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“Boss,” Joseph said, “I think we should ditch the car and set up camp somewhere else. What do you think?”
“You’re right. There’s a river not too far from here. We’ll set up camp somewhere near there. Dump the car. Go to town, get some blankets, water, and stuff. Come find us. You know the rest.”
The rest? What did that mean?
To my surprise, Joseph slowed down and let us out near a patch of woods.
“I’ll be back in a few hours,” he said.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said as I stood there with Dario, watching the car drive away.
“Let’s get off the road before someone finds us.”
Without waiting for me, he limped away and I followed behind him, both of us slow and silent.
“You should really see someone. I don’t like the way you’re holding your shoulder.”
“It’s just sore,” he said.
I followed him deeper into the woods. “How is Joseph going to find us?”
Dario seemed to be ignoring me and then said, “Don’t worry about Joseph. He’ll find us.”
It was getting dark, and I was tired. Dario finally must have noticed because he looked back at me and said, “I guess we’ll make camp here tonight.”
And so, we did. Finding a bare spot to sit, I settled down next to a rock and sighed deeply. We were only a step away from a river, and I felt the desire to get clean.
“Go ahead,” he said as if reading my mind. I went toward the river and splashed cool water on my face. A million thoughts raced through my mind. I tried to silence them all.
I could feel the baby turn and gasped for a second, catching my breath.
“You okay?” Dario was there in a moment. Even in his weakened state, I hadn’t heard him approach.
“Yes, just the baby’s doing gymnastics in my belly,” I said with a little laugh, “At least that’s what it feels like.”
Dario didn’t say a word. I looked up at him and found him frowning in the direction of my belly.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded, “Fine.”
I felt weird in his presence now that the adrenaline had worn off. I felt responsible for his wounds. If I hadn’t been so headstrong, so determined to get out, I would have seen that I was walking into a trap.
I’d thought I was smarter than Matteo and his men, that I could outwit them, and instead, I’d walked Dario into a trap that could have gotten the three of us and the baby killed. That made me think, where was Joseph?
Dario walked toward the river, carefully bending down and bringing his hands to the water to splash it on his face.
The blood slowly washed off his hands. As he undid the button on his shirt, he bit back a wince.
“Here, let me help,” I found myself saying.
He didn’t say a word, he just let me slowly undress him. When I finished unbuttoning his shirt, I pushed it down past his shoulders. There was bruising forming across his torso and his chest.
He went to shrug off his shirt but couldn’t.
I found myself rushing to help him. I pushed the shirt down and gently removed it, and that’s when I saw the gash that seemed to circle his left shoulder blade.
“Oh my God, “I breathed.