Page 68 of Barbed Wire Hearts

The log coming for us isn’t a small one. It’s just as big as the one we cling to.

“Levi,” I rasp, my eyes wide.

“Look at me,” he growls. “And don’t look away.”

So I do. I meet his eyes and hold and try not to focus on the log coming for us.

“I’ve got you,” he says, just before the log reaches us.

It slams into Levi’s back, and he grunts in pain, his hold around me weakening so suddenly, I have to scramble to hold on tighter, so I don’t get pulled away.

“Levi!” I cry as he starts to slip.

His pained eyes meet mine, his muscles spasming as he’s shoved against me and the log we’re on starts to violently shake. It’s going to give way. I know it. Levi knows it. The log at his back may be slowly turning, but it hit just hard enough to break more of our log’s hold. And Levi’s back! He’d taken the hit in the same spot from his accident!

He suddenly shoves me up and out of the water despite his failing strength. He grimaces in pain and I know the log must have hit something bad in his back, but he still shoves me up and out of the water, onto the log. I don’t know where the strength comes from now. I can feel his weakness in his hands as he shoves at me, as if he’s using what’s left to get me out.

“Get to the side,” he growls. “You’re light enough.”

“But what about you?” I cry, clinging to him. “I’m not leaving you!”

“Kate, go!”

“Fuck you! I’m not going!” I snarl, before looking over at the bank. “Wiley! The rope!”

He hadn’t been able to throw it before while we were mostly in the water. The river would have swept it away, but now that I’m up on the log, we should be able to reach it before it gets tangled in all the branches. Wiley spins his lasso and tosses it out to me. My fingers nearly miss it as it slips into the water, but I manage to grab it before it gets sucked under completely or tangled. I loop it around Levi’s shoulders quickly, trying not to fall from the log.

“Let me put it underneath your arms.”

“I can’t,” he grunts, his arms shaking. “I can’t hold on. If I move now, I’ll be swept away.”

“You can and you will!” I order, reaching into the water to work the roper further down. “Pull one arm out.”

“Kate—”

“Do it!” I snarl, working it down under one arm. The log shakes violently as I move, and I have to hold on tightly with my other hand. “Now the other one.”

“Get to the side!” he snarls, but he still does what I say, working the rope down despite his loss of strength. “The log, Kate!”

Something cracks and we both look toward the bank where the log is starting to come away. I have just enough time to throw myself at Levi and wrap around him before the log gives way completely and the river sweeps it further out. The rope goes loose and then snaps tightly, tightening around Levi’s rip cage. He yells out in pain, but he doesn’t let me go. He wraps his arms and legs around me as those on the bank start to pull us in. It takes all of them and every bit of muscle they have, but they get us to the side of the bank before they reach in for us. Someone wraps under my armpits and lifts me up and out. They pull out Levi next, dragging him. He shouts again in pain as they position him on the side.

“Your back!” I cry, scrambling over to him. “Levi!”

“I’m fine,” he growls, but it’s not in anger. It’s because he’s clenching his teeth against the pain. “I’m just going to be in a bind for a few days. That log hit me right in my sweet spot.”

I trace my fingers over the scars along his abdomen. “Medicine? Do you have medicine with you?”

He nods. “In the cooler of the side-by-side.”

I rush over to the side-by-side as Wiley and Dakota take over. I flip open the first cooler and find drinks, so I close it and open the other one, rummaging through it until I find a Ziploc bag with medicine bottles in it. I rush back over and open it, falling to my knees beside him.

“Which one?”

Levi grimaces. “The one with a blank lid. Give me two.”

“Do we need to call an ambulance?” someone asks.

“Not for me,” Levi growls. “Check Kate over.”

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