Page 88 of Seduced By You

Forcing my lids open, I squinted. My fingertips were red. Rain didn’t have a color. Why were my fingers red?

An iron-like smell filled my nostrils. I licked my fingers. Blood. Groaning, I turned my head.

“Lee.” I reached across the center console. Cold. She was so cold. “Lee. Can you hear me?”

No response. I shifted in my seat. “Argh.” My shoulder was killing me. Was it dislocated? The material of my jacket was torn from elbow to wrist. I blinked again, my vision clearing. Lee’s eyes were closed. She looked as if she was sleeping. Blood coated her chin, and a jagged piece of metal protruded from her right cheek.

What had happened came back to me in a blinding flash. Brakes failing. Car spinning. Careering over the side of the mountain, bouncing over tufts of grass and rocks.

Blackness.

Fuck. We’d crashed.

“Lee. Wake up.” I shifted again, gritting my teeth through the agony ripping through my shoulder. “Christ.” I squeezed her icy fingers. “If you can hear me, squeeze me back.”

Nothing.

Cell phone. We needed help. I patted my jacket pocket. No phone. Where was my phone? Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

“Lee, hold on. Help’s coming.” I touched my fingertips to her neck. A steady pulse. Good. That was a positive sign. “That’s it, baby. Stay with me.”

She muttered something incoherent, and her arm twitched.

“Don’t move, baby.”

A meowing sound came from the back seat. I somehow twisted enough to check it out. Dash’s piercing blue eyes stared back at me from behind the wire of his cage. From this vantage point, he looked unhurt.

“Relax, buddy. Your mom’s going to be fine.”

I returned to my previous position. Nausea rolled through my stomach as the pain kicked in again. I breathed through my nose.

“Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up.”

I unclipped my seat belt. The front of the SUV had crumpled, leaving me little space in the footwell. I strained, searching the floor for my cell. Where the fuck was it?

“Lee. I got you, baby. I got you.”

Exhausted, I sank back against the seat. My heart raced as if I’d run a flat-out sprint.Calm down.If I lost my shit, we really were fucked.

I tried the door. It opened. Cold, mountain air rushed into the cabin. I stumbled outside, my feet sliding on ice. I gripped the top of the door for support. Falling to my knees, I felt around inside the car for my phone. It wasn’t there.

It wasn’t there!

Staggering upright, I shielded my eyes from the too-bright sun and checked out our surroundings. We’d caught a break, if this disaster could be described as such. We’d fallen about ten or so meters, the car stopped by a sizable piece of rock jutting out from the mountainside. If that hadn’t been there, we’d have careered to the bottom and been killed outright.

Would any passing cars see us from the road? I doubted it. Without my phone, the only option left was to somehow haul myself up the mountain. With a busted-up shoulder.

But Lee… Lee was in worse shape. She could have internal injuries.

I didn’t want to leave her.

I had to leave her.

Big picture. Get to the top. Flag down a car. Call for help.

“Don’t move, baby,” I repeated, squeezing her arm. “I’m going to get help.”

She muttered again, but her eyes didn’t open.

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