Fighting Strong by Marysol James

hands.
    “You ready to end this?” he asked her. “Ready to have that bastard leave you in peace once and for all?”
    She looked up in to his blue eyes. “Yes.”
    “Let’s go, then.” He ran his thumb over her neck. “Let’s get cleaned up and take a taxi to a car rental place. We’ll drive over to the impound and grab all the stuff from the trunk of my car and I’ll arrange for it to be towed back to Denver. With a bit of luck, we’ll be back on the road in two hours.”
    **
    Adam insisted that Katie sit in the back seat with her injured leg stretched out in front of her. Ignoring her protests, he scooped her up and deposited her in the car. The women watching in the impound office almost swooned with delight.
    “Seat belt,” he said just before shutting the door.
    She waited until he was in the car. “This is so dumb, Adam. I mean, I feel like you’re my chauffeur or something.”
    He grinned at her in the rearview mirror. “Well, I kind of am, aren’t I?”
    She paused. “Maybe. In a way.”
    They smiled at each other. Katie felt butterflies in her stomach; Adam had to tear his eyes away from her face.
    She looked… well. The only word for it was amazing . She had entered the hospital bathroom with her hair all messed up and her makeup running under her eyes. She had emerged ten minutes later, her long hair pulled back, showing off her cheekbones, and her face scrubbed free of any and all makeup. She was fresh-faced and glowing, her mouth a perfect rosebud, her beautiful eyes large and round. He hadn’t even noticed until that moment that her brown eyes actually had flecks of hazel in them, making them brighter in her oval face.
    I was right. She is stunning.
    Adam pulled out of the parking lot, glancing at the clock. “We’ll make good time today, I hope. The weather is clear all the way to Nevada. I figure that in the end, we lost about four hours, which isn’t that bad. We’d have had to stop last night anyway, to sleep and wait for the storm to pass.”
    She nodded. “Depending on weather and the road conditions, we’ll be there by tomorrow evening at the latest.”
    “Yep.”
    “I’ll – I’ll see him again.”
    Adam looked at her in the mirror. His eyes held hers. “How are you feeling about that?”
    “I don’t know.” She looked out the window. “Scared, mostly.”
    “I’ll be there, Katie. I won’t leave your side, if that’s what you want. OK?”
    “I know.” She was quiet for a minute. “Thank you, Adam. I just can’t imagine doing this without you.”
    Her cell phone rang and she jumped a bit. “Oh, man. I should have called Reena and Maggie last night. They’re going to be worried.”
    “Yeah, I don’t blame them.”
    “I guess I’d better fill them in.” She grinned. “Wish me luck…”
    “Uh-huh.”
    Katie swiped her phone. “Hi, Maggie.”
    “Hey, Katie. How’s it going?”
    “OK, now. We had – ummm. We had some trouble yesterday.”
    Maggie was instantly totally alert. “Trouble? What kind of trouble?”
    “Uh. We had a minor accident.”
    “Accident?”
    “ Minor accident,” Katie repeated “ Very minor.”
    In the background, Katie heard Reena’s voice and she sighed. “Here we go.”
    Adam grinned.
    “Put her on speaker!” Reena said. “Right now!”
    “No. Don’t put me on…”
    “Katie?”
    “…speaker. Hi, Reena.”
    “What happened? Are you guys OK?”
    “Yes. We’re both fine.”
    “So? What kind of accident?”
    Katie explained and when she finished there was a silence at the other end of the line.
    “So… you and Adam slept on a barn floor?” Maggie said.
    “Yeah.”
    “Together?”
    “Yeah.”
    “And you were OK with having him there like that?” Reena asked. “No bad dreams?”
    “No. I did have some bad dreams.” Katie looked at Adam. He gazed back, his eyes serious. “But Adam was there and he – he helped.”
    “Did you tell him?” Maggie said. “About your stepfather?”
    “Yes. Yes, I told