"Hold on—don't close your eyes!"
Elliot's hands were cold and sure on her shoulders when he wrenched the seatbelt free. Wind slapped Magdalena's face. Glass glittered like something dangerous. The car door jammed; he kicked until it gave.
"Can you move?" he asked.
"Do it," Mag slurred, voice thin and sharp. "Move me."
"One, two, three." He counted without asking which hurt. He hauled her past the dashboard, past the crushed steering wheel, and into the gutter where rain had begun to spit.
Sirens approached. A paramedic shouted something she half-heard. Elliot's jacket was wet and smelled faintly of diesel. He kept talking so she wouldn't blank out.
"Stay with me. Don't—" His words broke when he saw the blood on her temple.
She laughed. It sounded like a dare. "You saved me. That makes you dangerous."
He stared like he'd never been accused of that. He wasn't smiling. He was staring straight, measuring, then sitting back on his heels to check her pupils.
"What's your name?" he asked, businesslike.
"Magdalena Seidel," she said. The name tasted strange, like a headline she couldn't edit. Her hand found his wrist before she could stop it. "And you—what's the man who saved the CEO called?"
"Elliot Okada," he answered. "I'm a student. I was on my bike. Pulling over—"
"Good," she interrupted, suddenly bold. "I'm going to make sure I see you again."
He blinked. A
