kit and throw a shit ton more wood into the woodstove. “Take these.” I hand her an antibiotic and a pain reliever.
“What are they?”
“Do you want to die? Because I’d be happy to drag you back out where I found you. If you want to live, take the fucking pills.” I rip clean gauze from its packaging, and once she’s swallowed the pills, I direct her to lie down.
She keeps a cautious eye on me when I pull up her shirt. The wounds on her stomach and ribcage are mostly superficial. I pull her shirt higher, and she fights me without success. She moans in pain as she lifts her other hand to cover her exposed breast. Where the swell of that breast meets her ribs is an angry red and bloody wound.
“Lift your arm.”
Slowly she lifts her arm above her head. “My shoulder is sore. It might be broken.”
“Dislocated.” I go about cleaning away the old blood around the wound to get a better idea of what I’m dealing with.
Her gaze snaps to mine. “How do you… You fixed it?” She flinches, and air escapes her clenched teeth when I hit a sensitive area. “I think I remember. The pain, at least.”
I grab the flashlight in the first aid kit and click it on. “Take this. Hold it right here.”
She’s a horrible help, the beam of light shines just about everywhere except where I need it. I do my best to clean the area, and that’s when I see something dark protruding from the wound. It can’t be one of her broken ribs, it’s not the right size or color.
“You’ve been impaled.”
“Impaled? Are you serious?”
“I’m always serious.” I hop up and grab a wooden spoon and a pair of needle-nose pliers. I pour boiling water over the pliers and hold the wooden spoon handle to her mouth.
“What are you doi—”
I shove the wooden spoon between her molars, and her eyes grow wide and panicked. “Bite. This’ll hurt.”
She makes some unintelligible noise that is easy enough to translate. Something like, “Oh, God, no. Please, wait. Give me one more second—”
I rip a piece of wood the size of her pinkie from her body, and she screams behind the wooden spoon. Tears streak down her face, and her breathing is so quick I think she’s going to pass out. Good. She’s easier to work on when she’s out cold. She manages to stay conscious as I stuff the wound with sterile gauze and cover it with medical tape. Her cheeks are wet with tears and sweat, but she doesn’t make a sound when I remove the spoon from her teeth. “Now eat.”
I reclaim my breakfast seat with my back to her.
“Thank you,” she pants, probably fighting through residual pain.
My jaw locks down on lukewarm oatmeal. I nod and blow out a tense breath.
Stuck with a random woman in my space is bad enough.
Stuck with a dying woman in my space would be worse.
Three
Jordan
Three things I’ve come to learn about the man who saved my life.
One, he’s a grumpy asshole of epic proportions.
Two, he’s scary big. Tall, muscular, and overpowering.
Three, he is not happy about me being here.
As I lie in front of the fire with animal pelts both beneath me and on top of me, I stare openly at the man’s back. His shoulders, encased in brown and black flannel, are as wide as the table where he sits. A black beanie is pulled down over his ears, where dark hair curls up at his neck. When he was close, I noticed that his thick, dark beard, which frames a set of terrifyingly cold hazel eyes, makes him seem more animal than human.
Although he says he has no plans to kill me, I’m not convinced he won’t. He seems to lose his patience every time I open my mouth. He’s also not a gentle man, given the way he maneuvered me around while tending to my injury without a single shit given to my protests. I watched closely for the flare of lust in his stormy gaze when he exposed my bare breast, yet I saw nothing except physician-level focus.
A man living out in the middle of nowhere, away from civilization, and a naked breast doesn’t even catch a first glance. Much less a second.
So what am I dealing with here?
Not the deranged murdering lunatic that I thought.
But a Good Samaritan? A saint? No, he’s far from pious.
Sleep deprived and injured, the pain relief from whatever pills he demanded I take