American Honey

A knock at my door made me scream out loud. Of course I knew who it was, but his timing was spot on to make me jump out of my skin. Instead of refusing to open the door, I rushed over to it, unlocking it before saying a single sentence to him. Once it no longer separated us I saw him standing there before me, except he didn’t have intent in his eyes. In fact, he had his shorts back on, and a dry shirt. “The roof is leaking again. I think the tarp may have blown open. I’m going to need you to hold the flashlight out the window so I can see what I’m doing.”

I crossed my arms over my chest while I spoke. “Are you sure it’s a good idea? I mean, why don’t we just fix it in the morning. You’ve already cut your leg, and I practically almost died.”

“Your roof has half of a tree through it. We can’t let anymore water get it. The wood will give and you’ll have one hell of a repair to do if it gets any worse.”

“Reed, please.” I grabbed him as he started to walk away. “I don’t want you going out in that storm again. Just stay inside. Your clothes just got dry.” I was almost pleading with him. “We’ve been drinking.”

He finally turned to look at me. “I can handle a little bit of wine. Are you coming with me, or not?”

I huffed and puffed and ended up following him in fear of something happening while I was being hardheaded. Reed wasted no time climbed back out onto the roof. I held the light in his direction, while standing inside of the window, where I couldn’t be harmed. I could hear the sound of the tarp flinging around in the wind, and then I heard something tumbling. Before I could stick my head out of the window I watched the figure of a man rolling past. I screamed out his name, even though I knew it wasn’t helping. The sound of him hitting the ground made my stomach drop.

As fast as I could run, I made my way down the stairs and out the front door, desperately calling his name as I searched for where he was lying. When lightning filled the sky I caught sight of his body, still on the ground.

By the time I made it to kneel beside him I was already crying, thinking the worst. It was known to not move a body to prevent doing even more harm. At first I grabbed his arm and started tapping on it. “Reed. Reed, please open your eyes. Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”

No movement.

I leaned down and tried to listen to his heart beating, but mine was going so fast that I couldn’t tell the difference. Then I leaned forward to see if I could feel his breath on my face. I got even closer trying to feel warmth when the rain was coming down on the both of us. “Erica.” His voice startled me, but brought me instant joy. “If you wanted to be on top of me you could have just asked.”

I backed away from his body with eyes wide open. “What hurts? Are you okay? Do you think you walk?”

I helped him sit up, and could tell that he was struggling. When I got him to his feet he started to fall back down. He’d obviously injured his leg during the fall. “I’m going to need your help.”

He clung to my body as we made our way up the porch steps. I could hear from the sounds he was making that the pain was increasing. Once inside of the house, I got him to lay down on the couch. From there I moved the candle closer to get a look at his leg. “Did you hit your head?”

He shook it. “No. I landed on my feet and then tumbled. My foot twisted when it hit the ground. It’s not broken.”

“It’s still injured. Stay put, I’ll get you something for the pain.” He grabbed my arm before I could get away.

“Wait.” I kneeled down in front of him, giving him all of my attention. “I’ll be fine.”

I grabbed one of the towels and wiped the rain off of his face. “Jesus, I thought you’d died. You scared me.” Then I got angry at him for making such a terrible decision. “You should have never gotten back on that roof.”

“I fixed the tarp. Erica, it’s going to be fine. I’m all right.”

I lightly slapped him on the chest. “Stop acting tough. I know you’re in pain.”

He held onto my arms, keeping me from slapping him again. “You say that like you care. Has my accident changed your mind?”

I began to pull away. “Of course not. Don’t mistake my kindness for something else.”

He laughed and put his hands over his face to rub it. I let my eyes move down his body, taking in the fabric stuck to his skin. More than anything I wanted those clothes to come off. I wanted to know if his abs were as firm as they felt when I touched them in my dream. “I won’t.”

The fact that he wasn’t trying to get under my skin let me know that he was in real pain. I worried that he had a concussion, even though he swore he hadn’t hit his head. “Reed, are you sure nothing else hurts?”

He let out a laugh, probably trying to act tough. “I’m fine, Erica. I didn’t do this to get your attention, you know. I was honestly trying to help. If something was wrong I’d tell you. I think I just need to rest my ankle for a bit and I’ll be good to go. In the meantime, how about some more of that wine?”

“You want us to open a third bottle? After your near death experience I’m a little leery to see what you’ll do after another bottle.”

He chuckled, but I didn’t find it to be funny. He’d scared me, and also made it more obvious than ever that I wasn’t letting him out of my sight. That meant that I was going to be alone with him for the rest of the night. “Just go get the wine. I promise that it won’t make me want to jump your bones, at least not any more than I already have.”

I rolled my eyes, secretly wanting to laugh at his comment. I wasn’t worried about him jumping my bones, since I was the one fighting that battle myself.

I fetched the third bottle of wine and came back into the living room. Reed was sitting up, looking better than just minutes before. I could tell he was stiff from the way he was rubbing his shoulder. After pouring us both a fresh glass, I walked over and handed him one. “Are you sore?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

I sat my glass down and walked toward the back of the couch. He’d risked his safety to help me, so massaging his injury didn’t seem like a bad trade off. Besides, I’d been dying to feel his skin again.