5.9. A Fender Bender and a Cheesed Off Hunk

She took her finger off the indicator and stepped on the gas, going after the black car. 

As she zoomed after the car, the absurdity of the what she was doing struck her. She wasn't even sure if it was him. A cream sedan car had slid behind the Mustang, obstructing her view of the number plates. 

What even if it was him? she thought. What would she do? She had nothing with him and was even relieved to not be with him anymore. They were due for divorce mediation next week and then wouldn't have to see each other again for the rest of their lives. So why was she about to make her presence known?

Yeah, he had lied about his whereabouts (if the Mustang was him at all), but that didn't mean a thing, did it? She couldn't care less if he had gone to Antarctica, or still lived somewhere in Illinois. 

So why was she on the chase after his car? she questioned herself again.

It was just to confirm if it was his car or not, she told herself. Maybe she wouldn't even reveal her presence. Once she found out the occupants of the car, she'd U-turn back and continue on. 

Feeling silly for her behaviour, she surged forward to the next lane, passing the cream car by.

Relief was what she felt, followed by a roll of her eyes, when she came by the black car and the occupants turned out to be strangers. The girl hadn't even looked remotely like Sienna except for the curly dark hair.

Embarrassed and feeling sillier and sillier by the moment, she took the next U-turn and went back her normal way. Slowly, her embarrassment rubbed off her face to be replaced by anger. Why on Earth had she let herself be bothered by the sight of the car at all?

"Silly me," she muttered. "Must be the hunger."

Because why else would she do something so irrational? By God, she didn't miss Rocco or anything, their story was over, so should any concern about him.

Feeling irately disgusted with herself, Kiersey pinched her face in a tight frown and pressed her temple into one palm. Then she realized that wasn't the only reason she was frowning, an onset of a headache was threatening to buoy up.

"Not now," she muttered irately. "Not now."

Hunger, coupled with an incoming headache didn't mix together at all. What irked her the most was not knowing if it was stress related or pregnancy related, or maybe both. She had better find time in the weekend to sign up for a prenatal class. Even if it was online.

That aside, she still had a lot more work cut out for her. There was the guy in Cali to look for, who, hopefully, would be able to help her. Then there was the new house to look for before the month ran out. So much burden that made her headche more pronounced. She sighed and bent her head, massaging her temples lightly in circular motions.

Kiersey was so lost in her thoughts she forgot where she was for a slight moment. She was jolted back upright by a thump that seemed to rock her car, almost pushing her forward had she not had her seatbelt strapped on and her hand gripped firmly at the wheel.

Eyes widening in horror, she watched as the car in front of her broke out in red blinking lights. Her eyes struggled to understand the situation. 

Had she just plowed into a car and gotten in a fender bender? How on Earth had that happened?

Then the enraged owner of the car came around back, spitting profanities. Her mind seemed to have blacked out, she couldn't hear what he was saying or even respond back, she could only watch him gesticulate lividly like a quivering volcano about to erupt.

Some part of her mind that had been able to escape the lockdown was telling her she needed to get down and go apologise. This whole mess was her fault after all. And Kiersey knew it was right.

With shaking hands, she struggled to undo her seatbelt. This was the closest Kiersey had ever been to an auto crash in all of her life, so it did scare the crap out of her. As she fought with the metal clasp of the rope holding her down to the seat, she registered the headache that was now nearing the surface. That definitely wasn't a headache, a burgeoning hurricane of a migraine was on its way, crushing everything in it's path.

Kiersey sighed at the timing of everything as she finally freed herself from the car seat. With hands now shivering more than ever and heart throbbing faster and louder than a pellet drum, she popped open the car door and stepped outside.

The afternoon sun beat on her with a renewed intensity as she stepped out into the open. She squinted at the guy and tried to make her mouth form words.

Instead, to her own surprise, she started to cry. Kiersey had often heard of situations like this, something to do with pregnancy hormones, but she had never personally witnessed one like this, nor had she ever thought it could be her it would be happening to. One moment she was feeling sick with migraine and fear and worry, and the next moment she was crying her eyes out.

Adrenaline was working the wrong way in her body system.

Still shocked, she moved away from leaning on the car, trying desperately to find the faucet handle to her tears. The shock, combined with the migraine and every other emotion that seemed to have assaulted her in the span of five minutes, had turned her body to something else. Her arms felt heavy and sore and her knees seemed to have turned to sponge. So, moving away from the car had been a bad move. There was nothing to support her body and she started to go to the ground.

Her senses were efficiently scrambled and on the fritz and seemed to be going into overdrive. It was like she couldn't control any of her movement or actions.

A latent part of her mind dully registered that she was falling, she was going to hit the ground in the most graceless way and it wouldn't be funny. She couldn't even get to move her muscles to resist the fall. She was carrying a baby in her stomach and was about to fall down, face first.

The last thought shocked a reaction out of her and she uttered a squeaky moan. Her baby!

Just as she was sure she'd be hitting the ground and probably dying (God knows where that thought came from), a set of firm arms stopped her fall, catching her and holding her up.

"Woah, steady there," the dreamy voice said somewhere near her ear. 

Kiersey felt the warm tears burn tracks down her face as the world around her went out of focus and dimmed.