Page 60 of Wish You Were Mine

I removed my shoes, set them aside, and tucked my socks inside them, then slowly approached the stream.

“It’s not too late to back out,” I said, anticipating just how icy the water would be on my warm feet.

“Like hell,” she retorted. “It’s all right if you need to though. I understand. Your old heart might not be able to take it.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Put your money where your mouth is, Braddock.” With that, I stepped into the water and immediately gasped, my breath stuttering. “F-fuck, that’s cold.”

Summer stepped in beside me, and somehow managed not to make a sound. “It’s fine,” she said. “Totally fine.”

I playfully shoved her shoulder. “You’re so full of shit.”

She lifted one foot above the surface and flicked me with water. “Hey, catch.”

“Oh, my God.” I lunged for her, and she sprinted out of the stream, shrieking with laughter. I caught her on the stream bank and tickled her sides until she begged for mercy.

We flopped onto the ground side by side, both breathing heavily, and even though the earth was cool and damp, neither of us seemed in a hurry to move.

After a while, we picked ourselves up, dried our feet as best we could, and put on our soggy socks. The ride back was more of a gentle cruise with the occasional peddling than actual exercise. We were both quiet, but the silence between us was comfortable.

We’d nearly reached the parking area when a loud crack startled us both. I stiffened and looked around. A sound like that could have been a branch breaking off a tree, or a distant gunshot, or any number of other things we needed to be wary of.

Unfortunately, while I was distracted, Summer shrieked, and my eyes snapped forward just in time to see her front wheel hit a branch across the trail, throwing her from her bike.

28

SUMMER

Sharp pinpricks of pain burst along my shins, and I cried out.

“Summer!” Asher leapt off his bike and rushed over to me. “Are you okay?”

I lay in the dirt, my hip throbbing where I’d landed on it, and groaned. “I think so.”

“Where the hell did that branch come from?” he asked, slipping one of his arms beneath me and helping me into a seated position.

“I don’t know. It might have been there from the beginning, but I didn’t notice because of whatever that noise was.”

“It wasn’t there when we arrived,” he said, his gaze skimming down my shins.“It must have fallen since then.”

I shifted my legs so I could see them better and winced. Several tiny stones were embedded in my skin and a large graze stretched down the center of each one, right along the shin bone. My left knee was bleeding from a small cut, and my other ached from the way I’d landed.

“Can you get up?” Asher asked. “Does anything feel broken?”

I answered his second question first. “I don’t think so. Hold on, let me see.”

He offered me his hand and pulled as I tried to stand, but pain tore through my left ankle and I hissed between gritted teeth.

“That doesn’t sound good.” He dropped to his knees and ran his hands over my ankle. “Let me know when it hurts.” He pressed around my ankle joint and then around the top of the foot.

“You know, I thought the first time you felt me up would be sexier than this,” I said, then grimaced as he touched a tender spot. “There.”

He sat back on his haunches. “I think it’s sprained. We’ll take you home, ice it, and keep it elevated. I’m so sorry, Summer.”

I frowned. “What? Why?”

His lips firmed. “Because I told you that you’d be safe with me, and you got hurt.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “There’s no way you could have known that something would make a sound at just the right time to distract me from a fallen branch.”

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