Had to keep moving. If I didn’t walk back into the clearing where Murph was waiting, I’d probably end up at some nice farmhouse where I could call someone to get in touch with Murph. This was just another one of the adventures I’d look back on from my storm-chasing season. I’d be laughing about this with Jackie and Shayla when I was shampooing my tenth client of the day this winter.
“All right…what now?” I said softly to myself, ducking beneath a low tree branch.
I slowed down as I saw a steep ravine ahead. When I got to the edge of it, I looked over at the small creek running through the bottom of it.
One misstep could send me sliding down there, so I stepped back. I turned to head the other direction and felt movement by my feet.
It was a snake. Not just a snake, a big one, and it was looking at me. I screamed and jumped away, panic sending my heart rate into a tailspin.
I lost my balance and tripped over a rock. My ankle twisted, wedged between the rock and a tree trunk. I’d fallen over it, and my weight pulled me down the steep hill, my ankle breaking free as I tumbled head over feet.
The trip to the bottom took only a few seconds. I landed near the creek, my lower legs and feet in the water.
I caught my breath and ran my hands over my head, neck, chest, and legs, searching for damage. Nothing but soreness and a few scrapes.
My left ankle was another story. It was throbbing with the worst pain I’d ever felt. I scooted myself back, cringing as I dragged my legs from the water.
One way or another I had to get out of this ravine. I turned onto my stomach and crawled, digging my elbows and knees in and dragging my lame ankle. The pain brought tears to my eyes. I stopped, panting with exertion.
The bright sunshine wasn’t breaking through the canopy above anymore. It would be dark soon. My fear turned into terror. If only I had my phone.
They’ll come looking for me, their fifth member who can’t even pee without things turning disastrous.
Would Aiden be worried about me? They probably all would be, but he was the only one I pictured as I rolled over and pulled myself into a sitting position. My ankle was on fire. I knew I should take off my shoe and sock and assess it, but I couldn’t. From how swollen it already was, I knew it wasn’t good.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Staying calm was important. I’d never been in a more vulnerable position, but help would come. Hopefully I hadn’t gotten so turned around that it would take them a long time to find me.
All I could do was wait.
Chapter 27
Drew
We were a couple hours away from the campground and I was lost in thoughts of Drew when Tex spoke.
“Uh…Murph just texted and said he needs our help.”
“With what?”
“I don’t know. He just says to call him.”
I pushed a couple buttons on my truck’s Bluetooth and dialed him. The ring of his phone echoed in my silent truck cab.
“Aiden,” he answered. “I need you guys to come back here. Drew’s gone.”
I lowered my brows in confusion. “Gone?”
“Yeah.” He sighed into the phone. “We were looking for a gas station because she needed to go to the bathroom. I got turned around and she went into the woods to go. She never came back.”
“How long ago?”
There was a beat of silence. “More than an hour. I looked for her at the edge of the woods but there’s no sign of her.”
“Fuck, man. It’s getting dark. She could be hurt.”
Tex interjected, “How do you hurt yourself taking a piss?”
I glared at him and he gave me an apologetic look.
“We’re on the way,” I said, doing a quick turnaround in a parking lot. “Where are you?”
“I’ll text it to you.”
I pressed my foot down on the gas pedal. “Murph, how the fuck did you get lost with all that GPS equipment in your car?”
He paused before answering. “I’m worried about her, too.”
I took a deep breath and reminded myself to stay on task. Getting pissed and venting wouldn’t help find Drew.
“Call the local sheriff’s department,” I said. “And move your car so it’s pointed at the spot she went into the woods. Turn the lights on and leave them on so she can see them if she’s close by.”
“Okay.”
“Text me your location first.” I pushed the button to end the call and pinched the bridge of my nose.
“She’ll be okay,” Tex said.
“How would you know?” I snapped. “She’s vulnerable out there, wearing shorts and a tank top and probably those damn flip-flops.”
“She always wears tennis shoes when we’re chasing.”
He was right, she did. But my mind was all over the place right now.
Focus, O’Neal. You’ve rescued lots of people from bad spots. This one’s just a lot bigger than you’re used to.
“Why wouldn’t she call one of us?” I handed my phone to Tex. “Call her.”
He did, and my hopes sank when he left her a voicemail.
“I’ve got a bag packed with rescue gear in my truck toolbox in back,” I said. “We’ll both go into the woods in separate directions and search. Hopefully the sheriff’s department can spare some people, too. You’re up for searching alone, right?”
“ ’Course I am. We’ll find her, man.”
“I just hope she’s okay. This wouldn’t have happened if she’d been with me. And she’d have been with me if I hadn’t been such an asshole to her.”
“You can’t blame yourself for this.”
“No, really.” I gave Tex a knowing look. “I wouldn’t have gotten lost looking for a fucking gas station. And if she’d gone into the woods to pee, I’d have been in there looking for her after five minutes. I know how to track. She wouldn’t be lost right now—”
“Stop. We’ll find her and it’ll be fine.”
I nodded. “I hope so. She probably thinks I won’t come since I pretty much told her I don’t care about her.”
Tex laughed softly. “She knows you’ll come, you dumbass. And she knows you care.”
I looked in the rearview mirror and stepped on the gas, pushing the truck up to ninety.
“I’ll be all business when we get there,” I said. “It’s just goddamned hard to be stuck in this truck right now.”
“Murph sent me the location. I’m putting it into the GPS.”
“Sorry if I was an asshole earlier.”
Tex shrugged. “You’re always an asshole. It’s part of your charm.”
I gripped the steering wheel and ran a mental inventory of what I had in my backup rescue bag in the back of my truck. I already knew everything I’d need was there, but it kept my mind busy.
I had to think of something—anything—other than my last conversation with Drew, when I’d told her I was only about sex. I’d been unforgivably cold to her. But I wasn’t even hoping I’d be lucky enough to get her forgiveness right now. I just wanted her to be safe.
Chapter 28
Drew
By the time night fell, I was getting hoarse from yelling Drew’s name. The humidity had given way to cooler temperatures, but I couldn’t bring myself to pull out the jacket in my rescue pack. Drew didn’t have one, and it didn’t feel right to be warm when she wasn’t.
Dried pine needles and sticks on the forest floor crunched beneath my feet. I’d seen animal tracks I didn’t like the size of, but it didn’t look like anything Drew couldn’t fend off, as long as she was conscious.
My red-hot panic upon finding out she was missing was now a frayed, desperate worry. In the back of my mind was the fear that some asshole had grabbed her out here. Maybe even taken her somewhere. Or worse. The thought of discovering Drew’s body wasn’t something I could even consider. I had to keep looking, and hoping.
I’d been a damn fool to think I could push her away and go back to life before her. She was my dream. I hated that my best
friend’s death was the reason my dream had become reality, but life was messy and painful sometimes.
And when things got messy and painful, I wanted Drew to be there for me, just like I wanted to be there for her. Through storms and calm. Ups and downs. Good times and bad.
That sounded a hell of a lot like marriage vows. And I wasn’t breaking out in a cold sweat from it. My only panic in this moment was for Drew’s safety.
Because I loved her.
It explained my urgent desire to push her away. Love was scary as hell. Full of risks. But now that I knew what such a soul-deep burning for another person felt like, I couldn’t walk in the other direction.
I hiked up my pack and waded through a shallow creek, taking out my water bottle and downing a sip. The lukewarm water rolled down my raw throat.
“Drew!” I called. “I’m here. Can you hear me?”
The only response was the hum of cricket song and the call of a nearby bird. I wiped the creek’s mud from my boots on the shore and kept walking.
I had to find her. Fate wasn’t getting Drew. She was mine.
Chapter 29
Drew
The crackle of a snapping twig made me turn in alarm. My heart pounded as I tried to make out the shapes around me. All I had was moonlight, and I couldn’t see much.
It could be an animal, and I wouldn’t see it until it was practically on top of me. My chances of outrunning anything were slim to none. I clutched the big stick in my hand, prepared to fight back as much as I could.
After a minute of waiting, my breathing started to slow. Between the pain in my ankle and my lack of sleep, I was feeling too drained to be on alert every second.
I relaxed my hold on the stick and tried to lie down on my side. Pain shot through my ankle and I gritted my teeth. I’d have to keep sitting.
The longer I went without sleep, the more I wanted to cry. I needed to pee again, but it was impossible with my ankle immobile. Before long I’d have to pee my pants, an option so horribly humiliating it actually made me laugh a little.
The blackness of night faded into gray as dawn arrived. I could make out the shapes around me now. Soon the sun would rise and I’d at least have the comfort of being able to see everything again. And I figured the team would start searching for me at sunrise. I had to keep it together until help arrived.
If they found me sitting in my own urine, well, I’d still be grateful. Though I had no idea how they’d get me out of here. The trees were too dense to carry a stretcher.
I couldn’t worry anymore. I was too exhausted. I closed my eyes and tried to think relaxing thoughts.
Aiden was all I could picture. Holding me close to him while we slowly woke up in the morning. Kissing me in the pouring rain that day. Throwing Murph into the back of his truck as we outran a twister. Grinning at me from the driver’s seat of his truck.
The more I told myself to stop thinking about him, the harder it was. He wasn’t just a sexy man who got my blood pumping. Aiden was so much more to me. He was my comfort and peace. I felt safe with him. I only wished he felt the same way about me.
“Drew!”
My eyes flew open as I heard the faint sound of a man yelling my name. Had I imagined it in my worn-out state?
“Drew! I’m here! Answer me if you can!”
The baritone voice was not my imagination. The man I was daydreaming about was here. Grateful tears flooded out of my eyes as I called back to him.
“Aiden!” My voice came out as a croak. I cleared my throat and yelled, “I’m here! Aiden! I’m in the ravine!”
“Drew?”
The hope in his broken tone brought on full-on sobbing. Leaves crunched and sticks broke on the ground above as he ran closer.
“Careful!” I cried. “Don’t fall. That’s what happened to me.”
His silhouetted form appeared at the top of the hill I’d fallen down. “You okay? I’m on my way down.”
He wrapped something around a big tree trunk, secured it, and pulled on it to test it. I realized it was a rope when I saw him rappelling down the steep ravine.
Within thirty seconds, he was crouching beside me.
“Are you okay?” He cupped my face in his hands. I could just make out his eyes in the muted morning light.
Was I seeing what I thought I was? I had to reach for his cheeks to confirm it. They were wet.
“I’m okay,” I said, my throat tight with emotion. “My ankle’s hurt, but that’s all.”
He put his arms around me and I closed my eyes, pressing my face against his big, solid shoulder.
“I’m so sorry,” he said in my ear. “I said a lot of shit I didn’t mean the other day. I’ve been going out of my mind worrying about you, and knowing I made you feel so bad made it ten times worse.”
“You’re here,” I said, squeezing my arms around his back. “You came.”
“Of course I did. Drew…I love you.”
I pulled back to look at him, shocked. “You…love me? But…?”
“I know.” He cringed. “The other day when you said it comforted you to know you were the last woman Colby made love to, it ripped me in two.”
I ran my fingers over his stubbled cheek and into his hair, wishing I could see his eyes better right now.
“Aiden, no. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I’ve been telling myself since then that I’ve never been anything but your second choice and I never will be.”
“That’s not true.”
His single-note laugh was humorless. “You know what? I’ve been looking for you all night and I realized as I prayed I’d find you and you’d be okay that I don’t even care. If I’m second choice, I’ll still love you with everything I’ve got. I’ll earn my way as deep into your heart as he was, Drew, if you’ll just…please give me another chance.”
He leaned his forehead against mine, his thumbs stroking my cheekbones.
“You broke my heart,” I said.
“I know. I’m so damn sorry. I swear I’ll never do it again, and I’ll ruin anyone else who ever tries to hurt you.”
“Before you said those things…when we were riding in your truck together the other day…I looked over at you and realized I was falling in love with you. I never thought I’d feel that way about a man again. It’s worth a second chance for me, if—”
He exhaled deeply with relief.
“Aiden,” I continued, “only if you promise me that from this moment forward, you’ll remember this: I want you for you. Not because Colby is gone, not because you were his friend, not because I’m lonely. I’m falling in love with everything you are, and just like I want you all to myself, you’ve got me all to yourself. This is just you and me.”
He nodded and kissed my forehead.
“I’ve wished for second chances in my life, but this is the first time I’ve gotten one,” he said, lowering his lips to mine. “I won’t waste it.”
He kissed me softly. I moved closer to him, wanting the assurance of his solid, warm body against mine. A sharp pain shot through my ankle and I cried out, pulling away from him.
“The ankle?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said weakly. “I can’t even lift it off the ground, it hurts so bad.”
He shrugged off the pack on his back and pulled out a flashlight, handing it to me.
“Shine this on your ankle so I can have a look.”
I did, and he groaned.
“Damn, baby. It’s not good.”
“I figured,” I said. “I’d have climbed out of here if there was any way.”
“I need to take off your shoe and sock.”
I gripped his forearm as he started unlacing my shoe. “Just do it quick and get it over with.”
“Gotta take it slow,” he said. “Otherwise I might hurt it even worse.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, groaning deeply as he eased off my shoe. The sock was much easier. Then he took the flashlight from my hands and silently examined my ankle.
; He took a radio out of his backpack and spoke into it. There was a crackle of static before another male voice answered.
“I’ve got her,” Aiden said. “She fell into a ravine about a mile south and slightly west of the command post. There’s no way we can get a vehicle of any kind in here. I’m gonna carry her out. We’ll need a medic when we get there. Her ankle’s possibly broken.”
I sighed with frustration. Aiden spoke to the man a little more, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Broken, huh?” I said miserably.
“Maybe. It’s not obviously broken, but it could be. Or you’ve got a severe sprain.”
I studied my ankle under the glow of the flashlight. It was swollen to nearly twice its normal size. Both the ankle and the side of my foot were bruised a dark shade of purple.
Aiden pulled a rolled-up elastic bandage out of his pack.
“I’m gonna wrap it to help stabilize it,” he said, moving down closer to my foot. “If you’d fallen in an area without such dense woods, we’d use an ATV or a chopper to get you out of here. That’s not an option, though. I’m gonna carry you out, and it’s probably gonna hurt. I can’t fully immobilize the ankle.”
“I’ll be fine. You came and I’m going to be okay. I’m so relieved, Aiden. I can’t even tell you. Some pain is a small price to pay for causing all this trouble.”
“It’s no trouble, Drew,” he said seriously.
I laughed lightly. “You’ve been looking for me all night. It sounds like other people have, too. And now you have to carry me out of here.”
“There’s nothing in the world I’d rather be doing than carrying you out of here right now.”
I melted inside. How could I argue with that?
“You left your phone in Murph’s car,” he said.
“Oh, good.”
Aiden cocked a brow. “Not as good as having it on you would’ve been.”
“Right…you’re right. I thought I dropped it when I was peeing in the woods. Looking for it is how I got so turned around.”
“You sound like Murph.”
I groaned halfheartedly. “Okay, lost. I got lost.”
“Hey, when you get your phone back, don’t mind the fifty missed calls and thirty-some texts from me.”
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