

The phone sits on the top of the dash. How it got there, I have no idea, but I grab it and hold the speed dial button. My fingers shake, but I need to get someone here.

“Someone better be dead or dying,” Trent’s voice croaks.

“I need help!” I yell into the receiver. “I’m in a ditch on the road between our house and the Townsend ranch. Angie’s unconscious, and you need to fucking get here now! Get help! The car is fucking mangled, Trent!” My voice cracks as the panic rises. I have to get her out of this.

“I’m on my way!” Trent yells back. “We’ll be there in a minute, Wyatt. Just stay calm.”

My brother slips into Sheriff mode. I know he will get help, but there’s no calm here. The woman I love and my child are slipping away. I need to get her out of this car and to a doctor. I rip my shirt off, no longer feeling any cold, and tie it around her head, trying to keep pressure on the cuts hiding under her hair.

“God, I’m so sorry, baby.” I want to pull her into my arms, but I don’t. Even through my panic I know that the best thing I can do is keep her still. I count the seconds as I keep moving my hands around. “I’m so sorry I’ve been a dick. Just hang on. Please hang on, Angie!”

I’m such an asshole. I should’ve told her how I feel. Now, she might never know.

No. I can’t let myself go down that road. She’ll be okay, and I can fix this.

I’ll tell her. I’ll tie her to the bed and make her stay. I won’t let her leave me.

I love her.

Headlights and the rotating red and blues of Trent’s cruiser cut through the darkness, tires screech against the ground, and then doors are being slammed shut.

“Wyatt!”

“Down here!” I holler back.

“Shit!” I hear Trent yell. “We’re coming! Dad, go on that side,” he instructs.

“Oh my God!” Mama’s voice yells.

There’s a lot of movement as my brother comes to my side. “How is she?”

I relay everything I know, and he nods. “We need to move her, Wyatt. There’s gas leaking, and we can’t wait. I have a brace in my car. Hang tight.”

He rushes to his car and then returns. It feels like hours are passing. Her blonde hair is now matted with blood, and she still won’t open her eyes.

“Get her. Get her now!”

“We can hurt her more if we’re not careful, brother.”