Above and Beyond (Twist of Fate 4)

I was happy with either.

So happy, in fact, that I actually carefully straddled his lap before I could even consider what I was doing. I heard his sharply indrawn breath as my ass brushed his hard cock, but he did nothing to stop me as I closed the distance between his mouth and mine. My heart was racing in my chest as I contemplated what I was about to do. But there were no warning bells going off in my head that it was a bad idea or that I’d just end up getting hurt in the end again. No, this time all I could think about was how close I’d come to never being able to taste him again. I wasn't going to squander this opportunity for anything in the world.

Or so I thought.

Because just as my lips were about to brush over his, I heard a loud voice shouting outside the hut.

Tag's voice.

And he was calling our names.

Help had finally come.

"I can walk," I insisted to Min as the nurse parked my wheelchair just outside the hospital doors. My friend leaned over me and got right in my face.

"Lucky Reed, if you move from this chair while I go and get the car, I swear on God's green earth I'm going to tell your parents about the time we mistook their okra plant for pot and tried smoking up their garden.”

Whose bright idea had it been to list her as my emergency contact anyway?

Good thing you did or two very angry men would be here right now instead, I reminded myself. I shuddered at the realization of just how much worse this situation could have been. My parents deserved an explanation, but it was all I could do to handle my own stuff at the moment.

I threw up my hands to show I had no plans of going anywhere. Min smiled in satisfaction and sauntered off to get her car. The second she was out of sight, I sent her a silent apology and got up out of the chair. The nurse had already returned inside, so there was no one there to chastise me. It didn't take me long to reach my destination, the second floor of the small hospital just outside the park.

I needed to see him one time, then I'd be good to go.

It had been less than twelve hours since we'd been rescued from the warming hut, but it’d been the longest twelve hours of my life because I hadn't seen Zach even once in that time. With Zach's injuries being more severe than mine, he'd been taken aboard the first rescue helicopter. There’d been no room for me since there'd already been a couple of other hikers on the chopper heading to the hospital. They too had been caught off guard by the fire and while they'd escaped it, they’d both suffered from burns and smoke inhalation.

My own rescue had come a mere hour later. I'd only had to be treated in the ER for a sprained knee and dehydration. No one had told me anything about Zach until Tag had come to the ER to see me. He’d explained that Zach was undergoing multiple tests to check for any internal injuries and he was also receiving blood and fluids to make up for what he'd lost. While I was being released, Zach would be spending the night for observation. I'd asked Tag multiple times what room Zach was in, but the older man had kept putting me off with statements about Zach being in some other department undergoing tests. It hadn't taken me long to figure out why he'd been so vague about Zach's location.

Zach didn't want to see me.

Even though Tag hadn't confirmed my statement when I’d confronted him with it, it hadn't taken a genius to know what he wasn't saying. I'd been sure that I’d die right there on the spot because another rejection from Zach had been the very last thing I'd expected, but as the hours had dragged on, my brain had started to play tricks on me. I was certain there had to be some misunderstanding because I couldn't fathom how a man who'd nearly died trying to protect me would tell his buddy not to let me see him. We’d been through more things together in the past twenty-four hours than most people went through in a lifetime. For him to reject me yet again just wasn't possible.

It just wasn’t.

That's what I kept telling myself as I slowly began searching the hospital for Zach. It was such a tiny facility that it didn't take long to find him. Especially since I could hear both his and Tag’s voices as I neared the room. I stationed myself near the open door but made sure to stay out of sight. I certainly didn't want an audience when I confronted Zach about him not wanting to see me.