Page 60 of Nothing But It All
“Damn you, Jack,” I say, laughing through my tears.
“What?” He holds a tree branch back until I pass. “Why ‘damn me’?”
“Because it’s easier when you’re a dick, and I can just be mad at you.”
“Oh, so now you’re mad because I’mnota dick? I’m never going to be able to win with you, am I?” he asks, smiling. “You’re impossible.”
“I’m—shit!”
The toe of my flip-flop gets tangled in the root of a tree sticking up from the dirt. The rubber bends enough to trip me. I launch forward, spiraling through the air, until I land on my hands and knees in the hard, rocky dirt.
“What the hell?” Jack kneels down beside me, helping me turn over onto my butt. “Are you okay?”
I whine, reaching for my ankle. A shot of pain blasts up my calf, and I can feel my foot starting to swell.
Jack presses the side of my foot. I jerk it back and yelp.
“Does that hurt?” he asks.
“No. It feels great.” I pull it farther away from him. “Don’t touch it.”
“How will I know if it’s broken if I don’t touch it?”
“What are you, a doctor now?”
He laughs, shaking his head.
“This freaking hurts,” I say, wincing as a zip of fire makes its way through my foot. “Ouch!”
“What do you want to do?”
I close my eyes and fake cry.
“That’s not going to help,” he says.
I look at him. “You asked what I want to do. In lieu of better solutions, crying is my choice.”
He rolls his eyes and offers me his hand. I take it and let him help me to my feet. He finds my flip-flops and slides them on for me.
“Can you stand on it?” he asks.
I put it down gently. My foot throbs, but the pain isn’t as intense as I feared.
“Can you walk?” he asks.
I take a step forward. It’s more of a hobble than a walk, but it’s forward progress.
“Yeah,” I say, sucking in a breath as a bolt of heat knocks me off-balance. “I can make it.” I take a few more half steps while Jack watches, unamused.
“It will take you all night to get back,” he says.
I stop in the middle of the path. “What choice do I have? Want me to crawl? That’d be great for my knees.”
He smirks. “If you want to do something on your knees, I can give you a better alternative.”
My stomach tightens at the heat in his eyes.
He holds my gaze for a long moment before walking in front of me. “Climb on.”
