Page 33 of Late Nights & Love Lines
Then I see it.
The snake.
Everything moves in slow motion until a scream breaks the silence—my scream.
“No,” I shout, lunging for Kade. I grab ahold of him when he’s less than three feet away from the copperhead that’s clearly agitated. I pull Kade back toward me and away from the snake as quickly as I can, but my foot slips on an old root and we hit the ground.
Hard.
We slide for what my fear says is an eternity, but in reality is probably less than five seconds. Sebastian must have sprinted as soon as he heard me scream because he reaches us just as we stop moving.
I have Kade tucked into my chest. I think I protected him from the worst of the fall, but I can’t be sure.
“Ch—check him,” I gasp. The air hasn’t returned to my lungs yet.
Sebastian lifts Kade easily from my chest, and I heave for oxygen. “Buddy. Are you okay? What happened? Does anything hurt?”
“That was the coolest snake I’ve ever seen,” Kade says excitedly.
“V—venomous. Copperhead,” I wheeze.
“Kade, are you hurt?” Sebastian asks again, and finally I sit up, trying to take inventory of my body, but everything aches. It takes a few more seconds to register the stabbing pain from my ankle, but when I do, I force myself not to whimper.
That’s going to be a bitch.
“Nope.” Kade pops his P with a full-body wiggle.
“Snakes here are dangerous, Kade. That snake was venomous, it has poison that could have killed you. You can’t just charge after things like that.” Sebastian’s voice is tight with fear, and it unlocks a piece of my heart that my own father used to hold.
The little boy’s eyes widen as he registers what his dad is saying, and then his tears fall.
“It’s okay. You didn’t know,” I say. My voice is a little breathless still, but hopefully I’m doing a bang-up job at hiding my pain.
“Are you okay?” Sebastian asks, scanning my body now.
I’m covered in dirt and scratches, but it’s my ankle that throbs. “Yeah. Go ahead, take him down. I’ll be fine.”
Sebastian frowns but does as I ask.
With his back to me, I slowly lift my body from the ground and gingerly take a step on my injured foot. Fuck, that hurts. But it doesn’t feel broken, so I slowly make my way down. It’s only a quarter mile to the beach. Seren isn’t missing those damn horses because of one stupid sprained ankle.
When I reach the bottom of the hill, Sebastian is tossing all the kids’ water bottles into his backpack. If I get my hands on Lucky, I’m going to ring his furry little neck.
“Are you okay?” Seren asks.
“I’m sure I look much worse than I feel,” I say, forcing a laugh.
Sebastian examines me again, but this time his gaze licks flames across my skin.
“I’m fine. A few aches aren’t going to keep me from these horses, and we’re almost to the beach. Let’s go. I’ll pull up the rear.”
“Rowan,” Sebastian groans. He’s not convinced, so I place my hands on my hips and instantly wish I hadn’t when needles press into my skin, but I’ll be damned if I give him the satisfaction of inspecting my injuries when he’s studying me as though I’m his own personal pop quiz.
“When I say I’m fine, I mean it. I’ll need to go a little slower, that’s all.”
He grumbles something about a stubborn ass, then takes Kade’s hand and starts on the trail again.
Seren hangs back with me, which makes it much harder because now I have to hide my limp. Something pokes my side, and I find a few sharp prickers sticking out of my skin. Shit. How the hell do I get those out?
