Beat of the Heart (Runaway Train #2)(79)

“Oh f*ck,” Rhys groaned.

Glancing up from my phone, my heart plummeted at the sight of bumper to bumper traffic. “You have got to be shitting me!”

We came to a full stop behind Officer Carlisle’s cruiser. He stepped out and then came back to the car. “Sorry man. I just heard on the radio that an eighteen wheeler jackknifed about a mile up the road.”

“Damn. Damn. DAMN!” I cried. This time I beat my head, instead of my hands, against the dash.

“Stop it, AJ,” Rhys demanded.

I shook my now aching head miserably and fought the urge to hang my head out the window and scream at the top of my lungs. “I’m utterly f*cked, dude.”

“I’m sure if you explain it to Mia, she’ll—”

I snorted. “No man, you don’t get it. Not only is she pregnant and a hormonal hurricane, but every single guy she’s been with has let her down. It’s not just about being the exception to that rule. If I screw this up, she could totally give up on me and choose that douche of an ex fiancé of hers.” With shaking hands, I grabbed my phone and prepared to make the call I really, really didn’t want to. But even if I dreaded calling Mia, I refused to just not show up. An excuse was better than being stood up.

“Listen, maybe you won’t be too late. I mean, we’re only about a half a mile down the road.”

My head snapped up. “It’s only that far?”

“Yeah, it’s right off the road in the same medical building as my dentist. Why?”

Without a reply, I fumbled with the door handle. My shaky hands made it almost impossible to open it. Finally, it flew open, and I fell out onto the pavement. Glancing over my shoulder, I cried, “If I can’t get a ride home with Mia, I’ll call you, okay?”

Rhys’s chocolate brown eyes widened to the size of his shiny Porsche hubcaps. “You’re seriously going to run the next half mile?”

“Totally.”

He shook his head slowly back and forth. “Be careful.”

“Gotcha.” I slammed the car door, and then started sprinting down the side of the road. I mean, the issue wasn’t being in shape. After all, I usually tried to do a few miles on the treadmill at every tour stop. It was just I never quite pushed my body as hard as I was pushing it right now. The line of cars still hadn’t moved when I streaked into the parking lot of the medical building. I screeched to a stop to board the elevator. Thankfully from Mia’s texts I knew what floor and what suite number I needed to go to.

After the elevator dinged on the third floor, I burst through the third office door on the right, skidding to a stop on the waxed hardwood floors just inside the entrance. I lunged over to the receptionist who stood frozen with a phone’s receiver in her hand. “M-Must find M-Mia,” I gasped as my lungs screamed in agony. Desperate to catch my breath, I doubled over at the waist, pressing my hands against my thighs.

“AJ?”

Jerking my head up, I gazed across the full waiting room. Dodging the shocked expressions from the other women and men, I sought out Mia. Finally, I found her. She sat in a corner chair, gaping open-mouthed at me. “Hey babe,” I replied lamely.

As Mia’s brows shot up, the dude across from me snickered until his wife or girlfriend elbowed him in the ribs. Ignoring him, I somehow managed to pick one aching foot up and put it in front of the other to close the distance between Mia and me. It seemed like years before I collapsed down in the chair next to her.

“I can’t believe you made it.”

“Promised. I. Would,” I wheezed, wincing at the pain in my chest. When I opened my eyes, Mia, along with the rest of the waiting room, was staring expectantly at me. “Was afraid you’d already be done.”

“Well, normally I would’ve already been taken back, but the ultrasound technician is stuck in some horrible traffic caused by a wreck.”

I snorted thinking that I probably ran by his or her car on my way in. Mia reached over to grasp my hand in hers. “AJ, are you okay?”

“Just. Fine.”

As I continued sounding like I was hacking up a lung, Mia shook her head. “No offense, but you look like hell.”

I winced. “I meant to wear something nicer.”

She squeezed my hand. “Oh AJ, it’s not what you have on. I could care less how you’re dressed.”

“Really?” When she started to bob her head, I grinned and added, “You wouldn’t mind if I were nude?”

Instead of admonishing me, she actually giggled. “I don’t think you could have made any more of a scene nude than the way you just busted in here.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

She gave me a once over from head to toe and sighed. “I’m worried about you. Your face is beet red, you’re sweating profusely, and you’ve just caught your breath. You look like you just ran a marathon or something.”

“I sorta did.”

“Huh?”

Now that I had my breath fully back, I explained about the delayed flight, the ticket, then the police escort and finally about the traffic jam that had caused me to run the last half mile to the doctor’s office. Mia’s hand flew to cover her mouth as her eyes widened. “Oh AJ, you went through all of that for me?”

“Of course I did.”