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“I don’t need a ride from you. I’ll walk home.”
I hear his footsteps on the gravel behind me, and I speed up. “You’re barely standing, Rayne. You can’t hike downhill. You’ll kill yourself.”
“What do you care? It would make your life easier, I’m sure.”
“Picking up your body parts doesn’t sound like an easy job. Get in the damn car.”
He’s catching up to me, and he’s right, I’m barely standing. I have to force myself to pick my feet up off the ground and put one foot in front of the other. If I keep going, I’ll end up dropping from exhaustion before I’m even halfway down to the main road.
Pride is the only thing pushing me on. I can’t stop. I can’t let Kirill know how badly I need him.
“Rayne,” he growls, moving in quickly behind me. “Stop fighting.”
I know he’s reaching for me. As soon as he gets his hand around my arm, he’ll drag me back to the car. So I twist out of his reach.
Instantly, it goes wrong.
My foot slides on the gravel and I pitch sideways. I’m dangerously close to the edge of the overlook. If I fall, I’m sliding a few dozen feet over broken rock, at least. Maybe further, if I don’t smack into a tree first.
I yelp and throw an arm out to catch myself, but my feet are already off the ground. It’s too late.
I scrabble for purchase. Time is moving impossibly slowly, but the world is still a blur of movement. I don’t know which way is up.
A rock slices across my palm and part way up my forearm; a branch scrapes at my neck and cheek. I’m disappearing into the weeds…
When I feel a strong hand around my ankle.
When the world comes back into focus, I’m on my back, skewed at a forty-five degree angle. But I’m still. I’m not falling anymore.
And when I look down the length of my body, Kirill is knelt on the edge of the overlook, silhouetted by a blinding gray-blue sky.
He’s holding me.
He won’t let me fall.
18
KIRILL
When Rayne tripped over the edge, I didn't hesitate. I wasn’t capable of it.
The moment she lost her footing, it was as if I was tumbling through the air, not her. Everything in my life was uncertain for those couple seconds. The axis of the Earth shifted.
Then I caught her.
Now, Rayne is tucked against my chest as I carry her over the threshold into my house. Finally, I can breathe again.
“Show me your hand.”
“What?” She blinks up at me, and I worry she may have hit her head. I asked her about the cut in the car and she seemed coherent enough. Less so now.
“Your hand. Show it to me.”
She lifts her arm, takes one look, and recoils in shock. I don’t exactly blame her. There is a lot of blood.
“Close your eyes,” I instruct her. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Are you a doctor now, too?”
