Page 30 of Love Me
Colt immediately took Derek’s place above me. Grabbing me under my arms, he picked me up off the ground. I threw my arms and legs around him. “Hold on, babe.” His hands moved to my butt and lower back as he carefully carried me down the rest of the hill. Creed, Isabelle, and Ethan climbed down behind him, their concerned gazes bouncing back and forth from me to the steep terrain.
Once at the bottom, Colt carried me over to the side of the trail and sat me down on a large rock. Creed came up next to his brother and they immediately started looking me over.
“I’m all right,” I said. “That’s the second time today I ran into someone because I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I can’t believe I’ve been so inattentive.”
“You’re bleeding,” Isabelle said with a scrunched-up brow.
“I am?” I said, looking down. Sure enough, my right knee was scuffed up pretty bad. My pain sensors seemed to click on then. My knee began to sting and then my right shoulder, followed by my left elbow. I checked each location and saw they were all scratched up and bleeding.
“Does anything feel broken?” Colt asked, anger tightly woven into his words.
“I’m all right,” I repeated.
“There’s a first aid tent. Maybe you should take her there.”
Everyone turned, revealing Derek standing behind them.
“Why were you just standing there?” Creed asked him.
“It’s not his fault,” I said. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,again.” Although I had a sinking suspicion Gabe had purposely walked into me so he could have an excuse to threaten me.
“I was waiting for my buddy to catch up,” Derek explained, even though he didn’t have to. “He got talking to this girl at the last obstacle.”
“I’m really sorry, Derek. Are you hurt?” I asked.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m good. You took the brunt of the fall.”
At least there was that. I would have felt really guilty if he’d gotten hurt.
“Race is over, Shi,” Creed said.
“There’s only one more obstacle. I want to finish.” I pushed off the rock and began walking. All my cuts stung with the movement. My knee felt weak, which caused me to hobble.
“Shi…” Isabelle was getting ready to argue.
I didn’t stop walking toward the last obstacle. “I’m fine. I got this.”
“Shiloh.” Colt’s voice was stern, but not full-on Hulk. It still made me stop.
I whirled around, staring him down. “I’mfine.”
Ethan grabbed Isabelle’s hand. “Let’s give them a moment,” he whispered to her, and they continued down the trail.
Creed eyed Derek, who was watching us, or more specifically me. “Why don’t you go find your buddy, Derek?” Creed was clearly annoyed with him for some reason, which annoyed me because he hadn’t done anything to be treated that way.
Derek blinked as if he had broken free from a trance. “Yeah. Sorry,” he mumbled and headed back up the hill.
Once he was gone, Creed looked at me. “What’s going on?”
“Just because I have a few scrapes doesn’t mean I’m broken. I can finish the run,” I answered.
“We don’t think you’re broken,” Creed said.
“I’ve been hurt worse than this,” I argued.
Colt exhaled as if to calm himself down. “We know you’re strong, babe. You don’t have to prove that to us.”
“Maybe I’m trying to prove it to myself.” I hadn’t meant to say that. It was as though the words refused to be just a thought or a secret insecurity. They needed to escape—to be heard—so they didn’t continue tearing me up from the inside.
