Page 18 of Skinny

“How are you feeling?” I ask, running an assessing eye over his face. I can immediately see he’s in pain from the frown lines on his forehead and the way he’s squinting in the firelight. When he explains why he’s been helping out, I have to agree with him as much as I hate it. Skinny is probably the only other one, other than Shadrack, with any kind of training to keep us safe. The recruits haven’t got enough experience and are still pretty young. So while I understand, I don’t like it.

Skinny cups my cheek, turning my head slightly towards him, saying, “I love you, Josie. I’m not sure what Shadrack’s worried about, but I know I won’t breathe easy until the sun rises. Whatever happens, you make sure you keep you and our baby safe.”

My heart skips a beat at his words, and they warm me right down to my soul. Skinny has never, not once in all the time we’ve been together, been stingy at letting me know how much he loves me.

Rolling my lips, I blink rapidly to stop my tears before I reply, “I will, I promise. I love you too, so don’t do anything stupid.I have my gun. I know it won’t do much against a big animal, but it’s better than nothing. Having a dart gun with us would have been useful. Next time, we know to be better prepared.”

“That’s for sure,” Skinny agrees wearily as Shadrack walks back to us. He’s exhausted. We can see that clearly. The man has been everywhere tonight, not taking any time for himself as he worked to make sure those under his care are as safe as he can make them.

When he asks Skinny for help, I can see that it’s costing him, so I keep my mouth shut even though worry streaks through me at my injured and hurting husband taking his turn to do a watch. Not that any of us are certain what has Shadrack worried, but if he’s worried then we’d do our best to help him. And for me, that means supporting Skinny and not making it harder for any of them. Still, when Skinny kisses me and tells me to stay by the fire, I can’t help but remind him not to be a hero. I know my husband, and he’d put himself in danger if it meant saving someone else.

I tried my best to stay awake and my eyes trained on Skinny as he walked around our makeshift camp until eventually I couldn’t anymore, and I let sleep take me only to be woken up to screaming, shouting, and gunshots and a kitten who’s clawing at me as she buries herself deeper in my shirt.

The first thing I do is look for Skinny, and my heart settles in my chest when I find him next to me, but he’s already standing, his eyes on the leopard who is dragging one of the recruits away from the fire by his leg. Shadrack is standing firm, gun trained, but he can’t get a clear shot as his recruit screams again and flails his arms.

I stand too, frozen in horror, my heart in my throat as we listen to his heartfelt pleas to Shadrack to shoot.

I’m jolted out of my frozen terror when Skinny runs across the camp shouting and waving his arms, making himself bigger and taking the leopard’s attention from the man she’s draggingaway. He fires a shot over the leopard’s head, and I whisper a hoarse, “No,” my trembling hand covering my mouth as I watch in horror as the leopard abandons its current prey and turns her attention to Skinny and leaps.

“Shoot, Shadrack,” Skinny screams. There’s a loud boom and I sink to my knees as the leopard collides with Skinny, taking him down.

There’s a moment of silence where there’s no movement from Skinny or the leopard. I’m pulled from my stupor by Shadrack running towards Skinny and the downed leopard. Struggling to my feet, I stumble-run after him. My heart in my throat and terror clawing at me, I’m sobbing as I fall to my knees next to him. Not noticing when Shadrack pulls the leopard off Skinny, my attention is focused on him as I run a shaky hand over his still face, then down his body to see where he’s hurt. When his eyes pop open and he asks, “Did Shadrack get it?”

I’m so mad at him. I don’t know who is more surprised, me or him, when I slap him so hard on his cheek his head jerks to the side and a red print of my hand shows prominently on his now white cheek.

“You MOTHERFUCKING ARSEHOLE,” I scream at him. “You nearly got yourself killed. I told you not to be a fucking hero.”

“Damn, baby, are you trying to finish me off?” Skinny mutters, closing his eyes in pain. Shit, I’d forgotten all about his concussion. Careful of the kitten I still have in my shirt, I fall across his chest and sob my heart out, ignoring the murmuring of the rest of the camp as Skinny’s arms come around me, cradling me to his chest as he rocks up with a pained groan and pulls me onto his lap. I stick my face into the crook of his neck, inhaling him, and cry like my heart is breaking. In a way, it was because honestly, for a split second I thought I’d lost him andthe rest of my entire life without him in it flew through my mind, and I’d been devastated.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he whispers to me as my sobs start to peter out.

Sitting up on his lap, I turn and face him, my legs on either side of him. Cupping his cheeks, I ignore the revelry coming from the other guys. Their relief that their friend was okay is clear in their exultations.

I ignore them. I have something to say to my husband first, and he needs to listen to what I have to say. “You can’t be throwing yourself into danger like that, Skinny. I need you; our baby needs you. I know it goes against everything in you, but I thought you’d died and my entire world collapsed for a split second. I can’t do this without you.”

Softly, Skinny answers, “You’re right,” and kisses me. “I didn’t think. I acted. I’m sorry I scared you.”

He takes my mouth in a hard kiss, his fingers gripping my head tightly as he tilts my head and devours my mouth. A whimper leaves me and then a hiss of pain as the kitten I’d forgotten all about makes itself known, not happy with being squashed between us. Skinny immediately pulls away at my hiss and looks down, starting to laugh. I follow his gaze and can’t help but laugh with him; the Serval kitten has her head out of my sweatshirt, her ears have folded back on themselves, and she has a completely disgruntled look on her face at the audacity of the humans that keep disrupting her sleep.

Skinny reaches out and fixes her ears before saying, “I really am sorry, Josie, I’d never do anything to hurt you on purpose.”

I sigh a heavy, heartfelt sigh as I stand and hold my hand out to him to pull him up before wrapping my arms around him and giving him a little squeeze, “I know, and you wouldn’t be mySkinny without a hero complex. But please remember, it’s not just us anymore.”

Hearing footsteps approaching us, I turn my head to see who is coming but leave it against Skinny’s chest so that I can hear his heartbeat—more for comfort than anything else. It’s Shadrack that’s approaching us.

“I’m sorry to bother you both, but I was wondering if Josie could check out my recruit’s leg where the leopard bit him. And he’d like to say thank you to you, Skinny.”

“Of course,” I reply. Removing my arms from around Skinny, I reach into my shirt and take out the kitten, who rumbles grumpily at me as I hand her over to Skinny. She’s probably being handled too much, but I’m not sure what else to do with her. It’s not like I can leave her to roam free just yet. That’s a worry for another day. I walk up to Shadrack and hug him. Ignoring the way he stiffens in surprise, I whisper, “Thank you for saving him.”

His body loses its tension as he awkwardly pats my shoulder, replying, “You’re welcome.”

Letting him go, I walk over to where I’d left the first-aid kit and get the gel to clean my hands before walking over to the mauled recruit. Surprisingly, his heavy-duty boots have protected him from its teeth; however, the claws have badly injured his thigh and calf. I clean up the cuts as much as I can and pack them with the rest of the antibiotic cream and the last of the gauze, warning him he’ll have to go to the hospital because of the chance of infection.

When he said he’d understood and then proceeded to stand up and limp towards where Skinny was standing with Shadrack, I threw up my hands and cleared up the mess I’d made, mutteringunder my breath, “I give up. Boys are stupid. They’re hurt but still have to be heroes.”

We hear the first vehicles just as the sun stains the sky pink and purple as it rises. Bull and the others arrived not long after, and I’d never been so happy to see them in all my life.

I was still good and mad, but not so mad that I hadn’t taken the comfort Skinny had offered when he’d opened his arms up for me as we waited for the MC to reach us. I’d snuggled right in because, as angry as I was at him for putting himself in danger like that, I was also proud of the man he was. I knew the type of man he was when I’d married him; it wouldn’t be right to expect him to change his nature.

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