Outage (Powerless Nation #1) Read Free Page B

and he pushed it impatiently out of his eyes. It looked like he hadn't had a haircut in a while, but it added to his appeal.  
    She caught his wrist in her hand and felt the pulse beating quickly against her palm. He was wearing some kind of friendship bracelet, its colors bright against the dark tan of his skin.
    “Thanks for helping me. Are you okay though?” she asked.
    “Don't worry about me, I've had worse.”
    “You've been in an accident before?”
    Because he was leaning over her, looking directly into her eyes, she saw the change come over his features, turning his face cold.
    “An accident.” he snorted. “Yes, I've had a few accidents.”
    Dee didn't say anything else, and before long, Mason had her head bandaged and she was sitting up looking around.
    “I don't even have my license yet,” she moaned. “My grandpa is going to kill me.”
    “Driving without a license? How old are you anyway?”
    Dee was fifteen. She didn’t answer.
    “Do you at least have a permit? Maybe he’ll just maim you.”
    “Very funny.” She looked out the window of the truck and blinked rapidly.
    “Aw, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.” Mason’s voice was warm honey. “Listen, maybe it's not so bad. We haven't even tried to start it up again.” He circled behind the truck to the driver’s side and slid behind the wheel.
    Dee wasn't surprised when he turned the key and the engine failed to turn over. She sighed heavily. “Look, I'm just going to call a tow-truck. Hopefully my phone gets reception here, I think we're pretty close to town.” She got out her phone to see if it had any bars. Strange, it was completely off. She hit the power button but nothing happened.
    “Well, that's just great,” she said. “The crash wrecked my phone. Looks like we're both going to be walking now.”
    “Mind if I look at the engine first? Sometimes it seems worse than it is. Like your forehead. Lots of blood, but just a tiny cut.”
    Mason popped the hood and started fiddling around inside. Dee climbed down out of the cab and made her way slowly around to the front of the truck. She inspected where she'd hit the tree and decided with some surprise that the truck had come out on top in that match-up. The grill was dented, but there wasn't any serious body damage.
    Mason used a wrench and a pair of pliers he'd found in the truck's toolbox. The deft movements of his long fingers fascinated Dee as he checked over the engine.
    She blushed when she realized she was staring at him and hadn’t heard his question. “What was that?” she asked.
    He looked at her with concern. “Does your head hurt? I was asking whether you remember anything about the crash. It seemed like the engine just stalled out, but I don't remember you in the middle of a gear shift or anything.”
    “Gee, thanks for the strong vote of confidence in my driving,” she snapped, more sharply than she’d intended.
    “That's not what I mean. I just think it's pretty weird for a car to turn off for no reason, and I don’t see anything in here that would have made it do that. I'm not saying it was your driving,” he said quickly, catching the narrow-eyed look she angled at him. “It's just strange.”
    “Come on,” he said, wiping his hands on his jeans. “Let's see if that worked.”
    Dee breathed an audible sigh of relief when the engine turned over and roared to life.
    “That's what I thought,” said Mason. “The impact just knocked a couple of things loose, but there wasn't any real damage.” Then he looked at her with one eyebrow raised. “Are you going to be mad if I suggest you let me drive the rest of the way into town? There’s a clinic in Lookout Falls where someone can take a look at that cut.”
    “Just so long as we're clear that you're driving because I'm injured, and not because I can't drive a stick.”
    “It's a deal,” said Mason and held out his hand to shake.
    His warm hand closed fully over hers, and she felt a shiver run