Page 32 of Dancing With Temptation

“Sorry, folks, I got here a little late. That’s a nasty storm out there.” Lincoln strode into the room and went straight for Roxie, pulling her into his arms despite the fact that his clothes were soaked. “Fuck, I missed you.”

He whispered the words against her ear and she took them into her heart with a thrill she’d never felt before. Not even those love letters she’d exchanged with Liam, his half-brother, all those years ago had thrilled her as much as Lincoln’s words did now.

“I missed you too. Want to sit with me?” She indicated her small pile of belongings and he took a seat with her.

One of the men from his team came over with a couple of towels and Lincoln did his best to dry off but it didn’t help much. He had a small backpack that held clothes but the rain had gotten into that too. She was about to offer him one of the extra blankets she’d brought when she heard the sound of a car horn going off and a deep thudding followed by the sound of metal screaming.

“What the fuck was that?” Lincoln jolted up and ran out of the door before she could stop him. The storm was getting worse and something terrible had just happened. Roxie got up and followed him out the door without a second thought.

16

Lincoln

Lincoln wasn’t sure what he saw when he ran out of the door, it was dark and there was only a single beam of light shining out of the darkness. He rushed towards the light, trying to figure out what happened. It was obviously the horn of an automobile that was still going off, but what had happened?

The situation became obvious when he drew closer and saw the front of a bus wrapped around a tall palm tree. The tree had snapped at the top and blocked the road now.

The sound of the horn stopped, and the sliding door of the bus opened. A short man with black hair and tanned skin stepped down, looking dazed. “What happened?”

“I think you hit the tree. Follow that lady inside, she’ll get you help.” Lincoln directed in English since the man had spoken English. “Roxie, take him inside please, and don’t come back out. It’s too dangerous out here for you.”

“I will, Lincoln.” She agreed, and he was glad for it. He didn’t want to argue about how she was grown and could do what she wanted to. He simply wanted to find out if there were more people on the bus and get them out.

With a swipe of his face to clear water from his eyes, Lincoln climbed aboard to find far more people than expected. “Hi, do any of you speak English?”

“I’m here, Lincoln.” A woman announced and when she stood up Lincoln understood. The woman was named Dara and she was from the next village.

“What are you doing here, Dara? Are any of you hurt?” He asked once she got closer to him.

“Our shelter collapsed, and we wanted to come here. I think one of the tires blew out and we hit that tree.” She pointed at the front of the bus and put a swatch of cloth under her nose when it started to bleed. “I’m fine, just a busted nose. It’s the other bus I’m worried about. It’s not arrived yet.”

“Okay, if you can help me to get these people off the bus,” Lincoln said, looking at the pain-filled faces of a busload of elderly people.

He wasn’t sure who was hurt and who was just suffering from old age but he started to carry people out, male or female, and took them into the clinic area of the center. A nurse was there, checking over the bus driver and then each new person he brought in. Some of the other men from the village and his team helped to get more people off as the minutes ticked away.

Should he go out in this weather to see what had happened to the other bus? There were still people on this bus that needed help getting off, over forty of them, if he’d counted correctly. It had been packed when he first got to the bus, but it wasn’t as bad now. He was soaking wet again but didn’t notice it until he picked someone up and they cringed at how cold his body had become, despite his exertions. His hair was plastered to his head and he was growing more tired with each person he carried in.

Every now and then he saw Roxie’s face pop up to check on him, but she didn’t get in his way. He wanted her to stay inside, where it was safe, so he didn’t ask her to help. He’d spent the last three days without her and he’d been nothing but miserable the entire time. He’d wanted to spend the night holding her. He’d raced to get there before the storm got too bad and this accident was a perfect example of why it wouldn’t be good to be on the roads right now.

They’d just have to wait to see if the other bus showed up with the younger people and their families. Lincoln continued to ferry people off the bus. He paused on the way back to the bus to check whether anyone was left. He could hear the sounds of cows calling out in the darkness and the water buffalo that usually wandered around in the rice patties when they weren’t being used to plow. The animals would ride out the storm fine, it was the people that were in danger for now.

He thought again about that other bus, wondering how much time had passed and what it meant that the bus hadn’t arrived. He knew Cambodia was trying to grow its economy and the loss of so many young people could really hurt the village they were from. The elderly couldn’t provide food and money for themselves and they might starve to death in the lean times, if not for the younger generation sending money back home when they went off to work in other places.

He saw the bus was empty when he jogged back up the steps and took a look around. He wanted to be sure one of the elderly people hadn’t slipped in their seat, asleep or too injured to cry out for help. He was about to turn around to get off the bus when two bright lights blinded him. He waved, knowing that the driver probably couldn’t see him, but felt relief that the other bus had arrived at last.

That relief turned to fear that plunged his heart down into his stomach when the lights grew brighter as they drew closer. “Fuuuuuuck.”

That was about all he had to say as the lights glowed even brighter and then he was thrown against a seat. He grabbed the back of the seat but lost his grip when the bus flipped over onto its side. The sound of shattered glass and shrieking metal overrode the sound of the rain and thunder as the world went dark around him.

Lincoln’s body thudded onto the roof. His head hit pretty hard as he fell and it felt like his face ripped away as his cheek slid across cold metal. He tasted blood in his mouth and was about to yell when hand luggage, shopping bags full of household items, and the rest of the things the villagers had brought with them started to rain down on him.

“Fucking hell, are you fucking serious?” He curled into a tight ball and wondered if this prolonged nightmare was ever going to end.

Everything went quiet after that. He took a deep breath, did a mental inspection of his body, and was thankful it was only his head and his face that hurt. He pushed luggage off himself, gazed at a very peed-off chicken in a cage, and reached up his hand to feel his face. Friction burn on his face, he decided when he felt no tears or cuts, and a nasty knot on his head, but it wasn’t bleeding. He’d live.

It was a struggle to get up but he managed it and looked at the windows beside him. Worrying he might be about to break his legs or slice them open on glass, Lincoln ignored the worries and settled down on the inside roof of the bus to kick out the glass panel nearest him. The emergency door latch was too high up for him to reach, and the back end of the bus was filled with the front end of the other bus. How the driver hadn’t seen the downed tree or the stopped bus was beyond him, but it was obvious the man had driven right into the first bus.

He struggled to get out, but finally, he did. Oddly, it was that moment when everything became super loud. Or maybe his ears had just decided to work again. He could hear Roxie screaming his name on the outside of the bus, her voice not the only one calling out in the darkness.