Page 32 of Cream and Punishment
Pain lanced up my leg. I hissed in a breath and immediately went back to balancing on my right foot.
Max zeroed in on the action. “What is it?”
“My ankle is just a little sore, that’s all.” I laughed awkwardly—a twittery, dilapidated thing that would’ve made me cringe, had I not hurt so much. “I’ll be fine.”
How, I had no idea.
I gingerly tested my weight on my left foot again. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Pain overwhelmed my senses like I’d sent my ankle through a meat grinder.
Well, this complicated things. Maybe I could’ve hopped home on one foot if I didn’t have the donkey in tow. Now? I wasn’t just up the creek without a paddle—I was up the street without an ankle.
“You’re not fine,” he protested, crossing his arms over his chest. “Watching you freeze because you refuse to wear my jacket is one thing. Seeing you in pain is another. Let me help you, Dekker. Please.”
As if on cue, a breeze gusted through the courtyard, increasing my discomfort by a thousand.
I swallowed hard. The backs of my eyes prickled with the threat of tears, as much from the pain as exhaustion and stress.
No. I wouldnotcry. I could handle this. I just might need a little help. A tiny bit. Miniscule, really.
“Okay.” I inhaled and held it for five seconds before letting it out. “You’re right. Can you help me walk?”
That wasn’ttoobothersome, right? Not worse than breaking his engagement, anyway. No place to go from here than up, right?
I hoped.
“I’d be happy to.”
He scooped up Eeyore with one hand and wrapped the other around me. With our height difference, he had to stoop a bit, but angled so I could wrap my arm over his shoulders and loosely around his neck. My entire side burned where we touched. His hand on my waist was a bonfire in the night, unignorable and magnetic.
Sweet honeyed ham, I hoped my deodorant hadn’t worn off yet. It wouldn’t be fair for him to smell like a god while I smelled like the raccoon someone just kicked out of their trash can.
“Is this okay?”
I sucked in a shaky breath, determined to not think about how close our noses were when we looked at each other. Inches. Mere inches separated them. “Yeah. Thanks.”
He seemed just as intent to keep his head facing forward as I was. “In that case, let’s get you home before you turn into a pumpkin.”
I huffed softly, wincing as I hobbled with my injured ankle. “I’m not even Cinderella in this fairytale, I’m the carriage? What gives?”
“Good point. You both lost shoes while going down steps, so you’re basically already there.”
“Hey!” I cuffed him gently in the side with my free hand. Hitting rock-hard muscles only reminded me of the sneak peek I’d gotten of them at the intersection and threatened to make my tongue suction to the roof of my mouth again. “I was hoping you didn’t see that.”
He hummed in acknowledgement. “You’re kind of hard to ignore.”
I frowned. What wasthatsupposed to mean? That didn’t have anything to do with his potential vendetta against me, right? If so, I’d never wished to be more forgettable in my life. “Thanks? I think.”
He chuckled, sending goosebumps across my skin that had nothing to do with the wind. “I mean, Great Lakes cobra run-ins and donkey fur suits in the same week? You know how to have a good time.”
I snorted, this one resembling a phlegmy squirrel. Yikes. I slapped my free hand over my mouth as if that could turn back time and make him un-hear my attempt to commune with tree critters. This lasted all of two hobbling steps before it became too uncomfortable to maintain.
He, of course, smirked the whole time.
“Sorry, I just think that’s the first time anyone has ever said that about me. Like,ever,” I said between panting breaths. Limping with a bum ankle took more energy than I expected. “With good reason, to be fair. I think I’m the least adventurous person ever.”
“And yet here you are, collecting fursonas from emotionally unstable people off the internet.”
I laughed. “All thanks to my friend Hattie. Nowthat’san adventurous spirit right there.”
