Page 59 of Forever After All

Linc jerked his attention toward his horse.

“He’s fine,” Jess assured.

“I’m not worried about him. I’m worried about you.”

“I think he’s gotten so used to you that he didn’t trust me on his left side. I was backing up to give him some space, and I fell over a rock. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

She closed her eyes against the blinding light. Stringing the words together drained all of her energy.

Jameson readied his pen light. “Look at me.”

She winced as the light sent a jolt of pain throbbing in her head. “That hurts.”

“We need to bandage your head and get you to a doctor. I’m almost positive you have a concussion, and you might need staples for the head wound.”

“Is it bad?” Jess asked as she reached up to feel the back of her head.

Linc’s big hand gently wrapped around hers. “It’s not good, but it’ll probably hurt worse if you touch it.”

Her hand relaxed in his, the warmth spreading like slow-moving lava up her arm. “Okay.”

Jameson put the bandage on the sore spot on her head and wrapped a band around her entire head. Once it was secure, he packed up his bag. “We should go ahead to Cody. If you need staples, they’ll send you there anyway.”

“Brett is meeting us with my truck at the trailhead,” Linc said. He was still holding her hand.

Jameson rested a hand behind her shoulder and offered his other for her to take. “You think you can stand?”

“Yeah.” She took Jameson’s and Linc’s hands and pulled while the men supported her back. Gritting her teeth together and squinting her eyes, she sucked in a slow breath on the way up.

“Is anything else hurt?” Jameson asked.

Jess pointed to her side. “I hit something.”

Linc helped her pull her shirt up, but she couldn’t twist to look at the damage. His quick inhale told her all she needed to know.

Jameson nodded to Linc. “We need to get her on the road.” He looked over to Thea. “Call Ava and tell her to get the ambulance on its way.”

“Ambulance? That’s overkill, don’t you think?” Jess asked.

“Not if you have internal bleeding,” Jameson said as he guided her toward the side-by-side.

“I’ll take Jess with me if you’ll bring Thunder,” Linc said to Jameson over his shoulder.

Jess held onto the handle in the front and the back of the seat. For once, she was thankful she didn’t have to mount a horse. Even with that mercy, she wasn’t looking forward to the ride. If her side hurt when she walked, bumping down the rest of the path was going to be horrendous.

Linc rested his steady hands on her waist as she climbed in. Even with a head injury, she wasn’t immune to his touch. She’d have to be dead not to feel the fire whenever Linc touched her.

By the time she was settled in the passenger seat, each breath was labored, and she was panting like she’d just run a marathon. Linc ran around the vehicle like he was a firefighter on his way to put out the flames.

He had the opposite effect of putting out a fire, and she didn’t hate the sparks that kindled in her middle at the mere thought of Lincoln North. Her attraction to the man beside her was keeping her mind off the damage to her broken body.

Linc turned the vehicle around and grabbed for her hand as they drove down the slant at the base of the mountain. “You okay?”

“I’m okay.” She infused her voice with all the assurance she could muster because each bump in the road made her want to scream.

Brett waited at the edge of the forest in Linc’s truck, but Linc waved for him to follow. They were making it just fine on the side-by-side, and if the ambulance was coming, she didn’t need a truck.

Her head swayed as if her neck couldn’t hold it up anymore. Oh no, she was going to puke her guts up if he didn’t hurry.

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