“So how, again, did you get an ax in your back?” Bradley asked. He was on the ground, squatting, wrapping the gushing wound. Blood was pooling on the gauze, and the man was glassy eyed. Taz had to bite her tongue, fighting the urge to correct Bradley. It was a hatchet, not an ax. Big difference.
“I tripped. Goddamn fool woman didn’t put the thing back, and next thing I knew, I had this blade jammed in my back.”
Taz took in Wilma, the wife of the idiot on the ground, who was also standing five feet back. She wasn’t a looker and appeared to be in her fifties, with salt and pepper hair that seemed to give her a bad hair day every day. She was wearing a faded house dress with an apron overtop, her face overly wrinkled, her eyes tired. She crossed her bony arms across her skinny chest. Her lips were thin, and she was shaking her head.
“Hap, you were weaving out here, dragging that thing and throwing it around, drunker than a skunk—”
“Oh, you hush up there, woman,” Hap snapped.
Taz couldn’t figure out why Wilma had stuck around, not that she knew these folks well. They had four grown boys, one doing a nickel of hard time for holding up a liquor store, another having enlisted in the army and been shipped off to some godforsaken country overseas, and the other two having fucked off somewhere. They had obviously been smart enough to realize that sticking around here with parents who took dysfunctional to a whole new level would get them a life in prison, living hand to mouth, or, if they were really lucky, following in their parents’ footsteps.
Taz hoped they’d found a better life as she watched Wilma pull a cigarette and lighter with a shaky hand from a torn pocket of her apron. She slipped it into her mouth, lit it, and took a heavy drag. Taz could hear her lungs scraping, and then she coughed deep and long, waving her hand at Taz when she started toward her. It was always the same with Wilma: the cigarettes, the coughing, the wheezing—and then there was the booze. Wilma just hid it better, but Taz could smell the cheap gin from fifteen feet away.
“Bradley…” Taz said and gestured with her chin to the spilled beer off to one side and what looked like dozens of empties tossed everywhere. “How much you had to drink there, Hap?” she added, wondering how people could live the way they lived.
“I ain’t going to tell you again there, missy. You let this young feller handle things and learn your place. Ouch, be careful!” the man shouted when Bradley bumped the head of the blade. Served him right, she wanted to say, and she was about to say something to Bradley when he stood up, gloves covered in blood, and stepped over to her.
“You think you could give me a hand securing that ax and then loading this guy up?” he snapped, always an asshole, acting as if he were the one who had been wronged.
“Why? What was it Hap said? I’m just a girl. You’re the expert. Pretty sure by your laugh that you agreed with him,” Taz said. She could hear the feline growl in her head. It wasn’t often she stooped to this bitchy level. She ground her teeth, feeling the pinch in her jaw. “You seen the beer cans, the mess. Guarantee by that glassy-eyed look he’s at least three times over the legal limit.”
Bradley said nothing as he stared at her. It was two, three seconds before he turned his head and took in the scene, the one he was supposed to have assessed before stepping from the rig. She knew he’d missed it, considering taking direction from her didn’t sit that well with him. He was young and thought he knew everything, just another asshole who fit in with what seemed to be a way of life out here.
He said nothing as he looked back to her, taking on the pissed-off expression that shouldn’t have bothered her as much as it did. Heavy clouds had started drifting in shortly after they’d pulled in, and the wind was whipping up. The temperature was dropping, too, and she expected rain to spit from the sky any second.
“Hmm,” Bradley said and then gave her his back, walking over to Hap just as the first drop of rain hit the ground. “Grab the stretcher, bring it on out here, and let’s load him up,” he ordered, obviously accepting the promotion Hap had bestowed. In Taz’s mind, this put Bradley somewhere between a shithead and a dung beetle.
Wilma gave her a pathetic look that seemed to say, “Come on, girl. Hurry the fuck up.” Then she lifted her hand to keep the gathering rain from soaking the cigarette still dangling from her lips, an inch of ash ready to fall.
With Hap now loaded in the back, Taz was behind the wheel, leaving Bradley with his newfound friend for the trek to Buffalo, where they would dump this idiot in the ER and get him off their—correction, her hands. She’d done the drive in thirty minutes before, but with the rain now pelting down in buckets, dropping visibility to piss poor, she’d have to tack on at least another ten as she kept the speed to something manageable. Even though the highway was flat and the traffic light, with the sun gone and the heavy clouds, the visibility was about as bad as it could be.
Then she saw something just ahead as she approached a sharp hairpin turn. There in the blind spot in a thick of trees was a car, hazards flashing. Someone was on the side of the road, waving. She gripped the wheel as she pressed the brakes, feeling the water under the wheels just as she rounded the bend. She thought it was a man waving his arms. One car was silver, small, and another was upside down in the ditch, smoke rising. The man waving his arms ran toward the rig. She pressed the brakes harder, slowing to a stop.
“Why are you stopping?” Bradley poked his head into the front.
“Looks like an accident,” she said as she pulled in behind the car, turning her flashing lights on.
“Just radio it in,” he said. “We’re already full up, and Hap needs to get to the ER now.”
“I will call it in, and Hap will see a doctor, but I’m stopping,” she said as she put the rig in park. Then she stepped out, looking up to see that the man was tall, gorgeous, and dripping wet. He ran his hands over his head, sweeping back his dark hair, water running down his face. Taz was already soaked from the two steps it had taken to reach him.
“What happened here?” she asked.
The man was nicely dressed, his shirt soaked through and sticking to his impressive chest, and his tailored pants appeared expensive, designer, name brand. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, with blood on his cuffs.
“Drove up on an accident,” he said. “One guy’s stuck, one pinned underneath—dead, I think. I just called it in.”
“Taz, leave it. Let’s go,” Bradley called out and actually honked the horn, sounding much like a two-year-old instead of a guy who was supposed to help others. He hadn’t even bothered to step out.
She had no patience to deal with idiots any more today, so she ignored him as she took a second to assess the overturned car. The man looked back to the rig, most likely looking for the idiot who wouldn’t get out and help. There was water on the road, still poor visibility, and she saw what she thought was smoke or maybe steam rising from the crash site.
Then the guy touched her arm and said, “Come on. I need some help.” As she started behind the guy, sliding into the ditch, he grabbed her arm. “Watch your footing,” he said. “It’s slippery.”
She heard tires squeal as her ambulance, the one she was responsible for, pulled away.
“Bradley, you fucking idiot!” she yelled out. Then, when she hit a patch of mud, she lost her footing and tumbled down, hitting the good Samaritan and knocking his feet from under him. They both tumbled down the embankment, and he landed right on top of her.
CLICK HERE to order your copy of THRILL OF THE CHASE and keep reading. Available from all retailers.
About the Author
With flawed strong characters, characters you can relate to, New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Lorhainne Eckhart writes the kind of books she wants to read. She is frequently a Top 100 bestselling author in multiple genres, and her second book ever published, The Forgotten Child, is no exception. With close to 900 reviews on Amazon, translated into German and French, this book was such a hit that the long running Friessen Family series was
born. Now with over sixty titles and multiple series under her belt her big family romance series are loved by fans worldwide. A recipient of the 2013, 2015 and 2016 Readers’ Favorite Award for Suspense and Romance, Lorhainne lives on the sunny west-coast Gulf Island of Salt Spring Island, is the mother of three, her oldest has autism and she is an advocate for never giving up on your dreams.
* * *
Lorhainne loves to hear from her readers! You can connect with me at:
www.LorhainneEckhart.com
[email protected]
Links to Lorhainne Eckhart’s Booklist
The following Lorhainne Eckhart titles are available in ebook, audiobook and paperback. Please scroll down for the links or visit her website at www.LorhainneEckhart.com for available retailers.
The Outsider Series
The Forgotten Child (Brad and Emily)
A Baby and a Wedding (An Outsider Series Short)
Fallen Hero (Andy, Jed, and Diana)
The Search (An Outsider Series Short)
The Awakening (Andy and Laura)
Secrets (Jed and Diana)
Runaway (Andy and Laura)
Overdue (An Outsider Series Short)
The Unexpected Storm (Neil and Candy)
The Wedding (Neil and Candy)
Or click here to grab all the books in this sizzling romance series in one boxed set collection, The Outsider Series: The Complete Omnibus Collection.
The Friessens: A New Beginning
The Deadline (Andy and Laura)
The Price to Love (Neil and Candy)
A Different Kind of Love (Brad and Emily)
A Vow of Love, A Friessen Family Christmas
Or click here to grab all the books in this romantic family saga in one boxed set collection, The Friessens A New Beginning: The Collection
The Friessens
The Reunion
The Bloodline (Andy & Laura)
The Promise (Diana & Jed)
The Business Plan (Neil & Candy)
The Decision (Brad & Emily)
Now available, The Friessens: (Books 1 – 5, Box Set). Click here to download your copy.
First Love (Katy)
Family First
Leave the Light On
In the Moment
In the Family: A Friessen Family Christmas
In the Silence
In the Stars
In the Charm
Unexpected Consequences
It Was Always You
The First Time I Saw You
Welcome to My Arms
Welcome to Boston
I’ll Always Love You
Ground Rules
A Reason to Breathe
You Are My Everything
The McCabe Brothers
Don’t Stop Me (Vic)
Don’t Catch Me (Chase)
Don’t Run From Me (Aaron)
Don’t Hide From Me (Luc)
Don’t Leave Me - Claudia
The Wilde Brothers
The One (Joe and Margaret)
The Honeymoon, A Wilde Brothers Short
Friendly Fire (Logan and Julia)
Not Quite Married, A Wilde Brothers Short
A Matter of Trust (Ben and Carrie)
The Reckoning, A Wilde Brothers Christmas
Traded (Jake)
Unforgiven (Samuel)
Now Available! Click here to grab all the books in this big family romance series in one collection. The Wilde Brothers The Complete Collection
Married in Montana
His Promise
Love’s Promise
A Promise of Forever
The Parker Sisters
Thrill of the Chase
The Dating Game
Play Hard to Get
What We Can’t Have
Go Your Own Way
A June Wedding
Kate and Walker: Deadly, Dangerous and Desired Series
One Night
Edge of Night
Last Night
Walk the Right Road Series
The Choice
Lost and Found
Merkaba
Bounty
Blown Away: The Final Chapter
Or click here to grab all the books in the Walk the Right Road series in one boxed set collection, Walk the Right Road: The Complete Collection.
The Saved Series
Saved
Vanished
Captured
Or click here to grab The Saved Series: The Complete Collection, with all the books in this military thriller.
Single Titles
He Came Back
Loving Christine
Boxed Sets & Collections
Danger Deception Devotion, The Firsts: A collection of eight novels all first in series. A great collection if unsure of which series to begin with.
The Wilde Brothers The Complete Collection
The Outsider Series: The Complete Omnibus Collection
The Friessens A New Beginning: The Collection
The Friessens Books 1 - 5 Box Set
The Friessens Books 6 -8
The Parker Sisters: The Complete Collection
Walk the Right Road: The Complete Collection
The Saved Series: The Complete Collection
Married in Montana
Kate and Walker: Deadly, Dangerous & Desired
For my German Readers
Die Außenseiter-Reihe
Der Vergessene Junge
Der Gefallene Held
For my French Readers
L’ENFANT OUBLIÉ
A Reason to Breathe Page 11