“Well...a little.”
“I’ve decided to use a different approach.”
“And what’s that?”
“Brutal honesty.”
She bit her lip.
“I’m sick of hiding.” I shrugged. “Crashing here just reminded me how short life is and I’m not going to waste another second of it.”
“Okay...but you do understand that I only want to be friends. I’m not exactly on the prowl for a date.”
“Completely understood.” I lowered my brow. “Doesn’t mean I’m willing to stop at just friends, though.”
“You’re impossible.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
“I can’t deal with this right now. We have to get back to the children.”
Clapping my hands together, I said, “Fine. Deeper introductions can wait. Hand me the stick and I’ll see what I can do about fixing my fucked-up ankle.”
She flinched at my curse but didn’t chastise me. I hid my smile. Already we were compromising. She wasn’t comfortable with me...yet. But I had time. If starvation and dehydration didn’t kill us first, of course.
Estelle passed me the stick. Doubt shadowed her face. “I don’t think I can set your break here. The ground is too uneven. I need to get you to the beach.”
I didn’t see the difference, but I let her be in charge. “What do you suggest then?”
“I need to find a way to get you to your feet.” She rubbed her ribcage. “Normally, I would just do my best to haul you upright, but I don’t think I’d be able to withstand my own pain—let alone you living through the torment.”
“Ah well, can’t have everything. Don’t worry about me.”
I had to admit, the very mention of what lay in my future made me sick. Just a simple poke irritated the bone to the point of agony, let alone standing upright.
Regret filled her gaze. “I shouldn’t have had those painkillers. You need them more than me.”
“Stop that.” Temper peppered my voice. “I wanted you to have them. Don’t bring it up again.”
Her fingers fluttered by her side as she deliberated. My jeans hid the break (apart from the nasty cut on my opposite thigh) but couldn’t hide the fact I sweated with pain. The amount of liquid I’d perspired didn’t help my rapidly increasing thirst.
I’d never broken a limb before. Was the dull throb supposed to be this bad? When would it fade?
It has to fade.
That was the only way I’d be able to survive and ensured I walked off this island—or rather limped off this island.
Estelle murmured, “Wait there.”
“Like I can go anywhere.”
She jogged into the undergrowth before I could stop her.
Goddammit, this girl.
When I first met her, she’d come across shy and aloof; now, the depth of caring she possessed annoyed me because she made me feel as if I was lacking as an average human being.
Crunching and crackling drifted on the stagnant air.
What the hell is she doing in there?
Visions of a cooling sea breeze and fresh air made me eager to leave the soupy humidity of the forest. The more I thought of relocating to the beach, the more anxious I was to go.
Estelle was gone a while.
She finally returned with two more sticks (not they could be called sticks when they were the size of small saplings) of approximately equal length. One had a kink in it but, overall, was straight, while the other had a bulbous end as if it had been a root system once upon a time.
Passing them to me, she smiled. “Here you go.”
My forehead furrowed. “Oh, you shouldn’t have.”
Stop being an asshole.
I made eye contact. “Um, thanks?”
She crossed her arms. “They’re crutches. At least, this way you can move around—or as much as you can on the uneven terrain. They’re probably a bit long but we can fix them once we get to the beach.”
My eyes bugged. “Seriously? Who are you? MacGyver?”
Instead of laughing, her eyes blackened with annoyance. “Instead of belittling my idea, let’s go.” Grabbing the other stick from beside me, she wedged her tiny frame against mine. “Use one of the crutches and put the rest of your weight on me.”
Oh, hell no.
I pushed her away. “No chance. I’ll crush you. Look at the size of you.”
“I can do it.”
“Your ribs can’t. No way.”
“Those painkillers will dull some of it. I might be smaller than you, but I’m strong.” She grabbed my free arm and slung it over her shoulders. Sucking in a breath, her face waxed with pain. “Come on. I don’t want to leave Conner and Pippa any longer than necessary. Who knows if their self-control will obey me when I said not to eat the small amount of food we found.”
“Food?” My stomach grumbled on command. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
She hissed as I gingerly put my weight on her.
I immediately stopped. “This is ridiculous.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Well, no...”
“Exactly.” Tugging on my wrist, she braced herself against the palm tree and yanked upright.
“Christ.” She didn’t give me a choice. I growled and swore as inch by inch she slid my crippled ass higher up the tree trunk and into a wobbling standing position. My muttered oaths became amplified as my ankle twisted, bellowing with torture. “Fuck me.”