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"What?" Dash asked incredulously "What the fk are you getting at?"

The cop looked uncons of tireat least forty-five miles per hour in a residential zone"

"And you think she tried to kill herself?"

"I’ all possible leads Until I speak to Mrs Breckenridge myself, there’s no way to deter me know her emotional state when you last saw her I understand she’s ed Could she be depressed over the loss of her husband?"

Dash was at a loss for words Her emotional state? She was upset Extremely so Hell, he’d all but kicked her out of his house And then she’d wrecked Good God Could she have done it purposely? How the hell else would she hit a tree dead-on going that fast and no signs of braking?

"I have no idea," Dash said numbly He’d like to be able to defend Joss, but who the hell kneas going on in her head?

Guilt clutched hi He’d been angry, absolutely But he should have calmed down, and they should have discussed it like two rational adults Only he hadn’t been rational Whether or not she’d tried to take her own life, the entire thing was Dash’s fault

But he couldn’t contain his fury that she would have given up Have been so weak That wasn’t the Joss he knew Or thought he knew

He turned fro his hands down on the surface

"I want to see Joss Breckenridge Now"

"I’ on her now If you’ll wait in the waiting area, I’ll call you back the minute you’re allowed to see her"

"What do youwith her? How badly is she injured? Is she going to live?"

The clerk’s face shone with sy, but I assure you, our physicians are doing their absolute best, and as I said, theI’ll inform you at once"

Dash threw up his hands and paced back into the waiting area, but he couldn’t sit How could he? It was déjà vu all over again Another day Three years ago Same hospital Same horrible wait only for the worst news Carson dead They’d been unable to save him His injuries had been too extensive

Only his wreck had been an accident There’d been nothing he could have done to avoid it Could Joss say the saht that she’d driven her car into a tree hoping for death?

He couldn’t wrap his mind around it Couldn’t fathom it But it hat the police suspected Why else would they want to know if she was suicidal? What if Dash had pushed her to it?

He finally sat and buried his face in his hands What seemed an eternity later, a nurse poked her head out the door and called for Joss Breckenridge’s family As he was the only one there at the moment, he hurried forward

"How is she?" he deed up, but you can see her She’s a little woozy froave her, but we couldn’t medicate her until all the X-rays and CT scan results caive a fk what condition she was in as long as she was alive

The nurse led him back to one of the exa hi on the stretcher, pale and bruised There was dried blood at her hairline and at the corner of her ile that he was afraid to touch her

He went to her bedside and fury gripped hiaze on him Instant hurt crowded the silky depths and she turned away It only pissed him off all the more

"You little fool," he hissed "Did you try to kill yourself, Joss? Was life without Carson so unbearable that you tried to join hi the hurt of just h clenched teeth "I don’t want you here I don’t want you anywhere near me Go to hell, Dash That’s apparently where you’re most co I do changes that"

"Not until I have a damn answer," he seethed "You scared ten years off ?"

"What I was doing was avoiding a child," she said in a frigid tone "She ran into the street, and I knew I’d hit her if I didn’t swerve I never saw the tree Didn’t care about the tree All I cared about washer I could have never lived with myself if I’d chosenattention I should have seen her earlier I didn’t But I’ll be da to pay for my mistake with her life"

All the breath left hiripped the bed rail for support

"I’y," she said stiffly "I want you out I don’t want to see you again, Dash You said all you needed to say thisAnd you knohat? It was all bullshit But you wouldn’t even give me a chance to explain"

"Explain what, honey?"