Page 41 of Take Me Now

After I replied to him, I couldn’t help but replay our conversation from earlier. It bothered me that he was leaving now. It didn’t feel right, and I knew I’d miss him.

He was a hotshot firefighter, so I expected him to be gone for stretches of time. I understood that. I was trying so hard to keep my heart out of this.

It wasn’t working.

ChapterTwenty-Eight

COOPER

My head fucking pounded. I leaned back against a rock behind me, reaching for a bottle of water and taking several swallows. Glancing to the side, I caught Rowan’s eyes. “Can you check in the first-aid pack there? I could use some ibuprofen.”

A moment later, Rowan handed over two ibuprofen. “Are you okay?”

“Think so. Just a vicious headache.” I felt like shit, in general, but I was hoping the ibuprofen would knock out my headache.

He studied me for a beat, his gaze concerned. “Well, if you need anything else, say the word.” He glanced at his watch. “We’re supposed to get picked up in two hours.”

Being exhausted at the end of a stretch out in the wilderness fighting a wildfire was par for the course and expected. Fortunately, we had this fire fully contained. The weather was on our side with some rain on the way and the wind changing direction.

Even with the expected exhaustion, this headache took it up a notch. I would be relieved to hop on the helicopter and fly out of here.

“Do you want anything to eat?” Rowan asked next after I chased down the two pills with another swallow of water.

The thing was, I didn’t have much of an appetite. I knew I needed to eat something, though. “I’ll take a granola bar.”

Between that and the ibuprofen, I felt marginally better a short while later. My crew was milling around. Paisley plunked down on the ground beside me, giving me a considering look. “Dude, you look like shit, and that’s saying something. Our standards are so low you could trip over them out here.”

I let out a dry chuckle just as her fiancé, Russell, sat down beside her and laughed at her comment. “You okay, man?” he asked.

“I feel like shit. I think maybe I have a migraine. The ibuprofen is holding it at bay a little.”

Paisley’s brow furrowed. “Hmm. Let us know if you need anything else.”

My thoughts shifted to Farrah. I’d been thinking about her way too much. Fortunately, I didn’t have much downtime. When dealing with an active fire, we hardly had any time. We were all usually so exhausted that sleep came easily.

When the helicopter arrived, my head still throbbed, only slightly less. A few hours later when we landed in Willow Brook, I trudged into the station. I got through my shower and changed into clean clothes, but it took all my energy.

As I was walking through the back area, Maisie happened to glance over, and her gaze narrowed in concern. “Cooper, are you okay?” She hurried over to my side.

“Migraine, I think.” I swallowed, willing the nausea rising in my throat to dissipate.

“Oh no. Do you need anything?”

“Just to get home and go to sleep.”

For the first time since that awkward conversation with Farrah the morning before I left, I couldn’t even really focus on how unsettled I still felt about that. I just needed to get home and go to bed.

I couldn’t really track the details, but the next thing I knew, Beck was loading me in his truck, telling me that Maisie said he had to take me home. When he walked me up the stairs, he offered, “Dude, you look like shit. Get some rest. If you need anything, you know where to reach us.”

I shuffled into my apartment. I kicked the door shut before crawling into my bed, mostly dressed except for my boots and jacket. I woke hours later, shivering and aching all over.

My thoughts were fuzzy. My mind thought I needed to worry about something, but I couldn’t even grasp it.

I fell back into a feverish, achy sleep.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

FARRAH

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