Page 40 of Proof

I was alone.

“JJ—” I croaked before my body shut me down. I couldn’t move. It was like someone had encased me in cement.

“I’m right here, Cass,” JJ responded. “Just open your eyes.”

Weren’t they already open?

JJ’s hand was on my cheek, his thumb rhythmically passing over my skin. I opened my eyes to confirm what I was feeling.

“JJ…” I managed to get out when I saw his gorgeous, mismatched eyes, one a warm brown color with flecks of gold circling the iris, the other as green as the pine trees around us. His dark hair had rays of sunlight washing over it, making the minuscule spots of the dust that danced between his hair and the sun’s rays more visible.

“Thank you,” I whispered to whoever was listening as I closed my eyes long enough to send the message of gratitude to whatever place the silent pleas, joyous celebrations, and everlasting gratefulness went.

“Can you move your arms slowly, one at a time? Slowly, Cass. You’ve been in the same position for a while now,” JJ warned, his soft words still managing to carry the strength of iron.

I didn’t even know if I was following the order until I saw JJ rubbing his hands up and down my forearms. Seconds later, reality knocked the breath from my lungs as one microscopic needle after another was jabbed into my skin from the inside of my body. The harsh awakening of the muscles in just those two limbs was enough to cause a cascade of agony to rush over my body as each part came alive. I would have loved to feel JJ’s hands desperately massaging different parts of my body to help get the blood flowing again, but all I could do wasseehim doing it.

God, karma really was a bitch.

The one time JJ was willingly touching me and I couldn’t feel it.

“Can you stand?” JJ asked as he moved behind me. Enough sensation had returned that I could at least feel his hands gently kneading the spasming muscles between my shoulder blades.

“Yeah,” I bit out even though I wasn’t sure I could do it.

It took several attempts, but as I shifted my legs, one of JJ’s arms went around my waist while the other carefully eased my arm around his shoulders.

“Okay, up,” he urged. The need to remain still and let the sharp needles return to wherever they’d come from was great, but the need to keep JJ from overexerting himself as he helped me off the floor was greater.

A few tries later, I was upright, gingerly shifting my feet back and forth to stimulate the blood flow. It felt like every muscle in my body was locking up tight, making me a prisoner in my own body.

JJ’s soft words of encouragement helped, but it wasn’t until he used his free hand to rub my chest and arms and anywhere else he could reach that I could feel the pain in my upper body beginning to ease as my muscles relaxed one by one.

My legs hurt like hell, especially my knees. When I’d pulled JJ onto my lap the night before, I hadn’t even considered that we’d end up in the position I’d chosen for more than an hour or two. Considering the sun was just coming up, the reality was that I’d been in a kneeling position for half a dozen hours. After having JJ in my lap, I hadn’t wanted to move him again, so I hadn’t shifted to a more comfortable position. I was paying for it now.

“I’m good,” I murmured when my upper body and limbs began to loosen. Unfortunately, as each one relaxed, my body felt heavier. The idea that I was good enough to stand on my own fell by the wayside when I tried to take my first step. My right knee buckled, but I didn’t hit the floor because JJ was supporting most of my weight.

“You’re doing good,” JJ said. For his sake, I hoped that each jarring step I took would make it so I didn’t have to rely on him to hold me up for too long.

“Your head—” I began to say before JJ cut me off.

“Is fine. Focus on each step, Cass. Try stretching each leg before you take a step.”

No way in hell was I going to do that because it would put even more weight on him.

“I said to stretch each leg before you moved forward,” JJ said curtly. He sounded more irritated than pissed. I probably shouldn’t have liked his bossiness so much. I always gave the orders. I never took them.

It took several steps before JJ’s suggestion—no, order—began to pay off. Feeling began to return to the rest of my muscles. The pain wasn’t terrible, but I still wasn’t strong enough to take my weight off him.

I limped across the floor as quickly as I could. I knew our destination was the living room couch, so I only had to get through a couple dozen more steps to reach the old, dusty piece of furniture.

Once we reached the cabin’s entryway, I started to go straight to enter the living room, but JJ shifted us to the left so that we were standing at the base of the stairs leading to the upper floor.

“We’re gonna take this slow, okay?” JJ said.

“Just put me on the couch,” I growled. Between my muscles all trying to remember how to work together and the heavy exhaustion that was consuming me, stairs were a level of humiliation I could do without. I really didn’t need JJ to see me hugging the thin banister as I climbed each step. “The couch?—”

“Shut up, Cass. It’s still my turn to talk, and if I want you to take it fucking slow when we go up these stairs then we’re going to take it fucking slow!”

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