Page 50 of When Our Stars Aligned

“Shoo!” I wave my hands. “Get out of here!”

The goose responds with a hiss.

“Come on. Don’t you guys usually fly in flocks?” I look around to see if there are more nearby. Nope, just this guy. “Did you get kicked out of your group or something?”

I take another step forward and the feathery asshole hisses at me again. He spreads out his wings and lifts one leg in what looks like some sort of attack stance.

“Look, you giant cobra chicken,” I try to reason. “Neither one of us is supposed to be on this roof right now, so how about you move on and I’ll do the same.”

The goose lunges towards me with a honk. I jump back, losing my balance. For a moment, I’m weightless feeling zero Gs until I land with an “Oof!”

Rolling onto the ground, I immediately do an inventory of my situation. My ankle hurts like a bitch, so that means I have feeling in my legs; that’s a good thing. I know I didn’t lose consciousness. I try to push myself up, but I can’t get much traction with my one ankle.

“Do not move! I have an ambulance on the way!” Travis yells with his phone up to his ear.

“I don’t think I need an ambulance.”

“The hell you do! You just fell off a roof! How did you even fall?”

“The cobra chicken pushed me!”

Travis’s eyes widen and he whispers something to the 911 operator. I roll my head back and try to think of something that will distract me from my aching ankle. The vision of Aly walking around in my hoodie pops into my head. That takes my mind off the pain for a minute. Then I think of Aly wearing nothing but my hoodie. Yup, that does the trick.

“Dude, what the hell are you smiling at?” Travis’s voice mixes in with the sound of sirens.

The ambulance comes quickly. The paramedics put a neck brace on me as a precaution, but as they wheel me towards the ambulance, I’m reminded of a promise Travis and I made to each other years ago.

“Hey, Travis?” I yell to my best friend.

“Yeah, man?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine, but just in case, you remember our deal?”

“Yeah, yeah, if you die, I’ll delete all your browser history.”

“You’re a good man, Trav!” I’d laugh, but the pain is back. The paramedics close the doors and I watch Travis jump in his SUV through the small window of the ambulance. God, I hate hospitals.

30

Aly

“Oh good! You’re here!” Gabby says as I walk through the door of Jax’s place. She pushes me back out into the hallway but keeps the door wide open. Behind her, Jax sits on his couch with a bandaged foot propped up on the coffee table. It looks like he has bruises and bandages lining his arms.

“Oh my God! What happened?”

“He fell off a roof,” Gabby says casually.

“He…what?” I try to look around her to see if Jax is okay.

“Fell off a roof. I take it you didn’t run into Travis in the parking lot? You must’ve just missed him.”

I shake my head, taking in the crazy sight before me.

“I ran into Jax and his friend Travis in the hallway,” Gabby explains. “Travis saw him fall and called an ambulance. Theyspent a few hours in the ER. Travis had to go take care of his dog, so I offered to help until you got home.”

“He…fell off a roof?”

“Yes, I’ve already said that.” Gabby snaps her fingers in front of my face. “Get it together. He is extremely lucky his injuries are minor. He sprained his ankle and has a few deep cuts that need to be watched. He’s all cleaned up for now. I have to go to work, but Alex and Carter are going to bring dinner for everyone. Alex will check Jax’s wounds when he comes over; he’s a certified paramedic, so he knows what he’s doing. All you have to do is babysit him.”

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