“Miss? Miss?”
The darkness started to recede as a noise grew stronger.
“Miss?” I heard once again as a sharp pain shot up my arm and into my shoulder. My eyes flew wide open, only to be invaded by a blinding light. My already aching head pulsed and throbbed to such an extreme, I was almost sick from the pain.
Lifting my arm to shield my eyes from the bright light, I quickly dropped it as more pain shot up from what seemed like a direct line from my elbow to my temples. My eyes squeezed shut; more pain assaulted me. Why did every movement fill me with agony? The icy roads and losing control came flooding back to me in a flash at the same time as the deepest, rumbliest, sexiest voice I had ever heard say Miss again.
Had I died and gone to heaven? No, obviously not, or I wouldn’t be in such an incredible amount of pain. Was I in hell? Possibly. It would be my luck that that sexy voice would taunt me as I laid in pain, never to reach it.
“Miss, can you open your eyes?” Mr. Rumble asked; my whole body to shivered uncontrollably. Maybe it wasn’t his voice that caused the shiver, I thought, as my body shook once again from the extreme cold. I wanted to open my eyes to see if he was real, but the bright light hurt too much.
“Are you an angel?” I coughed out. It was possible the light was coming from him if he was indeed an angel. Unfortunately, if he was, I wasn’t sure if he could tamp down the light he emitted.
I knew then that I was most likely delusional, thinking that an angel had been sent to save me.
“No, sweetheart. Are you?” his gravelly voice asked back with humor.
“Obviously not, or I wouldn’t be here freezing my ass off or my body throbbing.”
The man let out a deep booming laugh that made me want to smile, if it wouldn’t hurt so much. “Or the swearing.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever been mistaken for an angel before. Do you think you could kill that light? It feels like my skull is splitting in two.”
“Oh, of course! I wanted to see if there was anybody in the car, and then when I found you, I was checking to see if you were okay. How are you feeling? Maybe I should call you an ambulance?”
“No, I don’t want to go to the hospital.” I groaned out. I didn’t need anyone finding out that I had been in a wreck when the news broke that Shadowed Alley was no more. The headline would read that I’d gone on a drunken bender because of the breakup and wrecked out in the middle of nowhere.
We were silent for a few moments as I waited for him to stop beaming me with his angel light. I had no idea what the hell he was doing, since I had my eyes closed to keep out the blinding light and had heard no sounds coming from him. Finally, I’d had enough and growled out a very un-lady or angel-like curse.
“Sorry,” he muttered before the light went out.
Finally, able to open my eyes, I was met with a man I knew even in the dark of night was the most gorgeous thing I had ever laid eyes on— and my eyes had been on a lot of men over the years. The only thing I could tell for certain was that he had dark hair that came out from underneath the beanie he wore and a very attractive amount of scruff on his face.
“I don’t think your car will start. There have been so many accidents around the county tonight, it will most likely be sometime tomorrow before a tow truck can get to you. If you’d like, I can give you a ride to wherever you were headed. If you’re sure you don’t need to go to the hospital.”
“I’m sure. I may be a little out of it, but I’ll be fine. I just need some ibuprofen and maybe a strong drink. If you could give me a ride, that would be amazing. I don’t think I would last overnight in this cold.”
My eyelashes were coated in ice, and I was sure my hair was too. I wanted out of that cursed car as soon as possible. This man didn’t give off a serial killer vibe, so I felt safe getting a ride from him. When I turned to undo my seatbelt, my neck spasmed; I cried out in pain.
“Fuck, don’t move!” he barked. “Let me help you with that.” The gravel in his voice was more pronounced, as if it pained him to see me hurt.
The driver’s side door creaked open a second later; he leaned over me so closely, I could feel his body heat. I wanted to snuggle up to him and suck every ounce of warmth from his body. The smell of winter and a light, inviting cologne permeated the small area. I knew it was coming from this man. My savior. My angel. It was so intoxicating, it could lure a thousand women to do its bidding. It was heaven, and I couldn’t stop the groan that made its way out from deep within me.
He jerked back, hitting the horn; its blare filled the nearly silent night. His dark eyes locked on mine, captivating me. “Did I hurt you? I’m so sorry.”
“I’m fine. Please help me get this seatbelt off and out of this car. I’m so cold.” My teeth chattered with every word, growing more notable by the end. There was no way I would ever tell him, or anyone else for that matter, that I had moaned out loud because of how good he smelled. And I knew this wasn’t a one-time thing. Somehow, someway, I knew that he always smelled that extraordinary.
“Tell me if I hurt you. I’ll try to be gentle and quick.”
Once I wasn’t moaning and able to keep my body under control, it didn’t take my gorgeous angel more than a couple of seconds to get my seatbelt undone.
My body locked up in pain when I tried to move out of the car. I gritted my teeth and said every swear word in the English dictionary as I tried to figure out my next move.
“It’s going to hurt like a son-of-a-bitch no matter what you do, so I suggest you try to get up like ripping off a Band-Aid. I’d help you if I could, but I think I’ll only make the situation worse.” He spoke from the side of the car, softly with a small amount of worry in his deep, rumbly voice.
I knew he was right. I needed to grit and bear it and hope to never have to move again. Shit, maybe I did need to go to the hospital.
As quickly as I could, I turned, stiff as a board, until my body was facing the open door. I gasped with pain then held my breath for a few moments. Turning to the side, each leg out of the car, I knew the hardest part would be getting up on my feet.
“Can you hold your hands out so that I can grab onto them and maybe pull myself up?” I asked when I saw no other way to get out without his help.
“Whatever you need,” he answered; both his hands came into view, palms out.
“Mother fucking, fuck!” I yelled as I stood, using his hands for support. I could do nothing but stand and wait for the pain to subside, hoping that my angel wouldn't demand that he take me to the hospital.
Looking down at me, he grimaced. “Fuck, that looked painful. My truck isn't parked too far. Do you think you can make it?” He indicated the space behind my rental.
When I looked over, there was a large, dark-colored truck running right behind my car. It was good to know that I didn’t have far to go, although the height of the truck might prove to be a problem with my aching body.
“You ready?” he asked, letting go of my hands. I hadn’t realized that he was still holding them until that moment and felt an immediate loss when he let go.
“Let’s do this,” I gritted out as I took a step. Fuck! Every part of my body hurt.
“Hang onto me so that you don’t slip and fall.” He held out the crook of his elbow for me to grasp. I wondered what was going to keep him from falling, but I didn’t voice my question.
At any other time, I would have paid more attention to the firm body underneath my hands. Instead, I closed my eyes, breathing in his intoxicating scent as I brushed passed him, trying to make my way inside the cab of the truck. I didn’t need to take in that breath because the entire truck smelled of him, making my body relax and my pain diminish slightly.
Once firmly planted inside, he put my seatbelt on, closed the door, and made his way to the driver’s side. Leaning back in my seat, I looked out the windshield to see my car for the first time. Its whole front end was smashed in to the point that, from my view point, it looked as if there was only about a foot of space between the pole and the non-existent windshield. It wasn’t until then that I realized how lucky I was to have gotten out of there without being seriously injured. Yes, I was in pain, but that was most likely from the impact and the whiplash I was sure I had suffered during my icy adventure.
“I’m Jaxson Stone. My friends call me Jax,” he said, looking over at me briefly as he put the truck into drive and pulled around my now ruined rental car.
With my head slightly turned toward him, I replied, “I’m Gabriella Santina. My friends call me Gabi.”
“Nice to meet you, Gabi.”
“You too, Jax.”