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That touched her off. She’d found her feelings again. A tidal wave of them. She sagged over him, lifted his hand to her face, and wept.
Cindy rolledup onto her knees, dazed. Amazed to be alive. Stinky black smoke poured from the building. Wind sighed in the trees. Birds twittered. Liv was curled into a shaking ball over Sean’s sprawled form.
Miles swayed on his knees, trying to peel the jacket over his poor squished hand. The arm of his shirt dripped crimson. She stumbled towards him, tearing off her blouse. “Ohmigod you’re bleeding,” she babbled. “Did he shoot you? Oh, shit! I gotta call someone!”
“Davy’s on it,” Miles forced out the words. “He’s getting an ambulance. It’s a compound fracture. No big deal.”
“Oh, shut up. No big deal, my ass.” She wadded up the blouse and pressed it against the dripping splotch. Miles howled. “Christ!”
“Sorry,” she whispered. “Just trying to help.”
“This is so fucking typical.” His voice was thin and breathless. “You always end up buck naked in all your freaky adventures. Put on my jacket, for Christ’s sake. It’s bloody, but it’ll cover your bare ass.”
Cindy rolled her eyes. “I cannot believe that you can still give me shit about my underwear after what just happened to us.”
“Underwear?” He hissed as she applied pressure. “That’s a see-thru doily and some string. But at least one burning mystery is solved.”
“Yeah?” She scowled at him. “And what burning mystery is that?”
“You were telling the truth about your heart-shaped pussy hair.”
She tried to laugh. “Ah. Well. If you’re all intense about my pussy hair, you can’t be too bad off. Lie down before you faint. Macho dweeb.”
Davy and Con barreled down the hill. She and Miles got a quick once-over, and the McClouds went for Sean like a shot, ignoring the two of them. She eased Miles onto his back, trying not to look at his poor mashed hand. It made her want to hurl. “Thanks for coming after me.”
His eyelids fluttered open. “Hmmph.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s nothing personal. You’d do the same for any whale, eagle or panda you met on the street. But still. You know what?”
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
She leaned down and kissed him. Blood, gore and all.
When she leaned back, he had a wondering look in his eyes.
“Don’t you dare feel sorry for me, Cin.” His voice vibrated oddly. “You don’t owe me a goddamn thing. So don’t think you have to—”
She shut him up with another kiss. A deeper, more demanding one. “Shut up, you big dork,” she whispered. “You’re bumming me out.”
They stared at each other like they’d never seen each other before. Until the med techs came, and hustled them all away.
CHAPTER28
Three months later…
Sean’s fingers scrabbled for the spur of black granite. His numb hands were ragged and torn from days of climbing. Pain thudded in his head. Partly altitude, partly the lingering hematomas in his skull. There was a strange, constant hissing in his ears.
He’d ditched his pain meds. Anticonvulsants, too. He wondered, distantly, what it would be like to have a seizure while clinging to a cliff face.
His chest jerked, mirthlessly. At least it would be quick.
It was just past dawn, but the clouds didn’t let much light down. Shreds of mist floated beneath his dangling feet. He clung like a spider to the bottom of a small overhang, hyperextended, muscles burning. Wind roared in his ears. Pellets of hail pinged at his face.
It was the closest thing to peace of mind that he’d found lately.
He heaved and struggled, supporting his weight on one set of trembling fingertips, then the other. Clawing upwards, hand over hand.
He felt no triumph when he flung his leg over the ledge. He flopped onto his back, stared into the sky, panting. Just blank stasis, and that constant hiss. No more desperate effort to expend. He needed another cliff. Quick, before he started thinking. Or worse, feeling.
