Page 28 of Christmas Spirit
Roland’s world went black.
Chapter Sixteen
Georgie panted, his gasps shallow and fast. He lifted a shaky hand to the side of his head, and winced. A lump was already forming. But no blood, thank God.
“Are you—?”
Georgie’s breath stilled in his chest.
Oh no. No, no, no.
Roland was slumped forward over the steering wheel, his head turned towards Georgie, eyes closed, his arms hanging to his side as though he were nothing more than a rag doll. Blood trickled from his nose, dark and thick, stark against his bleached skin.
“Oh God, oh Jesus,” Georgie breathed. “Roland? Roland?” he said, over and over.
Georgie scrambled to remember his first-aid training but whatever he’d learned, it’d scattered to the four winds.
Think. Think. Think.
Pulse. Pulse, yes, that was what he needed to do, he needed to feel for Roland’s pulse.
To feel if he was still alive.
He pressed his fingers to Roland’s neck.
I can’t feel anything I can’t—
And then, small and weak, a fluttering against his fingertips. Relief surged through Georgie, as rising panic ebbed.
“Roland? Can you hear me? I’m going to get you an ambulance.”
He grabbed Roland’s phone from its cradle on the dashboard, where by some miracle it had stayed anchored.
“Fuck it, fuck it,fuck it,” he cried.
Nothing. No signal. Noemergency calls onlymessage.
He threw off his seatbelt. Back to the hotel. Find Nicholas. Get help. He pushed the door open and was hit by a blast of icy air, and a hard, gusty wind, snatching the door from his hand.
Next to him, Roland groaned.
“God, what just happened?” Roland rasped as he pushed himself away from the steering wheel and slumped back into his seat. “My windscreen—”
“Some deer ran out in front of the car, you swerved and lost control. We took quite a hit.”
The initial panic and shock over, Georgie registered the tilt of the car, heavy on Roland’s side as though they had a couple of wheels in a ditch.
“Is anything broken?”
“Just my no claims bonus,” Roland said.
Manic laughter bubbled up on Georgie’s lips, but he swallowed it down. He needed to stay calm, and get them both out of the car.
“Your nose, it’s bleeding. It’s not broken, is it?”
Without thinking, without realising, Georgie swept his fingers across Roland’s lips, smearing the blood that had dripped down. Under his fingertips, he felt Roland smile.
What am I doing?
