Page 33 of Fourth Wheel

He stays propped up on one knee, panting. When he looks up at me, he’s impossibly pale.

“You just put my shoulder back in place, Little Wheeler. I’m gonna need a minute to recover unless you want me to pass out on you again.”

I look from the house to the barn. A few people have passed and paid us no mind. But I can’t help but feel the sense of dread that Andrew or one of his goons will be back out here to check on us soon.

“Thirty seconds,” I offer. “Thirty seconds to get it together, then we’re fucking out of here.”

“I hear you,” he groans. “And I heard what Adley said to you.”

We lock eyes, and I see the gravity of the situation on his face.

He heard Adley? So he knows what I did. I gulp down my fear and silently count the seconds as we stare at each other.

As soon as I reach zero in my head, I step toward him.

“Time’s up. We gotta go.”

I offer a hand, which he willingly accepts. But when I try to pull him up, my ankle throbs in rejection of the extra weight.

I hiss through my teeth, and Fielding’s eyes shoot to my face.

“Did they hurt you?”

I shake off his concern and bend down to undo the buckles of my shoes. There’s no way I’m going anywhere fast in these things now. RIP, braided tan wedges. I’m going to have to hold a memorial for this entire outfit after tonight.

“I twisted my ankle earlier,” I explain. “I just need to ice it, then I’ll be fine.”

“Well, aren’t we a pair,” he snickers as he takes a tentative step forward. He looks like shit, but he’s with it enough to hold a conversation.

“Did you say my brother’s on his way?” he asks with a grimace.

Dempsey.Shit.

I hold up a finger to Fielding and pull out his phone from my back pocket as we make our way across the yard.

“Hey, sorry,” I start.

“Fuck, Maddie. I’ve been screaming at you for the last five minutes!”

His fury burns through the line. But my priority was getting Fielding up and moving—not giving him a play-by-play.

“Relax, Haas. We’re good. Where are you?”

“I’m two minutes away. So he’s okay? He’s walking? Did he say you’re hurt?”

I ignore his questions and go into no-nonsense mode. “I’ll send you a pin so you can find the house. Pull up to the driveway so we don’t have to walk any farther than necessary.”

“Mad—” he starts, but I end the call.

“Here ya go.”

I hand Fielding his phone, and he turns it over twice in his hand.

“Wait, is this… How the hell did you get it unlocked?” he marvels.

Uh. About that…

“I used your face to open it, dummy. I had to get a hold of your brother somehow, didn’t I?”