Written in Ink (Montgomery Ink #4)(23)

She narrowed her eyes. “Say you’re sorry again and I’ll start to feel bad.”

He gave one quick nod. “Got it.”

She quickly got her bag, and he grabbed his keys. Soon they were on the way to her place, an awkward as hell silence filling the car. He’d f*cking kissed her.

No, that wasn’t right. It hadn’t just been a kiss. He had devoured her, a soul-clenching taking of lips and breath and heat. And he couldn’t do it again. Not if he wanted to stay sane. He didn’t know anything about her, and he knew she kept secrets, but he still wanted her. And that was more dangerous than anything else he could think of right then.

His hands clenched the steering wheel. “Autumn…”

“Don’t, Griffin. I’ll make sure I can get someone to drop me off at your place tomorrow for work. Hopefully, my car can get into the shop tomorrow, as well. We’ll just work on your book bible, and then I’ll get to work on your site. As you said, nothing happened.”

He opened his mouth to say that he was sorry again, to say that he’d f*cked up. And, yet, he didn’t know what he truly wanted to say. Instead of being able to speak, he heard her scream and turned to his left.

Bright lights filled his vision, and the sound of crunching metal and Autumn’s screams were the last things he heard before a fiery pain slammed into his body. He tried to hold out an arm, tried to somehow protect the woman next to him, but he couldn’t.

Darkness engulfed him, pulling him under into a sweet splendor of agony and hell.





Chapter Seven


Autumn hadn’t wanted to die, hadn’t wanted to spend her last breath on a scream for a man she hardly knew but felt as if she’d known all her life. And she hadn’t. Instead, she found herself in a hospital waiting room, bandaged and bruised and surrounded by countless Montgomerys. She also found herself unable to speak, afraid that as soon as she did, she’d break.

She hadn’t let a single tear fall, but as soon as she spoke, she was afraid she’d let them all fall.

The others had only looked at her once, nodded, then sat next to or near her, waiting her out.

They might have to wait a bit longer because she sure as hell didn’t know what she would say to them. How could she comfort them? Tell them their son, brother, and friend would be okay when she wasn’t sure what had happened?

The car had come out of nowhere. It’d run a stop sign and slammed into the driver’s side door. The police had mentioned drunk driving, and since she knew for a fact Griffin hadn’t been drinking, it had to be the other driver. Her brain had only been focused on Griffin and the blood that had coated her clothes. She knew that it didn’t all belong to her, and she didn’t even know if the other driver was alive. The Montgomerys would be able to talk to the police and doctors for those details. She was useless until she could gather what little courage she had and figure out what the hell she was going to do.

Again she found herself in the presence of authority figures where she would either have to lie about her name and facts or tell them the truth. Despite what she felt sometimes, she wasn’t actually on the run from the cops, so in the quiet she would be able to tell them her name if they required it. Everything was just so…sticky.

For the countless time that evening, she pushed her thoughts from her mind about the fear of what could happen if she said too much and focused on what mattered.

Griffin.

He hadn’t been conscious when the EMTs had pulled them out of the wreckage of what had once been Griffin’s car. They’d said it was a miracle that Autumn hadn’t broken a bone or received a concussion of her own. In fact, except for a few small cuts here and there and her body feeling like a giant bruise, she hadn’t been hurt at all.

She should have been grateful; instead, she could only think of Griffin.

Jake slid into the empty seat Luc had just vacated and took her hand between his. She looked down at his large hands, noticed the specks of clay in the creases and under his nails, and focused on that rather than the lack of news on Griffin.

“I think you’ve figured this out already, but when you’re ready to talk, we’re here.”

She looked over at the very handsome man with bright green eyes, who called Maya his best friend.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.

“Here.” Autumn looked up as Maya held out a paper cup filled with water. The other woman’s eyes were narrowed, her jaw set, but she didn’t look angry. No, Maya looked worried as hell and was doing her best to try to mask it. It wasn’t working in the slightest.

“Thank you,” Autumn whispered again, taking the cup from Maya. She gulped half of it down quickly, letting the room temperature water soothe her aching throat.

“We’ve been in waiting rooms like this way too many f*cking times,” Austin growled from his chair across the room.

Autumn pressed her lips together and nodded as the others agreed. The rest of them started speaking of the earlier times they’d been there for the other Montgomery siblings, and Autumn had to take deep breaths to hold back her tears. Seeing them together like this just reminded her how alone she truly was.

She had no one.

It was her fault, of course. She’d been the one to leave that place, but it had been better than staying. She might miss her parents and her brother more than anything in the world, but they hadn’t believed her. They hadn’t stood by her when she’d needed them most. And because of that, she hadn’t been able to lean on them when it truly mattered. Of course, now that she looked back at the young woman she’d been when she’d left, at the fear that had coated her veins, she could see that maybe they did believe but had chosen to ignore it because of their own fears.