Reputation's Play (Book 1)

Ch. 2 Crash Detected

Chapter 2 Crash Detected

The humidity in the night air was reaching its climax. The sky overhead rumbled with warnings of a summer storm as Gia rushed to her aunt's car and jumped in. As soon as the door locked, rain fell from the night sky, drumming against the roof of the car.

"Oh great," Gia mumbled, hitting the steering wheel in frustration and accidentally sounding the horn. "Shit."

She couldn't go back inside. The parking lot was a five minute walk from the entrance of the banquet hall. Gia would be soaked from head to toe if she stepped out in the pouring rain. Her two options were to either sit in the car and wait out the rain or to drive to the hotel and hope for the best.

Blasting the AC to get rid of the humid air trapped inside, Gia gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead. If anyone saw her sitting around in her car in the middle of the storm, they would surely think she was out of her mind. And if that anyone happened to be Daniel....

"Nope," Gia hit the start button.

She wasn't going to risk sitting in the car and having Daniel spot her. He already gave her the jitters with those smoldering eyes. She didn't want to see him mocking her with them too. Releasing the breaks, Gia slowly pulled out of the parking spot and began to wonder if she should turn on her high beams or her low beams. There wasn't anyone else driving either so it wasn't like she could just copy them.

Trusting her gut, Gia turned on her low beams and proceeded to drive out of the lot. She figured she could switch them up if she started to have trouble seeing where she was going. One of the downsides to living in New York City was the lack of opportunity to practice her driving. Gia had never driven in the rain before. Her nerves were on high alert as she watched her speed and tried to recall everything she had learned in driving school. Wanting to make sure she wasn't doing anything wrong or dangerous, Gia decided to give Carla a call.

"Hey, Siri," she raised her voice to make sure her phone picked up her words over the pouring rain outside. "Call Carla."

With double beeps, Gia's phone lit up. She waited for the call to go through for several seconds before the phone screen went dark.

No service.

"Fuck, Connecticut," Gia groaned as she pressed the small call button on her steering wheel. There was a small beep to indicate the car was listening. Gia figured she might have better luck with the car's satellite system. "Call Carl-"

With her mind occupied by the millions of safety protocols, Gia forgot the most important one. Keep your eyes on the road.

In the split second that it took for her eyes to shift from the center console screen to the road, a deer had jumped in front of the car. Frightened, Gia screamed as she slammed on the breaks. The wheels began to slide on the water as she lost control of the steering wheel and the car drove off the road and into a ditch.

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Gia yelled, gripping the steering wheel for dear life as she stared at the thick trunk of a tree just inches from the car. "Oh my god!"

Hitting the call button, Gia began to shout at the automated voice system.

"Call Carla! Call Carla!"

"We're sorry. Your call can not be completed right now," the monotone voice answered back.

"Stupid car!" Gia yelled. She could feel her tears running down her face as her body tried to make sense of what was happening. The shock from the fall into the ditch was too much to bear at once.