Page 67 of The Love Position

She pivoted again, her knee buckling with a violent stab of pain.

Instinctively, she let go of the statue and grabbed her knee as she hit the floor, the statue crashing down, straight onto her head.

There were cries and screams, but Sophia wasn’t sure if any had come from her. Assaulted by blinding pain in her head, her knee, her hand and her hip, her mind didn’t know what to focus on.

The statue was lifted off, and she tried to sit up.

‘I’m sorry,’ she slurred.

Embarrassment fought with pain for Sophia’s attention and she moved, crying out as her knee shrieked at her. The room was still dark and blurry and everything she touched felt wet. Did she knock over a vase of flowers as well as the statue?

‘Turn on the lights! Get out of the way!’

Isaac?

Sophia blinked liquid from her eyes. Had someone poured a glass of water over her head?

The lights went on and someone screamed.

Glancing down, Sophia saw why. Blood was everywhere, smeared across the white tiles, soaking her trousers, dripping from her head and hands.

Oh, my god.

‘Sophia! Look at me.’

Isaac was by her side.

She sagged against him, fear, pain and adrenaline winding around her heart until it threatened to burst.

‘Mohan! Get the keys for the speedboat! Anisha! The first aid box!’

‘Isaac,’ she whispered.

‘I’m here. Can you tell me if anywhere else hurts?’

‘My knee. I can’t…’

Her breath was coming faster, lights flashing on and off behind her eyes, the pain escalating like an approaching storm.

She gripped Isaac’s hand as she felt herself sinking.

‘Sophia. Listen to my voice. Stay with me.’

But she couldn’t. She sucked in a panicked breath. ‘Don’t leave me,’ she gasped.

Then everything went black.

Engine noise. Vibration. Pain. Isaac.

Sophia didn’t need to open her eyes to know it was his arms around her. Despite all the physical agony, she felt utterly safe.

She was curled in his lap, her head tucked against his chest, his arms cradling and protecting her. Sophia remembered a small speedboat moored up at the jetty when she’d first arrived at the island. Were they in that?

Opening her eyes, she saw Mohan standing at the helm, one hand on the wheel, the other on the throttle as he stared at the horizon.

‘Sophia?’

She slowly turned her head, wincing at the movement.

---