Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
The crash was deafening as the animal was catapulted into my windshield.
Glass shattered, spraying my face.
My hands felt like they hit brick walls, and my broken finger, which was the most insignificant of things at that moment in time, cried out in protest as I tightened my fingers on the wheel in sheer panic.
I slammed on the brakes, but it did me no good seeing as I could no longer see due to the deer carcass in my lap.
My head snapped back when my Jeep’s front end met the light pole on the end of the street that led out of my parents’ neighborhood.
Ironically, I turned my head out the side window and saw the stupid yellow sign that was posted all over Texas.
Deer fucking crossing.
Fucking awesome.
***
I got to ride in an ambulance.
With a deer’s antler sticking out of my guts.
Well, not my guts, exactly.
More like my fat.
One antler had hooked in the fat of my stomach, lodged there from the accident.
They (the sexy firefighters that’d responded) had sawed the deer’s antler off, making no attempt to hide the fact that they were disappointed to do it.
Apparently, the deer that it’d been attached to had been a twelve point, not that I gave a shit.
“Can you please shut up?” I snapped, poking at the protruding antler with disgust. “This is going to leave a scar. I don’t need you telling me that it is. I’m a mother fucking nurse.”
The man smiled, grinning at me.
“So you’re Booth’s?” He questioned.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“How do you know that?” I shot back.
He pointed out the back window and I saw the motorcycle that’d been following us for a couple of miles now.
He’d gotten to the scene in less than five minutes.
He’d also been the one to call 911.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “He’s mine.”
“He’s pretty crazy, I hear. Doesn’t talk,” the firefighter made conversation.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“What’s your name?” I asked, squinting at him.
He tapped his name tag.
“Jester,” he said.
“Well, Jester,” I drawled, putting emphasis on his name. “I don’t know how well you know my Booth, but he’s not someone you can just talk about behind his back and expect me not to respond negatively.”
The man grinned. “I didn’t say it in a negative way. Semper Fi,” he pointed at his shoulder.
My eyes went to the Marine Corps tattoo on his shoulder, one that just barely poked out from underneath the blue uniform top he was wearing, and rolled my eyes.
“He is what he is,” I shrugged. “Leave him alone and don’t talk about him.”
The man crossed his heart. “I won’t.”
I poked at the antler one last time, grimacing in pain, and then turned my eyes forward as the ambulance pulled through the ambulance bay and stopped.
Booth pulled his bike right up onto the concrete behind the ambulance and got off, walking towards the back doors.
He was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt…both snug and hugging his body like a second skin.
He had on gold Ray Ban aviator glasses, despite the near darkness, and stared at me as the doors opened to reveal me.
He didn’t show a hint of discomfort at the huge antler that was sticking out of my body, only pulling me out without the help of either man on the ambulance with me.
“I’m not sure you’re supposed to do their job,” I told him dryly as his body got close enough to hear me.
“Don’t give a fuck what they think,” he said. “Only care that I can keep an eye on you.”
I sighed.
“Do you think my Jeep’s totaled?” I broached the subject.
“Totaled,” Booth agreed.
“What about the deer?” I asked.
“What about him?” Booth countered.
“Did you take him to the dump or something?” I asked.
Booth shook his head.
“The game warden will come and take him,” he expounded. “They like to keep a tally on the number of deer that get hit by automobiles.”
That surprised me.
I hadn’t realized that was what they did.
“What do they do with the deer, then?” I asked.
“They give it to the less fortunate,” he said. “Someone who needs it.”
That was nice, I guess.
A particularly bad bump in the concrete had me grimacing as I was pulled inside, and I gritted my teeth as Booth input a code into the panel beside the door.
Booth said something under his breath, and suddenly I was inside under the harsh lights of the ER.
“Booth!” I yelled when he disappeared from my sight.
Booth appeared in less than ten seconds with a haggard look on his face.
“What?” He asked.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Don’t give me that attitude,” I snapped at him. “I’m the one gored by a fuckin’ deer, here.”
He softened slightly.
“I was talking to the nurse that you’re going to have,” he explained.
I narrowed my eyes. “You’ll start my IV if I have to have one.”
“You’ll have to have one,” he agreed. “But I’m not doing it.”