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I watch as Harper and Austin make their run. Harper’s inner tube smacks into Austin’s but he stays on.
Arie is already belly down on her inner tube and the second the hill is clear, Sienna gives Arie a big push while Everett jumps and belly flops onto his inner tube.
He wobbles a little out of control from the big flop but he manages to stay on.
“Ok, Juliet. Do us proud,” she says, running and jumping onto her inner tube, Camden doing the same thing.
“You’re going to do great. But hold on tight because they don’t call me the Bounce Master for nothing,” Ryker says.
I laugh at the most ridiculous nickname I have ever heard. It’s the least threatening moniker a person could have besides Kitten Whisperer.
“That’s a terrible name,” I tell him.
“Take it up with Everett. He gave it to me when I was six so it hasn’t aged well. But I’ll have you know that back then, the name set fear through all the neighborhood kids who dared to sled against me.”
We walk up to the edge of the hill and watch the Sienna and Camden.
Camden hits Sienna’s inner tube hard and her black tubes spin out of control at the bottom of the hill but she’s still on when she makes it to the bottom.
I won’t be the one to lose this for the team so as soon as Sienna clears, I belly flop onto my tube and start sailing down the hill. The freezing air hits my face, but it feels like victory.
I can’t see Ryker, but I can see the finish line and the girls jumping up and down cheering—until all of a sudden, I see Arie grip Sienna’s arm in horror.
I feel Ryker’s inner tube rather than see it.
And before I know it… I’m sailing through the air without my inner tube.
Wack!
A branch slams against my body, and I’m confronted by the smell of pine trees and wetness under me as I lay on soggy, freezing grass.
“Ouch…” I groan.
I’m in a bush. Ryker slammed me into a bush.
“Shit… Juliet.” Ryker calls out, jumping off his inner tube and barely getting his footing as he starts running to me.
Harper and Sienna get to me first and grab an arm each to help out of the plant.
“Juliet… are you ok?” Harpers asks.
"Yeah, I think so," I say.
They get me to my feet and the second Sienna sees my face, she grimaces.
“Austin, come quick. She might need stitches,” Sienna says, her eyebrows downturned.
She squints at something above my eye.
“Stitches? What’s wrong?” I ask, my eyes bouncing between the two women, but neither of them says anything as they both study something above my eye.
Ryker comes up next and then Austin behind him.
The girls release me to let Austin get a closer look.
“Damn it, I’m sorry Juliet. I couldn’t slow the inner tube down. I didn’t mean to launch you like that,” Ryker says while Austin assesses whatever Sienna and Harper were looking at.
The cold wind swirls around me. It penetrates through my clothes to my skin, everywhere that the wetness has sunken in.
