Irish Sex Fairy

Chapter Nine

“What can I do to help today?”

Maeve looked up from her paperwork. “Well, if you’re not too tired, I need a few errands done today. Or maybe you’d rather stay in the store and I’ll go out and do them?”

“I’ll go.” A change of scenery might be a good thing.

“Okay.” Maeve handed Keara a stack of envelopes and a small shopping list. “These need to be dropped off at the county office in Santa Melita, and I need stamps and these put in the mail, and these are a few things I need for groceries. Here, I’ll give you some money…”

“That’s okay. I’ll pay for it.”

“Well, bring receipts for the postage back and I’ll reimburse you. That is a business expense, after all.”

Maeve gave her detailed directions to the locations she needed to go and when she’d done her coffee she set out on her mission, happy to be doing something that would take her mind off Shane and his disturbing flirting.

It was all Maeve’s fault. If she hadn’t been talking about sex all the time and how sex would cure everything that ailed her, she wouldn’t have told Shane and he wouldn’t have gotten the bad idea to flirt with her.

And she wouldn’t have masturbated to thoughts of Shane’s hard body and beautiful face.

With a sigh, she negotiated a curve in the road that wound through the mountains. She needed to get him out of her head. She needed to get back to worrying and feeling guilty and afraid.

Jesus, what was she thinking? She was losing her freaking mind. She wanted to feel guilty! How sick was that?

But she didn’t just want to feel guilty. She deserved to feel guilty. After what she’d done, she totally deserved to be as miserable as she was.

Dr. Cogan had told her she had to stop thinking that way. She had to reframe her thoughts. She deserved to be happy. Bah. What did he know?

A car in her rearview mirror distracted her from her musings as it came up close behind her. Idiot. Tailgating was always stupid, but on this narrow winding road through the mountains, it was dangerous. She pressed her lips together, her eyes moving from the road ahead, to the mirror, and back to the road. She tapped her brake to flash her lights at the moron behind her then focused as she went into another mountain-hugging turn.

She nibbled her bottom lip, trying to refocus her thoughts. Maybe thinking about Shane was better than thinking she needed to be punished for what she’d done by being miserable and scared for the rest of her life, then wishing she could get over being miserable and scared.

The car behind her drew up even closer and she frowned. What a dickhead! If he wanted to pass, he should just pass. Of course, the solid yellow line and curving road made it difficult, but she was going the speed limit for God’s sake, what was his rush? Her gut clenched a bit as she glanced to her right and saw how the mountain dropped away, trees and shrubs falling to the valley below. The small guardrail wasn’t much deterrent from a long descent.

She put her foot on the brake to slow down. Maybe the guy would pass her if she slowed down. She assumed it was a guy. She couldn’t imagine a female driver being so aggressive. Although, you never knew.

She squinted into the mirror, trying to make out who the driver was. Short dark hair. Definitely a man. Still riding her ass, the jerk. She slowed even more.

She rounded another curve and there was a blessed straight open stretch of highway. Finally. Now he could pass her and leave her alone. She slowed even more, now well below the speed limit, and waved a hand to motion the driver behind her to pass.

But he didn’t. Her frown deepened as he stayed right behind her, so close she could feel him. What the hell? Her eyes kept going back and forth between the highway and the car behind her, and then she was going into another long curve around the mountainside and he was still hugging her butt. She gripped the steering wheel with both hands.

Enough. This was stupid. She was going to pull over and let him go by. If she stopped, surely he’d pass her. If he didn’t, she’d get out and give him a piece of her mind. He was a fucking moron. But what if he was some kind of lunatic? What if she pulled over and he pulled over behind her and got out and he had a gun or something, and was insane…

Stop! She could not let her mind keep imagining these worst-case scenarios. Dr. Cogan told her to think best-case scenario, not to always imagine the worst. She would pull over.

She set her foot on the brake and started to slow her car. The shoulder was unpaved and very narrow here, the low guardrail flimsy. When she felt she’d slowed enough, she directed her wheels onto the shoulder, felt the jolt as they left the paved road, held tightly to the steering wheel to control her car on the loose gravel.

And then she felt the bump. A small bump, but a bump. The car behind her had actually hit her! Jesus! What the hell was he thinking!

She glanced in her mirror, gripped the wheel and hit the brakes, but the car had now come up beside her—close! She reflexively jerked the wheel to avoid the collision, a glimpse of a dark blue SUV flashing into her vision, and then her car hit the guardrail and to her horror crashed right through it.

She wrenched the wheel back, trying desperately to get back on the road, but her rear tires skidded off the gravel and over the edge of the embankment. No. Oh, no. This could not be happening. Her wheels spun, the car shuddered and then her front end headed over the edge.

Eyes wide, hands gripping the steering wheel, her mouth opened and she wasn’t sure, but she might have screamed as her car skidded. She jammed her foot on the brake but it was too late. The front end drove into nothingness.

Horror made everything happen slowly—the vast spread of greenery far below her, the sensation of falling, like in one of her dreams, the tree that appeared in front of her windshield—and then blackness.

Shane ran a hand through his hair impatiently, standing in the crowded waiting room of the hospital ER.

“Should we call her next of kin?” Jim Mahon asked. He’d been first at the scene of the crash, had radioed for emergency help. The California Highway Patrol along with officers from the Kilkenny PD and an ambulance had rushed to the scene.

When Shane had first heard of the accident, he hadn’t thought much of it, had let his staff deal with it. But when he heard it was Keara, his heart had slammed into his ribs and he’d torn out of the station and raced to Kilkenny General. He’d actually gotten there before the ambulance, which arrived moments later with lights and sirens blaring.

Watching them carry Keara into the ER on a stretcher had just about knocked his legs out from under him.

“No,” he answered shortly. “Just let me find out how badly she’s hurt. If I have to, I’ll go get Maeve.” He swallowed, his chest tight. Jesus, she had to be okay. He could only imagine showing up at Maeve’s shop with news that Keara…he shook his head. “That’ll be better than phoning her and getting her all upset.”

The nurse had promised to report back to him in a few minutes. They were still checking Keara out back behind the reception desk. He paced back and forth, wanting just to stride back there and yank her curtain open to demand answers. He scrunched his nose at the smell of antiseptic and sickness and rubbed his face.

“Her vehicle?” he asked Jim.

“Wrecker got it. Towed it to their compound. Probably a write-off.”

“Fuck.”

What the hell had happened? He knew that stretch of highway, the steep drop off beside the highway. There were too many accidents on that highway.

“My son has a sore throat,” he heard a woman tell the nurse at the desk. He frowned. Jesus. A sore throat. He rubbed the back of his neck, turned and paced back down the hall, behind the reception desk as far he thought he could get away with.

The nurse he’d spoken to earlier whisked the curtain open and stepped through it. She inclined her head and motioned him to follow her away from the bed where Keara lay, hidden from his sight.

“She’s okay,” the nurse began. “We can’t find any broken bones. They’re checking for any possible internal injuries, but looks like just bumps and bruises.”

Relief poured through him, making him feel almost lightheaded. “Can I see her?”

“In a few more minutes.” She nodded. “But do you have to talk to her right away? Surely you can get your report tomorrow.”

“It’s not…I’m not getting a report,” he muttered. “I’m a friend. Uh…family friend.”

“Okay.” She studied him. “Are you okay, Chief?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He scowled. “I need to let her aunt know. But I want to see her first, make sure she’s all right. Will they keep her here?’

“I don’t think so. Unless we do find internal injuries. Otherwise she’ll probably be released.”

“I’ll wait for her. Take her home.”

A man in a white coat emerged next from the curtained cubicle. “She’s going for a CT scan,” he said to the nurse, handing over a chart. He glanced at Shane. “Let me know when she’s back.”

“Of course.” The nurse took the chart. “Come on,” she said. “You can talk to her for a minute before she goes.”

She pulled aside the curtain and let him in. Shane stood beside the hospital bed and stared down at Keara.

Her fiery-bright hair spread out on the white pillow around her face, almost as white as the bedding. She opened her eyes.

“Hey,” he said in a low voice, bending lower. “You okay?”

Her eyes went liquid and she blinked. “I think so,” she whispered. “My head hurts. Well, my whole body hurts. But apparently I’m in one piece.”

“That’s what they said.” He resisted the urge to reach for her and touch her. “I’ll wait for you. If everything’s okay, you should be able to go home.”

“Maeve…”

“Do you want her?” He leaned closer. “I can call her or go get her if you do.”

“I don’t want to scare her. I’ll call her.”

He snorted. “No you won’t.” Her voice was so weak and shaky she’d scare the shit out of Maeve if she tried to talk to her. “We’ll talk when you get back.”

Hospital personnel in scrubs arrived to take her for her CT scan and he watched them wheel her down the long wide hall. Fuck.

He turned back and saw Joe still standing there. “Hey,” he said, striding back to the waiting area. “You can go. I’m gonna wait for her.”

“Okay. She can come in and make her report when she’s up to it.”

“Yeah. I’ll make sure.”

Joe looked curious, but said nothing more as he left. Shane wandered over to a vending machine and fumbled some quarters into it to get a cup of coffee. Pretty disgusting stuff, but it was hot. He tried to sit but couldn’t, ended up pacing more with his cardboard cup of steaming brew. He’d finished it and was debating another one, when the nurse came to tell him Keara was back.

“She says you can come in while we wait for the doctor,” she told him with a smile. “He’s just in with another patient, but he wanted to see the CT results.”

In about three long steps, Shane was back at Keara’s bedside. She looked a little more alert, but he could see a bruise already forming on one temple. This time he did stroke her hair back off her face.

He smiled at her. “Wanna tell me what happened?”

She closed her eyes and grimaced. “Oh God. It was so scary.”

“Did you lose control?” He wanted to snap out questions at her, but kept his voice gentle. “Jesus, Keara, you picked the worst place on that road to go off.”

“I didn’t pick it,” she retorted, voice still insubstantial. “Someone forced me off the road.”

Shane stared at her. “What? What do you mean?”

She blinked eyes that had gone watery again. “Another vehicle was following me. He was riding my tail all the way and making me nervous. I was going to pull over onto the shoulder to let him pass, and he crowded me…and I…” She stopped, closed her eyes and swallowed.

“It’s okay.” He laid his hand on her forehead. “Are you sure, Keara?”

Eyes flew open and glared at him. “You don’t believe me?”

“Well…sure I do, but I just…why would someone do that?”

“I don’t know.” The words whispered out of her and her eyes closed again. “I don’t know. But he did.”

“We’ll talk more about it later,” he said softly, stroking her silky hair back over her head. “When you’re out of here. Let’s just get you out of here and get you home first.”

She made a small nodding movement of her head and winced. “Okay.”

The tests showed no internal bleeding. She had only a mild concussion, so they sent her home with painkillers and a warning about potential problems, and Shane led her out of the hospital to his car parked in the Emergency Vehicles Only zone.

“A police car,” Keara murmured, as she got in. “This is the second time I’ve been in a police car.”

The first likely having been the robbery a few weeks back. Shane got in and glanced at her. “You okay?”

Her bottom lip quivered. “Yes.”

Shit. Shane put the car in gear and pulled out.

“Does Maeve know?”

“No. We’ll tell her about it when we get there.”

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. The only sound in the car was the crackling and distorted voices on the radio as the dispatcher talked to officers.

“Where’s my car?”

“Tow truck took it to their compound. You’ll need to call your insurance company.”

“Oh.”

“I can’t believe they actually got it up the side of the mountain,” Shane said. He shook his head as he drove. “Christ, Keara.”

“I know, I know. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“I know. It’s just…” Words failed him.

He parked behind Maeve’s shop, and helped Keara in the back door, with a call to Maeve. She appeared in the Staff Only door.

“Shane? What are…oh my God! Keara!” She flew across the hall to where they stood at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the apartment. “What happened?”

“She had an accident,” Shane said, holding onto her around her waist. There was nothing to her, she was so small and thin. “Motor vehicle accident. She’s okay, though, Maeve.”

“I’m okay.” Keara pulled herself away from him.

Maeve just stood there, hands on Keara’s shoulders staring at her in shock. “Jesus and Mary, what happened? Oh, come. Let’s get you upstairs.”

Shane started to lead Keara up the steps but then cursed and bent down, sliding an arm beneath her legs. He picked her up and carried her up the stairs.

“Shane!” She clutched his shoulders. “I can walk.”

“Sure.” She wasn’t heavy at all, although climbing stairs made it a little more difficult. At the top of the stairs, Maeve opened the door and let them into the apartment. “Where’s your room?”

“It’s this one,” Maeve said, scurrying ahead to open Keara’s door. She stepped aside and let Shane carry Keara into the room and lay her on the bed.

“I don’t need to go to bed,” Keara snapped, but she let her head sink into the pillow. She looked like crap, but Christ, she was still appealing as hell.

“Just lie down for a few minutes,” he growled back, and turned to Maeve. He filled her in on the details of the crash as he knew them, saying nothing about Keara’s claim she’d been forced off the road. “She was damn lucky the way her car got hung up on that tree on the way down or she’d be…well, it’d be way worse. Air bags probably saved her from too much damage. Just bruises and scrapes.”

“I have a big scrape on my…chest,” Keara interjected. “From the seatbelt.” She touched a hand just above her left breast.

Maeve’s eyes were wide but she didn’t freak out. “Well, thank the good Lord for that,” she said. “A scrape from a seatbelt is far better than…” Her eyes flicked to Shane and then back to Keara. “Well. How did this happen, Keara? I don’t understand.”

A long, shaky breath escaped Keara’s lips and she started to sit up. “I’m sorry I didn’t get your errands done…”

Shane put a hand on her shoulder—her right one—and gently pushed her back down as Maeve sad, “Oh, muirnín, that doesn’t matter.”

“Just lie down,” Shane said mildly. “We can talk about this later if you just want to rest.”

She gazed back at him, looking…resigned. “There’s no way to prove someone forced me off the road, is there?”

Maeve gasped. “Forced you off the road? Keara! Are you serious?”

“Yes.” She held Shane’s gaze. “Someone made me crash. I don’t know why.”

“We’ll have a look at your vehicle,” Shane replied. “Did he hit you?”

“On the back bumper.” Her mouth twisted. “He came up close beside but I jerked the wheel away to avoid hitting him. That’s when I went through the guardrail.”

“Can you describe the vehicle?” he asked. “I don’t suppose you got a plate number.”

“No.” The corners of her mouth turned down. “Of course I didn’t get a plate number. He was right in my rearview mirror for miles and I was getting pissed off, but I couldn’t see his plate, and then there was no time for that. It was a blue SUV. I think…I’m thinking it was a Jeep Liberty, but I can’t say that for sure. Something like that. Dark blue. It was a man. He had short, dark hair. Sunglasses. That’s all I know.” She took a breath. “It happened so fast.”

Shane took the bottle of painkillers they’d given her at the hospital out of his pocket and set it on the small table beside the bed. “She just had some of those,” he told Maeve. “She can have more in four hours.” He handed over a printout with information on mild concussions for her. “She needs to have an eye kept on her for the next twenty-four hours.”

Keara’s eyes closed.

“What can I get you, muirnín?” Maeve asked, touching her hair. “Anything to eat? Drink?”

“Some water,” Keara whispered. “Just water, please.”

Shane followed Maeve out to the kitchen where she poured water from the pitcher she kept in the refrigerator. She gazed at him with anxious eyes. “Do you believe that’s what happened?”

He shrugged. “No reason not to believe it. But like she said, hard to prove. Unless there were witnesses, which it doesn’t sound like, or some damage to her car. If some paint from the other vehicle is on her bumper, we’d have something to go on. Otherwise…” He met her gaze. “Single vehicle collision. We won’t charge her with anything.”

“I should hope not!”

“No drugs or alcohol involved. Her insurance company won’t be impressed.” Huh. Where were her insurance papers? He could get that started for her at least.

“I have to get back to the store.” Maeve looked frustrated. “Jayla’s not in today so I’ve no one else.”

“I’ll stay for a while.” He took the glass of water from Maeve and strode back into the bedroom. “Here you go.” He helped her sit up, pushing some of the big pillows from the bed behind her so she could sip the water. “Where’s your insurance stuff? I’ll call and get the claim started for you.”

“You don’t have to do that.” She lay back down.

“Whatever. Where is it?”

“No, Shane. I can do it myself.” She started to get back up and he put a hand on her shoulder and pressed her down.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re in no shape. Just let me do this, for Chrissake.”

She sighed. “My purse.” He handed her the soft leather bag and she dug it out and handed it to him.

“You rest. I’ll make some calls.” He walked to the door.

“Okay.” She watched him, eyes huge in her wan face. “Shane?”

“Yeah?” He turned at the door.

“You do look good in your uniform.”

He lifted a brow. Where the hell had that come? Must be the pain meds. One corner of his mouth kicked up. “Uh…thanks.”