Page 23 of Lifeline

“Would love to,” he grunted, twisting to look behind him, his elbow digging into my side and his crotch grinding against my thigh. “But I’m stuck.”

“How are you stuck?” I asked, trying my best not to notice his dick against my leg.

“Root,” he grunted, twisting around and sighing. “You’re going to have to help me; I can’t twist like that.”

“Lord help us all,” I muttered, trying to figure out how to get out from under him without adding more suggestive positioning. Only to realize there was no way to get away with it.

“I don’t think it’s time to pray,” he said, and I sighed heavily, not just because he still didn’t know when to stop telling jokes, but also, I knew there was no way I was getting out of this without it being awkward. At least he didn’t seem to notice.

“Quit moving,” I snapped, holding his hips so he stopped thrashing. His head snapped to me, and I kept my eyes anywhere but on his. I had already caught the flash of…something I didn’t want to think too hard about. But at least he wasn’t flailing all over the place, and I could move, pulling my leg out from between his and giving him a moderate shove as I got out from under him with a grunt.

I saw what the problem was immediately. His leg had been shoved up and slightly twisted by a root. With me under him, I had unintentionally been shoving up into the root. Now there was more space, I could yank his leg out and eye him when he groaned. I watched as he picked himself up and sighed when I saw he was favoring his right leg.

“Please tell me you didn’t break something on your first trip out,” I told him with a sigh, already able to hear what Xander would have to say about that.

“I’m fine,” he said, putting pressure on the leg and wincing a little. “It’s not broken. Probably just…twisted. I can walk on it.”

“Good thing Colin’s not here,” I said. “Because he’d probably have a few words to say about you walking on a twisted ankle.”

“It’s a mild sprain at worst,” he said with a frown. I could see the stubbornness setting into his features and bit back a sigh.

“Are you sure?” I wondered, knowing I was pushing things, he could be prickly when you pushed his pride too much. Despite how calm and reasonable he seemed to other people, his pride could still pop up at the oddest times, and when it did, you were inevitably headed straight toward a full-blown attitude.

“I’m fine,” he insisted, then frowned at me.

“Hey, I know how stubborn you can be,” I said, keeping my tone light, almost teasing, because unless he was really feeling himself, that was the best way to keep him from getting pissy…usually.

His frown deepened before he looked away with a sigh. “And when did you ever know me to push to the point of hurting myself? I know how to take a break, and I know what it feels like to sprain my ankle. If Colin wants to yell at me, he can do it when I get back. I don’t need you getting on my ass though; I don’t care if there’s seniority at play here or not.”

“Fine, whatever,” I grunted, not willing to argue with him over something like that. Not when we still had something to do. “Limp around for all I care, but are you able to climb hills?”

He peered up the hill we’d fallen down and grimaced. “Dammit.”

“That’s what I thought,” I said, immediately realizing the mistake when his look turned dark.

“I’m sure Mav will be happy to help,” he bit out, and I knew right then I had officially pissed him off. He wasn’t biting my head off, but he was being mildly spiteful, the first warning sign that I needed to shut my mouth if I didn’t want an argument on my hands.

I was cautious, knowing I could step on the proverbial landmines. The chirp of my walkie sounded, and Mav’s voice asked our location. I’d known being around Aidan again, even in a friendly context, was going to be difficult. Despite us moving on, Aidan was inevitably going to be more sensitive to what I said or did than he would be with anyone else; there were just too many old wounds and triggers to ignore. It had been years since we’d seen one another, and while I had noticed some changes, there were bound to be things I didn’t know about and couldn’t predict.

It was like wandering into a house you used to live in. You still knew which stair squeaked the loudest and expected the light in the bathroom to still flicker, and there was one window that never opened all the way. At the same time, someone had changed the furniture, there was a new stain on the carpet that had a story of its own, and if you weren’t careful, you would walk through the space on autopilot, only to smack your shin on a new coffee table.

Thankfully, I was spared having to say anything else risky by a chirp of the radio and Mav’s voice. “I’ve got him. He’s…fine.”

“He didn’t sound very confident, did he?” Aidan asked wryly, and I snorted.

“Probably means our guy isn’t in any real danger, but something’s up,” I said before picking up the radio. “Where are you?”

Mav shot back the coordinates, and after getting my bearings, I told him we’d be there in ten. It would probably be closer to fifteen, but he didn’t need to know that, and I knew he wouldn’t be counting the minutes anyway since it didn’t sound like there was any immediate danger to worry about.

“Follow me,” I said, hoping there wouldn’t be too much uneven terrain for him to deal with.

“Really? And I thought it would be best if I went wandering off in the direction I think he is. You know, in this massive forest I know next to nothing about,” he said sarcastically, but I could tell his bad mood was disappearing. Back in the day, it had taken me a handful of missteps to learn that when he was firing up for an argument, the best thing was to leave him alone. When he had nothing provoking him, he was as quick to calm down as he was to fire up.

“I suppose that would be one way to learn to navigate around here,” I said as I started walking in the direction Mav had given me. “It wouldn’t be a very effective lesson, though.”

“On account of me getting lost and probably dying horribly, you mean?”

“Exactly. And then we’d have to search for you.”