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“Is it that bad?” he sounded like he didn’t really care, as if we were talking about the weather instead of the gash that would possibly get infected and kill him.
“Yes,”
He shrugged, or attempted to.
“How did this happen?”
“The wire fence in the backyard. I fell against it, wrestling with one of Matteo’s men.”
I looked at it. It was an ugly gaping wound. “You need to get this looked at.”
“Joseph will come back with supplies. I’ll be fine until then.”
He settled up against a tree and laid his head back like he was he sleeping. How could he sleep in such pain?
I bit my lip, holding back a sob, but apparently, I hadn’t been too successful. His eyes shot open, and he stared at me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said and then immediately started to cry. I blamed it on the adrenaline wearing off, my hormones, and my life just being an utter mess.
I covered my face and just sobbed, until I heard him softly say, “Come here.”
“No, you’re hurt.”
“Mya, come here.”
“And it’s all my fault!”
“Mya,” he sighed, “Just come here.”
Feeling ridiculous, I shuffled over to him and settled against the tree next to him. “None of this is your fault.”
“If I hadn’t left?—”
“They would have still come for me,” he finished. He took my hand and kissed the back of it, then he wrapped his good arm around me. “Get some rest.”
The next thing I knew, I was asleep with my face in the crook of his neck. When my own snoring startled me awake, I found him staring down at me.
I sat up instantly, “How long was I asleep?”
“More like passed out…just about ten minutes.”
“Is Joseph here yet?”
“In this darkness, it’ll take him a little while to find us?—”
“But—”
“But he will.”
I lowered my head back to his shoulder. His warmth was comforting. He reached up and touched my face. The feel of his fingertips against my face further comforted me.
I looked into his eyes. There was desire there, and something else. Something else that I was afraid to name.
When his lips lowered to mine, I didn’t pull away. I wanted this. I wanted him.
I figured he was in no condition to—but then he used his one good arm to pull me into his lap, and I found that he was hard.