Page 174 of Not Over You

“Are you hurt?”

Her voice trembles when she answers, “I’ve got some scrapes, but the big problem is my ankle. I think it’s sprained.”

“How did you get down there?”

She swipes at her eyes. She’s been crying, which is not like Rachel at all. It speaks volumes about how intense the situation has been. “I slipped off the edge when I was backing away from the cat. Is she gone?”

“For now.” I sit up and shimmy my legs over the edge. “Watch out, coming down.” I drag the broken tree limb down the hillside with me just in case we need it again.

Rocks slide and skitter around me as I half scoot, half fall down to the ledge where Rachel is sitting. She’s holding her ankle with both hands.

She’s got scrapes all over her arms. When I lean in toward her, I see a bruise and a scrape on her cheek. I scoot over to her. “Come here.” I wrap her up in my arms, pull her head under my chin. My hands are shaky as I hold her. My heart is still pounding in my gut.

Rachel wraps her fingers in my shirt. “Thank you for finding me.”

I can’t speak. My throat is clogged up with stinging emotion. If the cat had hurt her, I’d have lost my fucking mind. I’d have jumped on the animal with my bare hands.

I look around, take in the surroundings. This is a bad situation. We’re on a steep slope. There’s no good way up or down from here.

I stroke my hand down Rachel’s hair and brush out a few twigs that have gotten snared in it. My voice is rough as shit when I finally speak. “I’m so damn thankful you’re okay.”

She squeezes me a little harder. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Let me look at your ankle and these scrapes.” I gently press on the bones of her ankle. Swelling is already blooming around the joint. The skin is intact, if there’s a fracture, it’s not exposed. “I’m sorry you’re all banged up. Can you move your ankle?”

“A little. But it’s really starting to hurt a lot now. How are we getting out of here? I don’t think I can walk.”

“I’ll carry you.”

Her eyes go wide. “What?”

“Let’s slide down to that next ledge, then I’ll put you on my back.”

I stabilize her ankle with both my hands as we scoot down the hill. We don’t have to go far to reach another small ledge. I wiggle around to find my footing in the hardscrabble rocks. “Slide over here and climb on my back.”

“Are you sure?”

I motion for her. “Come on.”

She weighs nothing. I adjust her so she’s got her legs wrapped around my hips but her injured left ankle is safe. “You carry the stick. I want both my hands free for balance. Hold on. Here we go.”

It’s not hard to stand up with her on my back. I push a lot of weight around in the gym, so it’s nothing.

We start a slow descent. I pick my way down between a few boulders and grab onto a tree. I know the general direction we need to go. I just hope we intersect the main trail quickly so we can get her to the urgent care fast.

Rachel’s arms and thighs are wrapped tight around me. I’d be enjoying the hell out of it if I weren’t jacked as fuck from adrenaline. Which is good, actually. I want all the advantages I can get right now in case we encounter the big cat again.

I dip below some branches and jump down off a rock. I can see more light coming through the trees ahead. After two hundred more yards we’re back on the wide main trail. Then, we’re quickly back at the trailhead. We still have a couple of blocks to go to the house where we parked. I finally sigh in relief when I see my truck.

She leans back into the passenger seat and carefully angles her leg into the floorboard. “I’m taking you to the Urgent Care Center.”

She opens her mouth and I know a protest is coming out, so I cut it off. “No arguing. I’m bigger than you. And you can’t run away from me right now.”

She sighs. “Bossy.”

“I’m just taking care of you.”

She glances up and her eyes are bright and misty.

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