Page 49 of Fourth Point Of Contact

“Yes!”

“Yes, what?” I challenged.

Rolling his eyes, he looked up at me with disdain. “Piper, would you be so kind as to help me up?”

“Of course. Why didn’t you say something?” I bent over and grabbed his arm, then started the tedious process of helping him stand. It was clear the moment he put pressure on his right leg that he was fucked. I couldn’t see through his pants what was wrong, but I wasn’t sure if we should stick around to find out how badly he was injured.

“Fuck,” he cursed, wiping the sweat from his eyes as we finally stood.

“Keep moving or stick around to see if the bear returns?”

The determination in his eyes was admirable, but I didn’t know how far he’d make it with his leg fucked up. “Get me a walking stick.”

“Um…” I removed his arm, then decided maybe I should lean him up against a tree, but then I needed to put his arm back over my shoulder. He groaned the moment I tried to move him, and I considered putting him back down. “Maybe this isn’t going to work.”

“Just find me a fucking stick,” he bit out.

“Geez, alright. Somebody’s grumpy.”

The look he shot me was comical. For a man who was badly injured, you would think he would be just a little more grateful that I was looking out for him. After getting him closer to the tree, I set off in search of a stick large enough for him to use, which, it turned out, was not very close. The further I walked, the more worried I became that the bear would return to eat him while I was gone.

It took me a while to find anything that would be suitable for a walking stick, and by the time I returned, he was back on the ground, panting and sweating profusely.

“So…do you want to stick around now?” I asked, my lips quirking up in a smile.

“I think it’s broken.”

“Really?” I said in mock shock. “Wow, I never would have guessed that. I thought maybe you had a splinter from the tree.” The bear tossed him around like a rag doll. He was lucky he was still alive.

I knelt down beside him, tossing the stick on the ground. The moment I reached for his pant leg, he hissed.

“What are you doing?”

“Call me crazy, but since we’re out in the wilderness all alone, I thought I would see how bad it is.”

“You’re not a doctor. You’re an airline stewardess, and a fake one at that.”

“True.” I cocked my head at him. “Would you like me to leave and see if there’s someone more qualified to help you?”

Man, it really sucked when a man had to admit he was wrong, which was evident by the scowl on his face. “No.”

I held back my smirk and started tugging his pant leg up. The material was already tightening as his leg swelled. Too much longer like this and his jeans would have to be cut off. But that wasn’t the only problem I found. His bone was sticking out just a quarter of an inch through the skin. I was no doctor, but if we didn’t get him to a hospital soon, this could get bad.

Leaving his pants on might help keep the wound from getting infected. However, his leg was so swollen that if I got him someplace to clean it up, I wouldn’t be able to access the wound without hurting him. Plus, the bone could scrape against his jeans, causing more pain.

“I think we should remove your pants.”

“Because that will heal my leg?” he argued. “Good sunshine is a natural healer?”

Narrowing my eyes on him, I let the sarcasm fly. “Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking. If I remove your pants, maybe I could heal you with love and sunshine. Heck, while we’re at it, I could ride your dick out of here like a magic carpet.”

“Piper—”

“Or better yet, I could use it to flag down someone who might be hiking in the woods!”

“That’s not?—”

“How about I slice you open and let the bear come back to eat you? Then I can hitch a ride on his back. You’ll be dead, but at least I’ll be long gone. After all, I’m just full of shit ideas right now.”

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