Page 43 of Loving Kai

“I’ll ride over to your house.”

“Okay.”

“I can’t walk you to the door at the end of the night if you drop me off here.”

“Thank you for the ride.”

“You’re welcome.”

She drove away, and Abe stood in the driveway until he could no longer see her taillights. He looked up at the stars. “Well, I guess I’m dating Maggie. So weird.” He closed the garage door and sat on his porch. He leaned back and settled into the chair. A cloud had moved over the moon, obscuring some of the light, but without nearby artificial light, he could still see across his unkempt front yard. I should water the grass and maybe plant some flowers.

He sat up and rested his forearms on his knees. “Wow. One day you’re a carefree single guy and the next you’re thinking about planting flowers.” He laughed. “Maggie, what are you doing to me?”

When his phone rang, he checked the number, hoping it was Maggie, even though she wouldn’t be home yet. But it wasn’t Maggie. It was Gentry, which was unusual this late. “Gentry? Is everything okay?”

“The bank deposit isn’t showing up in the account.”

“Oh, crap.” Abe felt his pocket. “That’s because it’s in my pocket.”

“What the hell? How can you forget to go to the bank?”

“Sorry. I was…” He sighed. “I'll go drop it off now.”

“Do it in the morning. Just don’t lose it between now and then.”

“I’ll put it under my pillow.”

Gentry laughed. “You don’t need to go that far.”

Abe ended the call, then looked at the house. Tomorrow was his day off. Did he really want to get up early and go to the bank? “Nope.” He opened the garage, straddled his bike, and headed for town.

Chapter ten

“Do I need to come arrest you?”

Abe dropped the deposit at the bank, then headed home, going slow and enjoying the night air, which had cooled down now that it was getting late. He was the only vehicle on the road until he spotted headlights coming toward him. As the vehicle got closer, it meandered in its lane, occasionally crossing the center line and veering into the oncoming lane.

“Stupid bastard. Stay in your lane.” Abe flashed his brights and kept a close eye on the approaching vehicle. He could now tell it was a truck. The custom brush guard, a bar of spotlights on the hood, and halogen lights told him it was Stuart Mills heading toward him too fast and probably drunk. Stuart was a frequent flyer in Justin’s jail cell.

Abe moved as far over as he could without going onto the gravel shoulder along the side of the road. When the truck was a hundred yards away, Stuart suddenly headed straight for Abe. To avoid him, Abe drove onto the shoulder, barely missing the truck's fancy grill and attached winch. Without slowing down, Stuart swerved back into his lane, laid on his horn, then sped off. Abe barely heard it as he tried to keep control of his bike, which was going too fast on the gravel shoulder. He tapped the brakes and tried to slow down.

When the rear wheel spun out and lost traction, Abe tried to keep it upright, but he lost the fight and was thrown from the bike as it fell and skidded away from him with a screech of metal and breaking glass. The bike's forward momentum kept Abe moving too. He hit the ground hard, with his left shoulder taking the brunt of the fall, followed by his head. The face shield shattered as the helmet bounced off the ground before Abe slid several feet beyond his initial impact.

For a moment, he wondered if he’d ever stop as the rough surface of the road ripped through his pants and tore into his leg, removing a few layers of skin and leaving gravel and dirt in its place. When he came to a stop, Abe lay in the dirt and gravel for a few minutes while his heart slowed. When he could regulate his breathing, he assessed whether he was hurt.

He could feel his fingers and toes, which was a good sign. No tingling. No numbness. His head was pounding, but he assumed it was a combination of his head bouncing off the asphalt and the adrenaline still surging through his body. The helmet should’ve protected him from cracking his head open. He sat up slowly, and a sharp pain shot through his left shoulder. He rolled it a couple of times. It wasn’t dislocated. Probably just bruised. His left leg felt like someone had set fire to it, and his jeans were shredded from knee to ankle. He moved the shredded denim out of the way and sucked in a breath. He had a nasty patch of road rash along the side of his calf, from his knee to the top of his boot.

“Well, that’s going to hurt for a while.” He rolled his shoulder again. “That too.” Considering he’d just skidded several feet on gravel and asphalt, he was pretty lucky. He got to his feet and tried to remain on them despite his wobbly knees and the fact that the world was spinning around him.

He limped to the bike and looked down at it. It wasn’t the biggest bike on the road, but it was heavy. He lifted it with a grunt, followed by a groan when he felt the effort in his injured shoulder. After releasing the kickstand, he gave the bike a once over. He couldn’t see it clearly in the dark, but the bike seemed to be okay. There was a broken rearview mirror and major scratches along the side that had skidded across the road, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix. He patted his pocket for his phone, then remembered he’d left it at home.

When a car approached, slowed down, then stopped next to him, Abe gave the female driver a half-hearted smile when she rolled down her window.

“Are you okay?”

He limped over to her. “Yeah, I think I’m fine.”

“Do you need me to call anyone? A tow? A friend?”