Page 10 of False Assumptions

Chapter Six

Pain lanced through Layla’s ankle. She’d tripped on a rock poking through the dirt on the trail. Even though she’d managed not to fall on her face, her other foot had come down in a patch of slippery mud, and her ankle had twisted to the side when her full weight had landed on that foot. Something had popped, and now it hurt like hell.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

This was what happened when she paid more attention to the bright green tips on the trees, evidence of new growth starting, than where she stepped on the trail. But those tiny harbingers of spring on its way were too pretty and delicate to resist. At least she was walking on the inside of the trail, so she hadn’t tripped and taken a header down the steep drop off the other side.

Rotating her foot at the end of her outstretched leg, she tried to assess how bad the damage might be. Then she settled her weight gently back on both feet. And hissed at the new shot of pain racing from the outside of her ankle up her calf. Walking on this was going to hurt like a bitch, and she was at least a mile from the parking lot.

Alone.

There’d been two other cars there when she’d arrived, obviously taking advantage of the rare sunny weekend in February like she was, but she hadn’t seen anyone on the trail. She had no choice but to grit her teeth and bear the pain through the trek back to her car.

She made it around the next bend in the trail before tears started prickling behind her eyes with each step on her injured foot. A tree stump and downed tree ran along the trail there. Hobbling over to it, she sat and rested, putting her hurt leg up on the tree next to her, hoping that elevating it for a bit would lessen the throbbing, stabbing pain that pulsed with her heartbeat.

After a few minutes the stabbing had subsided, leaving the dull throb behind. She thought briefly about trying to pack some of the dirty snow around her ankle that still remained under the shade of the evergreens, but she didn’t have any way to keep it in place. At this rate, she’d be lucky to get back to the car before dark. She’d gotten here a little after two and dawdled along the trail for almost an hour before she’d hurt herself, and even though she still had over an hour before the sun went down, stopping every fifty feet for ten minutes meant it would take a long time to finish the loop that would bring her back to the parking lot.

With a groan and a whimper, she stood again, limping some more, gritting her teeth and trying to force herself to go farther before she stopped again. She made it closer to a hundred feet this time, but there weren’t any handy trees to sit on. Hanging onto a tree trunk, she lifted the weight off her ankle for a few minutes before resuming her painful trudging through the lengthening shadows.

When she came to a large rock on the side of the path, she perched on it, even though she hadn’t gone as far as she would’ve liked since her last rest. But it was dry and not covered in mud, and she needed to sit and actually look at her ankle.

Propping it on her knee, she untied the laces of her shoe, relieving some of the pressure from the top of her shoe digging into her now-swollen ankle. Shit. This wasn’t what she needed right now. Whatever was wrong with her ankle, she knew that walking on it like this would just make it worse. And it meant she’d have to drive more or get a ride, which meant she’d be spending more money on gas, on top of whatever it cost to get this looked at. Dammit. And she only had her own stupidity to blame.

The rhythmic thud of footsteps caught her ear. She hadn’t actually expected to meet anyone else on the trail, and a surge of adrenaline spiked through her. Would some random stranger help her? She hoped so, because she didn’t know how she was going to manage to walk the rest of the way, especially once the trail started sloping back up.

An involuntary groan escaped her when a familiar head of dark brown hair and sapphire blue eyes came into view. Her sound drew his attention, but instead of the smile that he turned on all other women, he frowned.

“Layla? What are you doing?”

She sighed, letting her injured foot slide to the ground, wincing even at the slight pressure of resting it there. “I was out for a walk, enjoying the nice weather, and I twisted my ankle. I’m resting for a minute.”

His frown deepened. “Can you walk?”

“Yes.”

He glanced around, then up at the sky where the sun was no longer visible behind the surrounding hills. It wasn’t officially sunset, but down in this gully, the sun hid a lot sooner. “It’s going to be dark down here pretty soon. You shouldn’t stay for too long.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

Now he sighed, like he was frustrated with her.Pssh. What right did he have to be frustrated? She was the one who was hurt and having to deal with her womanizing project partner on her day off.

Her eye roll was interrupted by another wince when she bent to retie the laces on her shoes. And Evan’s observant eyes didn’t miss any of it.

“That hurts?”

Really not in the mood for this, her answer came out as more of a snarl. “Yes, Captain Obvious. I told you I twisted my ankle. It hurts to put pressure on it, especially since I’ve had to walk on it for the last half hour since I hurt it.”

He stepped toward her, and she stood up. His hands went up, palms out. “Hey. I just want to look at your ankle. See what’s going on.”

She crossed her arms and glared at him. “I thought you were an English major. What do you know about twisted ankles?”

He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms to mimic her. “Well, since I’ve played football pretty much my whole life, I’ve experienced a few sprains and strains over the years.”

“So?”

“Seriously? I’m trying to help. Think you could tone down the raging bitch attitude?”

His words combined with the harsh tone that she’d never heard from him before had her jerking her head back. But he was right. He was trying to help, and she was acting horrible. Again.

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