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Jake opened the door and ushered me inside. There was nothing in the cabin except snow and tree debris that had fallen through a large hole in the roof. Jake helped me sit down and began tearing at his backpack.
My eyes grew heavy, but the second I closed them, Jake shook me. “No, Oz, need you to stay awake.”
“Mmm, tired,” I murmured drowsily. Blessedly, the pain was almost completely gone, but somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that wasn’t a good thing.
“I know you are, but I need you to stay with me for a little bit, okay?” He sounded so desperate that I nodded. But even that took too much effort. I wanted to protest when Jake eased my parka off my wounded shoulder, but all the pain rushed back in that instant. I let out a whoosh of air and stifled a cry.
“Sorry,” Jake whispered, his voice cracking just a bit. “I’m so sorry.” His lips skimmed my temple, even as his fingers worked to expose my shoulder.
“’S not your fault,” I mumbled.
“Here, hold Boo,” Jake said as he took Boo out of his jacket and tucked her into my shirt so her skin was against mine. I welcomed her heat along with her wiggling body as she happily licked my face.
“’M okay, baby girl,” I assured her.
Jake covered me with the same kind of blanket he’d used when he’d found me in the woods when I’d gotten lost. It looked like aluminum foil, but I knew it would heat me like no regular blanket could.
“Bleeding’s slowed,” Jake said. “Three-inch laceration… missed the bone,” he added. I didn’t know what that meant, but I was too tired to ask. “Oz, baby, I have to stitch this to stop the bleeding. It’s going to hurt. I’m sorry.”
“’S okay,” I said in as strong of a voice as I could muster. I hated how upset Jake sounded.
“When I’m done, I’m going to go out and cover our trail while you rest, okay?”
I wanted to argue because that sounded dangerous, but the words escaped me. All the questions I wanted to ask would just have to wait, because I could feel the darkness of sleep threatening to take me.
Up until the very second something sharp penetrated my skin and I buried my mouth against Boo’s small body to keep from crying out in pain.
Chapter 28
Jake
His muffled cries were like a knife being thrust into my body over and over. Thankfully, my training made it possible for my fingers to work independent of my emotions, and I managed to keep a steady hand as I quickly stitched up the wound that was just below his shoulder. Fortunately, the bullet hadn’t hit the joint itself and the bleeding had nearly stopped on its own, so the injury wasn’t as serious as it could have been. But I knew it hurt like a son of a bitch.
After all, it was something I’d experienced firsthand myself. Thank god I’d had the sense to pack my medical bag in my backpack instead of my duffel.
It took just minutes to cover the wound and give Oz a shot of antibiotics as well as some ibuprofen. I kept talking to him the whole time about absolutely nothing, but by the time I got his parka back in place and the thermal blanket wrapped around him, he was out. I put my fingers to his throat and breathed a sigh of relief at how strong and steady his pulse was.
As much as I wanted to stay with him, I knew I needed to get moving. I needed to buy us enough time to get to the nearby weather station, which meant I needed to throw off our attackers for as long as possible. If I was really lucky, I’d get us lost enough that they’d give up completely.
But I doubted it.
“I’ll be back,” I assured Oz, though I knew he couldn’t hear me. Chances were, he’d sleep for the time it took me to cover our tracks. I gave Boo a quick pat. “Watch out for him, sweet girl,” I said softly, then hurried from the cabin. The air was cold, but not bitter, so that was something that would end up working against us. Dangerously cold temperatures would slow our assailants down or turn them back altogether. But with the temperature only slightly below the freezing mark, the fuckers would likely keep coming for us.
Barton was that desperate.
And now that he’d finally found me, I knew he wasn’t going to let me get away.
Fuck, how had I let this happen?
But I knew the answer to that. I’d let it happen because I’d been too weak to do what needed to be done.
Give Oz up.
None of it would have happened if I’d just followed my instincts and never touched him. But I’d wanted those few weeks where I could just pretend I was a normal guy falling in love with a terrific man and dreaming of a future together.
