Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
We were too close to the house.
If the guys came back and spread out, they could easily find us.
So I kept tugging her along with me for the better part of an hour before she let out a loud sob that had me stopping mid-stride and whipping around, finding her eyes painfully red and a few measly tears tracing down her cheeks, likely too dehydrated to manage more than that, given how cracked her lips were even before the run through the woods.
“I… can’t… breathe,” she gasped, falling to her knees, gulping at the air.
Fuck.
I’d pushed her too hard. She was too fragile for this.
I didn’t have a choice, a voice in my head reminded me even as the guilt stabbed at me.
“Arms up,” I said, reaching to grab her wrists myself, tugging them high, opening up her chest. “In through the nose, out through the mouth. You’re alright. You just need a second,” I assured her, even as her gasps made me wonder if I wasn’t right about that.
I needed to get her some water.
She wasn’t going to make it without some.
There had to be a water source around here somewhere.
“Listen, I need to take a look around, see if I can find a stream,” I said.
“Don’t leave me,” she squeaked, eyes huge, panicked.
“I’m not,” I said, holding up my hands. “I am not going to leave you. I just need to look around, and you need to rest for a few minutes. I won’t go far,” I promised her. “I promise.”
“Okay,” she said, but her lower lip wobbled.
“Count to sixty ten times,” I told her. “I promise I’ll be back by then.”
With that, I took off in one direction, counting for myself, so I kept my word.
But there was no luck.
I made my way back to her, finding her breathing even, but she was rubbing at her calves, the muscles likely cramping from the dehydration and exertion.
“Okay. Let’s do that one more time, okay? I need to go in the other direction,” I said, pointing.
“Okay,” she agreed, more comfortable now that I’d proven I would come back.
But no luck in that direction either.
“Okay,” I said when I came back the second time. “How about I give you a piggyback ride while we go this way?” I suggested, pointing in the direction I wanted to continue down, getting further away from the house.
“You can’t carry me,” she insisted, getting to her feet, but there was no missing the wince she made as her legs took her weight again.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve carried grocery bags heavier than you are right now,” I said, turning away from her, and lowering down, cutting off any objections as I waited for her to move closer.
She hesitated, and my gut twisted thinking of all of the reasons she might have to not want to be anywhere near a man, but she did eventually wrap her arms around my neck, then her legs around my waist.
I was right about her weighing practically nothing.
But she still slowed me down a bit, making me do a brisk walk instead of the run I’d preferred.
Still, progress was progress.
And another twenty minutes into our trek, I heard it.
A trickle.
“Thank fuck,” I said, making a beeline for the sound, finding a pretty sizable creek nestled between some heavy tree cover.
“Hop down, Vienna,” I said as I got to the bank.
She wasted no time, dropping down onto all fours, plunging her hands into the water, cupping it, and taking greedy sips.
“I hate to even say this, but go slow,” I said as I lowered down as well, cupping some and drinking.
There was no reasoning with weeks or months of dehydration, though. Vienna plunged her hands into the water over and over, drinking greedily for what felt like ages before, finally, taking a slow, deep breath.
But her hands went in again, this time rubbing the water up her dirty arms, then cupping some to scrub at her face with.
“As much as I want to tell you to go ahead and do a whole body scrub,” I said as she eyed the water with pure longing, “I don’t think you should get too wet right now. It’s going to get cold tonight.”
I hated the way the excitement banked in her eyes, but I was already worried about keeping her warm enough while she was dry. I didn’t want to risk it with her wet.
“Do you want to climb back on?” I asked. “Or do you want to walk for a bit?”
“I can walk if we don’t go too fast,” she said.
We had a solid few hours on the guys at the house. And the woods were too dense even for off-roading vehicles, so there was no way they could catch up to us if we slowed down a bit for a while.
I would insist on carrying her again after a while, then double the pace for a while before night would eventually force us to bunker down somewhere. Though I doubted I would be doing any fucking sleeping until we were in a car or hotel room again.