Page 10 of Rugged Mountain Man
“In the glove compartment,” I said. “There’s a satellite phone. Call my brother. He’ll come get us.”
Mika shot me a bewildered look.
“Why didn’t you just do that in the first place?”
I huffed a dry, pained laugh. God, I felt so sluggish, like moving through molasses.
“Too stubborn. Besides, the sat phone is for emergencies only, and it wasn’t an emergency until now.”
Mika yanked open the glove compartment and pulled out the satellite phone. Her hands were shaking so bad that she struggled to press the ON button.
“Mika,” I whispered. “Look at me.”
Her gaze darted up to meet mine. Worry clouded her brown eyes.
“This is my fault,” she whispered.
“No, it’s not,” I said, firmly.
“But if I hadn’t—”
“I chose to get you back to town in this storm, Mika,” I said. “It was my decision and I stand by that. My cabin wasn’t built for company. And you would have been miserable, snowed in for days with a man you didn’t know.”
She said nothing, lips pressed into a tight line of chagrin.
“For the record,” I added. “I could have slipped with that chainsaw when I was alone. That would have been worse. So, I’m glad you’re here.”
Mika seemed to relax a little at that. I gave her my brother’s number and she punched it in. I sighed with relief when I heard the phone ringing on the other end of the line.
“Hello?” came Rafferty’s voice.
Mika glanced at me as she spoke.
“This is Mika Hillard. I’m with Cormac.”
Raff paused.
“What’s going on?” he replied, suspicious.
“Your brother has been hurt. He needs medical attention.”
“Damn it,” Raff grumbled. “Give me your coordinates. And tell Mac he could call for a chat once in a while, instead of stressing me out like this.”
Mika shot a confused look in my direction. I told her the coordinates of our location and she relayed them to Raff.
“How bad is it?” he asked.
Mika chewed her lower lip with concern.
“Cormac said he had an accident with a chainsaw.”
“Christ,” Raff hissed. “Please tell me he didn’t cut off his own arm or some shit.”
“No, but he’s…bleeding a lot,” Mika replied.
“Is he conscious?”
She lifted her gaze to meet mine. I nodded. Darkness pulsed at the edges of my vision, but I was holding on. Barely.
