He smooths some strands of hair stuck to my face away and cradles my jaw. It’s an intimate gesture. One that I like, but am too dazed to fully appreciate. “I got you. Okay?”
Oz kicks hard for dry land, dragging me with him. “You jumped toward the rocks. You scared the shit out of me.”
The rocks. A quick snap of my gaze over my shoulder and chills run through me so quickly that I shake. Razor-sharp rocks less than a foot from me. I must have hit the real deadly ones. The quiet danger that you can’t see below the surface.
“Isn’t it always the things that you can’t see that hurt you?” I mumble.
Oz says nothing as he pulls both of us out of the water. He immediately eases down to my leg and blood steadily flows from the long wound.
“That’s a nice gash.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. It’s not deep, but the son of a bitch is going to bleed. Don’t move. I need to make sure your leg’s not broken before you try to walk, but first we need to stop the bleeding.”
Oz strides over to the small shack of a cabin and undoes a combination lock. He disappears inside then returns with a first-aid kit. A curse leaves his mouth when he opens the kit and only finds an ACE bandage. He works it over my leg and I watch as a wet dark line soaks through the material.
Oz pokes and prods my leg, asking if this or that hurts, and after a few minutes declares that he doesn’t believe the bone is broken.
“How do you know how to do this?” I ask.
Oz closes the now empty kit. “My mom’s a nurse and she taught me first aid because of my jobs. I used to lifeguard at the local pool and you know I referee peewee football. She’ll be pissed when she hears that no one has refreshed the supplies. There’s been talk of bad bacteria in the lakes. When we get back to Olivia’s pour some antiseptic over it.”
A part of me sinks with so many revelations. Several weeks here and I’ve never asked what Izzy does or if Oz has had any other part-time jobs. I’ve made assumptions. Lots of assumptions and I need to stop. “I’m sorry.”
“I should have told you which way to jump. This is on me.”
“Not for that...for never asking about you.”
Oz’s eyes meet mine and the surprise in them causes the guilt to fester. “I am sorry.”
He shrugs off my apology and focuses on my shin. His hand still rests on my leg and I wonder if he notices, because I notice. The warmth of his palm seeps through my skin and into my blood.
“I’ve mostly been a dick to you and I’m sure that hasn’t helped,” he says. “Being thrown into this mess has to be hard. No one here is the type to bend easily. Not even for you. Considering the circumstances, you’ve done good.”
Pride tingles through me with his compliment and I smile. Oz’s mouth edges up and it’s the most endearing gesture he’s given me yet. Oz is the epitome of sexy wickedness, but this is the first smile that doesn’t make me empathize with a mouse the cat’s been toying with. It’s one that makes me feel included.
“Hey, Oz,” I say.
“Yeah?”
“Do you remember the conversation we had that night on the porch?”
“You mean the one where you sucked at running away?”
I scowl, he chuckles and I pick up my other foot and shove his shoulder with my toe.
“Yeah, that night,” I answer.
“What about it?” he asks.
“Do you remember how I said I didn’t know if I liked you?”
“Yeah?”
I glance down because shyness overwhelms me. “I like you.”
“Hey, Emily.”
I force my gaze to his and when I do, he performs another heart-stopping brush of his fingers across my leg and the world fades away except for the two of us. “I like you, too.”
A strong wind bends the trees. My hair blows across my face and Oz scans the sky. “We need to go. I’ll get everything together. You stay here and then I’ll carry you to the bike.”
Without waiting for a response, Oz grabs the medical kit and heads back into the cabin.
He likes me. Oz likes me.
As a friend. Just how I like him because I totally meant it as a friend and not as anything else because anything else would be stupid because he’s trouble and I’m leaving soon and he lives hundreds of miles away and I have a plan and a life and he has a plan and a life and we don’t belong in each other’s plan or life and I sort of want to squee because Oz likes me.
I lift my head as the happy feeling fades. The tree. Olivia said I needed to look for a tree. Placing more pressure on my good leg than my bad, I stand and then redistribute my weight.