Page 26 of Jackson

I let out a little groan of pleasure and tightened both of my hands around the pack of jerky as I stayed very still, not wanting to break the moment—wherever the hell it was leading to.

Around us, our group was already beginning to pack up, our break over with.

“Hey, what’s going on with him?” The crunch of Barlow’s boots were making their way over here.

“Looks like he twisted his ankle,” came Jackson’s easy reply.

Glee shot through me almost instantly.

Jackson’s eyes flitted up to find mine again, searching me for any kind of objection while he continued to massage my lower calf and ankle. He wouldn’t find one, though, because there was no way in hell I was breaking up this moment.

“Jesus fuck, Gonzalez,” Barlow grumbled. “Are you the clumsiest motherfucker on this planet, or what?”

“Guess so, sir,” I said, ripping my gaze away from the man in front of me to focus on my CO instead.

He sighed. “You need to go back to medical?”

“I think he’ll be all right with a little more rest,” Jackson said, leaning back to show Barlow my ankle. “The swelling’s already coming down. Elevating it for another forty-five minutes should do the trick.”

Barlow grunted. “We don’t have forty-five fucking minutes, Hall.”

Jackson made a show of glancing back toward the rest of the group, a frown on his face. My leg involuntarily twitched in Jackson’s hold, causing him to tighten his hands around it to secure me.

Thank fuck that I decided to put my rations pack on my lap or else I’d blow my cover with how turned on this entire interaction was making me.

“Why don’t you all go on ahead? We should be able to catch up by the time you reach the first site.” Jackson’s head swiveled back around to Barlow again.

“He can’t walk on it at all?”

“Not if you want this sprain to turn into a strain.”

Barlow grunted.

“It’s that or I carry him back to medical,” Jackson went on. “Either way, he can’t be on it right now.”

“Shit...” Barlow mumbled.

The man dragged a tired hand over his jaw, scratching at the stubble forming there. He looked back out across the group to where the three other firefighters and several convicts were standing together in a small group, their packs already on.

There were no other COs that decided to come on our hike together, choosing to voluntarily stay behind once they were told how far we’d be going today. I had a feeling that Barlow drew up short in their lotto and hadn’t actually wanted to come with us, but ratherhad toand he was now regretting that choice.

“You think he’ll only need forty-five minutes?”

Jackson nodded. “Should be about that. I’ve got an ice pack in my bag I’ll slap on and see how we do with that.”

Barlow nodded, dropping his hand from his face. “All right. I’ll radio you when we get to the site to see where you’re at. If you do have to head back, you need to let me know.”

Jackson’s thumb stroked along the edge of my sock, sending small pulses of pleasure right to my groin. “Of course.”

As my CO stepped away and headed back to the group, I let myself relax again.

Trying not to read into Jackson keeping me back just yet, I slowly sealed my rations back up and stuffed everything into my pack again but kept it on my lap. Roxy perked up once the group started to file out of our resting area and head down the path again, leaving Jackson and I behind.

“Forty-five minutes, huh,” I said as soon as we were completely alone.

He turned back to smile at me, a rather smug look on his face. “Technically, the protocol is half an hour, but what’s an extra fifteen?”

My stomach clenched with excitement. Both of us knew that this bogus excuse was, well, bogus.

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