“Why?”
“Because along with our day, you fucked up your ankle.” With him so close and so clearly pissed off, I held back an eye roll with better ease. “I don’t think you’ll exactly be able to trek through miles of uneven terrain.”
Without waiting another goddamn second, he stood up, lifting me in his arms even as I swatted at his chest with my halfway decent hand.
“Put me down!"
“You can’t walk, Scarlett,” he gruffed, securing me against his chest.
“You haven’t even let me try!”
This man had already jumped off of a fucking cliff to save me today and ended up being deceptively gentle in how he aided my wounds. Having him carry me all throughout the woods was a task beyond kindness that I refused to accept.
“You really wanna walk on that ankle?”
My chin pointed up. “Yes, I do.”
He held my eye, tying our connection up on a string so tight, a pin could bounce off of the tension sewn between us. His nose crinkled almost adorably as he recognized my resilience.
“So fucking stubborn,” he grumbled under his breath as he lowered me to the ground.
He set me down one foot at a time, making sure my right foot was second. I tested my weight, shifting slightly from foot to foot. That twinge of pain from when Reyes checked my ankles simmered up my foot, but I rolled my lips together to keep from showing any signs of it.
“Ready?” I asked him.
He nodded, a smug satisfaction brimming under his expression as he watched me.
Holding back any visible discomfort, I stepped off and only made it one pace before pain splintered up my ankle, and I cried out.
Arms and a hard chest were waiting for me as I fell into him, securing my body against his. One of his arms swept a firm hold around my waist while the other steadied beneath my elbow, offering me support I didn’t fucking want.
“You sure you don’t want help?”
A smirk was so evident in his voice that if I had the physical ability at the time, I might have reached up and slapped it right off of his perfect face.
Huffing out a sigh, I pulled all of my weight back to myself and pushed my chest out high.
“I’m sure.”
Then we shoved off, him hovering too near to me the entire way as I limped my way through the forest.