she pulled away. ‘For God’s sake …’
The revving of her engine drowning him out, Sarah glanced in her mirror to where he stood in the middle of the road, dragging a hand through his hair, frustrated obviously, but not half as frustrated as she was. Seeing him throwing his hands up in despair, she turned her gaze back to the windscreen and her heart lurched violently.
What was this idiot doing? She blinked hard against the searing white light that sliced through her vision. There was a car coming towards her, its headlights on full beam. Coming right at her. ‘Dear God!’ Reacting instinctively, she wrenched the steering wheel hard left away from it, her foot slamming down hard on the brake.
Her breath stalling, her eyes going back to her rear-view, it took a second for her to assimilate. When she did, her heart stopped beating. ‘Steve!’ she screamed, her world slowing, her blood turning to ice in her veins.
She banged her door open and raced back towards him. Tears obscuring her vision, a strangled cry escaping her mouth, she dropped to her knees next to him. ‘Steve?’
‘Fuck,’ he murmured. ‘That hurts.’
‘Stay still.’ Taking hold of the hand he was reaching towards her, Sarah gulped hard against the constriction in her throat.
‘Do you think I might be accident-prone?’ He laughed, then winced painfully. ‘Sorry,’ he whispered.
‘Yes,’ she said, squeezing his hand, praying hard. ‘You’re a disaster.’
‘I know.’ He managed another small laugh – and spat blood.
Don’t die. Please God, don’t let him die. ‘Keep talking to me, Steve,’ she urged him. ‘Steve, please … stay awake.’ She stifled a sob as his eyes fluttered closed.
Where was Laura? She glanced back to the house, then in both directions along the road. The car that had ploughed callously into him had long gone. She hadn’t got her phone. She hadn’t got her phone. She choked back another sob, and then, seeing a neighbour emerge from his door, she screamed, ‘Call an ambulance!’
Fifty-One
Joe
Joe had heard the dispatch come through. Having established that there were no fatalities or critical injuries, he tried to get hold of Sarah. ‘I heard what happened,’ he said when he finally contacted her. ‘Is he all right?’ He felt gutted for Sarah and Steve both. Either lightning did strike twice, or her ex was the unluckiest bloke on earth – assuming it was a hit-and-run and not someone deliberately mowing him down.
‘Better than he was. He has two broken ribs, though.’ Sarah filled him in. ‘His arm’s fractured too. He bit hard on his tongue and …’ She stopped, her voice catching. ‘The car just ran straight into him. It bowled him over like a skittle. We’d been arguing and … He was barely conscious when I reached him. I didn’t have my phone and … I thought he was dying, Joe. I thought he … Oh God.’
Hearing her tears, deep, heart-wrenching sobs, Joe cursed himself. He should be with her. He should always have been there for her. ‘Okay?’ he asked softly, after a pause.
‘Not really,’ she admitted, her voice small and tremulous as her sobs shuddered to a hiccupping halt.
He gave her another minute. Then, ‘Did you see the car?’ he asked her carefully. He knew she’d already given a statement, and he didn’t want to upset her all over again, but for his own curiosity’s sake, he needed to know.
‘Not clearly,’ she said, drawing in a breath. ‘It all happened so fast. It was a dark car, a four-wheel drive. It had its headlights on full beam. It was coming towards me, almost straight at me. I swerved to avoid it, and the next thing I saw was …’ Faltering, she breathed shakily out. ‘It ploughed right into him, Joe. It didn’t even stop. How could someone do that? Just drive off?’
‘Panic, more than likely. It’s possible the driver might come forward,’ Joe offered.
‘I hope the absolute bastard rots in hell,’ Sarah seethed, her anger obviously surfacing after the initial shock, which was a good sign. Better than blaming herself, which he had thought she might, given what she’d said about her and Steve arguing. He should be with her, offering her the support she needed. She shouldn’t be dealing with this on her own.
‘They’re discharging him,’ she said, making a monumental effort to compose herself. ‘He’s insisting on going home anyway. He’s worried about Laura being on her own, can you believe? The woman who was mysteriously missing when he almost got killed.’
Joe felt a prickle