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He clears his throat as he puts the oddly quiet SUV into gear and begins to drive forward His masculine scent is mixed with the unmistakable new-car smell as he turns up the heat, and the warm air blows around my feet

“You hit your head You need an X-ray at the very least”

“Just, I can’t—”

“Can’t what?”

“I’ none of it, so I decide to try the truth “I don’t have insurance I can’t afford a hospital, and I’ gone through all the bills frooing to cost

“Don’t worry about that I hit you You aren’t responsible for paying I insist you go, and I’ll take care of any costs” His tone darkens, and it

I chew on y I feel between this stranger and , he’s probably a serial killer

But soht this odd attraction I feel toward my soon-to-be murderer

We drive toward the hospital in silence, then after barely a minute, his hand comes over to take mine from my lap and my heart leaps He looks over, and I see kindness in his dark eyes and feel warmth in his touch

“You’ll be okay I’ll make sure of it”

I nod, unsure what else to say or do, andaround in the rain in the first place

After delivering the coffee to everyone yesterday ht spot when one of the paralegals ca Her name is Nadine, she’s been decent with me since I started, and she's easy to talk to She’s the sort of person that tells you how pretty you are just to brighten your day like she’s not three steps higher up the ladder than ave her the Reader’s Digest condensed version of what's going on with my parents