“Does Jackson know?”
“Of course not. Although he’s my brother, you’re my client, Alyssa. I certainly wouldn’t speak to him about your business,” he replied, sounding offended that she even needed to ask.
“I wasn’t implying that,” she said. But what else could she have been saying?
“Sorry. I know that. It was just one of those questions,” Cam said, and patted her on the shoulder.
Just that little bit of movement nearly undid her. She had to get away.
“Thanks again for not making me wait to find out. I really should get back to Jackson’s house now, though,” she said, trying to act nonchalant. She hoped she was pulling it off.
“I almost forgot to tell you—Jackson asked me to stop by. He got called away to an emergency business meeting in Alaska. He may be gone for a few days,” Cam told her as he walked her to her car. “That’s why I came here in the first place.”
“Oh, thanks,” she said as she opened her car door. What else was there to say? She’d just received devastating news, and now she was heading back to Jackson’s house, where she’d be all alone.
“I’ll follow you home,” Camden told her, and the way he said it let her know it wasn’t an offer. She could refuse him, but he was going to do it no matter what.
“Thanks. You know I’ve been there a few times already, right?” she tried to joke, but her tone made it fall flat.
“Yeah. Still, I’ll feel better if I follow you.”
“If you want to waste your time . . .” She let her words fall away as she pulled her car door shut, then started the engine.
The car took several minutes to warm up, and it took every encouraging thing she could think of not to break into tears. This wasn’t the end of the world. It was just one more minor setback in a long list of setbacks. She’d get through it, and one day she’d look back and wonder why she’d let it affect her so much.
As she put her car into drive and began the journey down the long, winding road to Jackson’s house, the first tear blurred her vision. She never saw the deer leap out in front of her small car.
“Alyssa!” Cam jumped out of his truck and slid down the steep embankment into the ditch, screaming Alyssa’s name while rushing to her car. It was resting upside down, one wheel spinning eerily and making a screeching sound.
When she didn’t answer, he pulled out his phone in a panic, kicking himself for waiting even thirty seconds before calling the ambulance. The call made, he wrenched open her door. “Alyssa! Are you okay?”
Still no answer. His car lights were beaming down into the ditch, shining in through her broken back window, and they gave him a clear view of her hanging upside down in her seat. Reaching inside the car, he touched her shoulder, trying to be careful not to shift her in case there was any injury to her neck.
“Alyssa, I need you to wake up!” He spoke loudly, willing her to open her eyes.
If she was lost . . . Oh, hell, his brother. Camden feared Jackson would never heal. The poor guy was finally allowing himself to live again, to care for another person. He couldn’t lose Alyssa like this. Camden wouldn’t allow it.
“Alyssa, please wake up!”
Camden nearly cried in relief when he heard a moan and saw her body twitch. He continued calling her name as he listened for sirens. He wanted to get her out of the car, but he knew better than to move her without first checking for back and neck injuries.
“Jackson?” Alyssa’s voice, sounding weak and pained, finally drifted to Cam’s ears.
“No, Alyssa, it’s me, Camden,” he replied, touching her arm gently, trying to reassure her.
“What happened?” she asked hoarsely as she began to stir.
“Try to stay still, Alyssa. You’ve been in a car accident, and I don’t want you to move.”
The blessed sound of sirens wailed in the distance.
“Oh, Cam!” she cried as full consciousness returned. “It hurts!”
“I know, Alyssa. I know. They’re almost here. Please just hold on. They will be here any second. They’ll get your neck secured and then move you,” he promised her as the sirens grew louder.
Cam didn’t dare turn toward the sound of the approaching ambulance and fire engine, but instead kept his hand placed reassuringly against her arm and continued speaking so she wouldn’t succumb to the panic he was sure she was battling.
“My head feels like it’s going to explode,” she cried, and then her body was racked with sobs.
“I know, Alyssa, but they’re here now. They’re coming,” he promised.
And sure enough, the passenger door of her car was wrenched open and a paramedic climbed in. The man asked a few questions and then quickly secured her neck against a backboard. Another paramedic joined him, and Cam moved out of their way as they pulled her carefully and efficiently from the car.
When he saw blood staining her slacks, Cam felt his gut stir again, and as they loaded her into the back of the ambulance, he couldn’t help but let go of the contents of his stomach on the side of the road. If she was losing the baby . . . No! He couldn’t think that way.
“You can follow,” the first paramedic called out to Cam before jumping into the ambulance and turning on the siren as they sped away.
Cam’s stomach heaved again. That they were traveling as fast as they were with siren and lights meant her condition couldn’t be good. How was he going to tell his brother? Before he could get into his car, Hawk Winchester and the sheriff stopped him to ask questions for their reports.
“What happened?”
“A deer jumped out. There was no way for her to avoid it, but she must have jerked her wheel at the last minute. She lost control . . .” He had to stop. He knew this was his fault. Why in the world had he told her about the case before she had to drive?
Cam felt lower than low. Alyssa had tried desperately to hide her devastation over his news, but she hadn’t fooled him for even a minute, which is why he’d followed her. The poor woman had been barely holding it together. What should he have done, though? Lie?
No. Professional ethics and the law had tied his hands. He wished he could have just reached into his pockets and given her the money that she’d lost, but he knew better than to offer it to her. Not only would she most likely have slugged him for insulting her that way, but she’d have probably refused to speak to him ever again.
Cases like hers really upset him. She was clearly a victim, and there was nothing the law could do about it. Like so many others, she’d just been unlucky in the person she’d chosen to trust. Hell, unlucky didn’t cover it.