Page 102 of Sweet Like Whiskey

“You came,” he says, his words sounding slurred.

I swing my headlamp downward, tracing the steep hill I’m atop toward the sound of his voice. I still can’t see a thing. “You all right?”

He mumbles something, and then, “Yeah. I’m conscious again.”

“Again?” I call, my heart pounding. I take a step forward but pause, realizing the hill is too severe an angle to walk down. I keep my hand on a tree as I peer around, moving the beam from my headlamp in an attempt to locate him.

Fuck, where is he?

“You know that raccoon we freed?” Ash says from somewhere down below. “I think it just tried to kill me. What a thanks.”

He chuckles a little. It’s not a sound I like.

“What are you talking about?” I ask, freezing as I see a hint of movement.

“A raccoon,” he repeats slowly, but I don’t think the pace is for my benefit. All his words sound a little slow. “It ran out on the trail. Shorty threw me. It’s okay, though. Not his fault.”

My chest feels as if it might just split apart.

“Ash, can you wave your hand or something? I can’t—Fuck, there you are.” Everything in me sags in relief when I see his hand waving feebly. “Sunshine,” I croak. “You all right?”

“Think it was the same raccoon?” he asks, not answering my question.

“Probably not,” I mutter, looking at the area around me. I walk along the trail, trying to find somewhere that’s not so steep where I can climb down.

“Hey, is Shorty okay?” Ash calls.

“I think he’s fine,” I answer, not liking the fact that Ash keeps evading my questions, whether intentional or not. “Did you get hurt?” I ask again. “Are you stuck?”

“Don’t come down here, Jack,” he says seriously. “The ground is too soft after all that rain. It’s a painful fall.”

Fuck.

“Did you hit your head?” I ask.

That would explain the slurred speech.

“It’s my shoulder I’m more worried about,” Ash says, almost too quietly for me to hear. “Can barely feel my fingers.”

A pit opens up in my stomach. “Ashley, how injured are you?” I ask roughly, heading back in the direction of the horses. “I need you to answer meright goddamn now.”

“I’mfine,” he says, sounding exasperated.

“I’m coming down.”

“Don’t!” he shouts. “Then we’ll both be stuck. And it’ll hurt a hell of a lot if you fall on me.” A beat passes before he says, “Hey,did you see the donkey? I swear he was here. Unless I imagined it.”

“He was here,” I answer shakily, pulling out my sat phone.

Ash snorts, and then he starts to laugh.

“Why’re you laughing, sunshine?” I ask, needing to keep him talking. I call Colton.

“’Cause it fucking hurts,” he says, still chuckling. “It doesn’t, but it does, you know?”

My hands tremble. “That bad?”

“Pretty bad,” he answers. “Can you believe I fell in a pit? I was just trying to help, and look where it got me.”

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