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“There are.” Raine nodded her head. There were still tears running down her face. “There are a bunch of shells that are big enough.”
“Use the poultice to cover up the cut,” I told her. I tried to reach up and wipe the tears away from her face, but I couldn’t make my arm move. Raine reached down and took my hand in both of hers. They were still wet from the cloth she had used to wipe me down. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”
“Okay,” Raine said and nodded again. She looked down to my rough diagram of the flowers and gave my hand a squeeze. “I’ll find them.”
I was out again before my hand dropped back to the ground.
* * * * *
I jerked awake from another nightmare. My entire body ached but no more than it ever did after a weekend of too much booze and a couple of whores. I rolled a little to one side and then the other, trying to stretch out my back and get my bearings.
No booze, no whores, I thought to myself. I had Raine now, and I felt the corners of my mouth turn up a little. I shifted my leg and felt a twinge of pain run all the way up it. I raised my head, looked over my shoulder, and down to the offending thigh. I couldn’t see any wound because it was covered up with some dark fabric, which was also quite wet.
What the fuck were my boxer shorts doing wrapped around my leg?
I shifted, but they didn’t fall off. That’s when I saw some of the rope from the raft also wrapped around my leg, holding the boxers in place.
“Don’t move, damn it!”
I felt soft hands against my shoulders, pushing me back onto my stomach. I looked up to a completely bare Raine – all bare skin and tan lines – crouched over me and adjusting the wrap around my leg.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked, confused and agitated.
Raine’s eyes darted to mine, and I watched her eyes go from intense worry and frustration to instant relief.
“Bastian! Did you just swear at me?”
“Fuck, Raine,” I growled. “Don’t I always?”
She sat back on her heels and graced me with an incredible smile.
“I can’t believe I would ever consider an f-bomb to be the most beautiful word in the world.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
“No, but you have been,” Raine said with another smile. “You had a fever – a really high one, I’m pretty sure. Do you remember any of it? You told me what plants to find.”
“Yeah, I remember that,” I said. I brought my arm up and bent it at the elbow so I could lay my head on it. I closed my eyes and sighed.
“How do you feel?”
“Like shit,” I answered.
Raine’s eyes closed for a moment, and I watched her take a deep breath. When her eyes opened again, all the pain and stress were evident in her irises even amongst the obvious relief. I reached out with my hand and touched her knee.
“It’s okay, baby,” I said softly. I didn’t know if it was or not, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her that. If I had such a bad infection I was out of it with fever, I was lucky to have my eyes open. My eyes being open made me think I’d be all right. If I was going to die, I would have already. “I’m a tough motherfucker. No infection will get me.”
Raine let out a sharp laugh, which quickly turned into sobs. I rolled onto my side and held my arms out. Raine immediately came to me, her head against my chest and her arms wrapped around my neck, just like the very first night in the raft. I held her as tight as I could even though my arms were really fucking sore.
“I was so scared,” she cried against my skin. I just held her and kissed the top of her head, trying not to
pass out while she was still crying, though my body and mind were begging me to do just that. After a few minutes, I felt her relax a little and take a few deep, sniffling breaths.
“How long?” I asked.
“Three days,” Raine said, immediately understanding my question. “I didn’t realize it at first – you were really hot and sweating, but I thought it was because…well, because it’s hot here. I figured you were exhausted after…after…the day before, so I didn’t even think to try and wake you for a while. But then you wouldn’t wake up, and I saw the back of your leg…Oh, Bastian, it looked just awful.”
“Shh,” I whispered to the top of her head, “I got you.”
