17. Whisper
CHAPTER 17
Whisper
I tried not to look down the edge of the ravine, but my damn eyes betrayed me. My legs threatened to crumble beneath me.
“Hey, stop looking down there.”
I spun to him and flicked my hair from my face. “I’m not crossing that log, Cody.”
“Okay then, what are our other choices?”
The rough bark covering the fat log was riddled with cracks wide enough to swallow my wrist, and the other side was so far away. No way was I going across that death trap.
“There has to be another option. We’ll keep looking for a way down . . . down there.” I forced myself to look at him and not the giant chasm.
His expression relaxed. “We’ve been walking along this ravine all day, and this is the first crossing we’ve found. This is our only way.”
“No.” My chest tightened and fighting the panic clawing at my throat, I folded my arms. “I won’t do it.”
“This is the quickest way to get help for your brother.”
Fury blazed in my chest. “How dare you!”
He shrugged. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“You know it is.” I clenched my jaw so hard I felt every tooth.
He squinted up at the sky. “Look, it’s about four in the afternoon, five o’clock max. We have about two hours of light left. I’d like to be over the other side before dark.”
He offered me a lopsided grin. “And find us some food.”
My gaze careened along the giant gorge again, and my knees wobbled.
“Hey.” His tone softened. “It’ll be easy.”
My anger drained away, but my fear still gnawed at my insides. “I . . . I can’t.”
He curled his hand around my arm. “I’ll be right with you. We’ll do it together.”
I met his eyes, and despite every instinct screaming at me to run, something in his gaze made me want to stay. My heart thundered in my chest. “What if it breaks under our weight?”
“It won’t. This thing is strong enough to drive my tractor over.”
I rolled my eyes at him.
“Come on.” He offered his hand. “Let me show you.”
Sucking in a shaky breath, I placed my trembling hand in his. His warm palm was calloused, yet steady. Gently squeezing my palm, he led me to the log. “See how thick it is.” Cody slapped the rough bark. “This is as solid as steel.”
“You don’t know that.” I tried to swallow but my mouth was dry. “We could get halfway across and . . . and?—”
“Jewel. Listen. I need you to trust me. This is the only way across, and I promise you we will be okay.”
I unclenched my jaw. “You can’t make promises like that.”
“Yes, I can.”
His stunning blue eyes pierced me, and the little gold flecks around his irises sparkled in the afternoon sun.
“Come on. I’ll help you up.” He cupped his hand for me to climb up like I was getting onto a horse.
“For the record, I think this is a bad idea.”
“Duly noted.” He smirked, and I loved how the humor reached his eyes.
My legs were like lead as I put my foot into his hands. He hoisted me up, and I swung my leg over the log. The rough bark dug into my bare thighs.
He smiled up at me. “Okay?”
I looked down at him, but my damn gaze darted to the dizzying drop that made my head spin.
“Do not look down.” He slapped my thigh. “Don’t make me call you lady again.”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I released a nervous giggle.
“Hey, open your eyes and look at me,” he said softly.
I cracked my eyes open, meeting his gaze. His eyes were like a calm ocean against my sea of panic.
“Good.” He stroked my thigh like he was patting a dog. “I’m going to be right behind you, and we’ll slide forward just a little at a time. Okay?”
I sucked in a shaky breath and nodded.
He stepped back a few paces and leaped onto the log like a cowboy jumping onto a horse. He placed his hands on my waist. “See, I’m right here. Ready?”
No, I wasn’t ready. I would never be ready.
I nodded anyway.
“Good, okay, let’s go.” He tapped the top of my shoulder.
I inched forward and the bark scraped against my inner thighs. Bloody hell, my thighs would be red raw by the time I got across. Cody shuffled in behind me. Staring at the far end of the log, I moved again. With each movement as I tried to find a different way forward that didn’t scrape my thighs, Cody offered words of encouragement. “That’s it, Jewel. You’re doing great. Just focus on the end.”
It was interesting to hear him use my real name, and it surprised me how much I liked it. Like he was talking to the real me. I moved again and winced.
“You okay?”
“I’m going to have no skin left on my thighs by the time we get there.”
“Try to lift up as you move.”
“I am,” I snapped.
“Okay. You’re doing great.”
I huffed out a shaky breath. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. You’ve got this.”
Every movement was a little piece of hell. I clenched my jaw and kept going.
“Tell me about your family,” Cody said.
“What?”
“Your family,” he repeated. “Tell me about them.”
I shook my head, not wanting to talk.
“Your brother then. What’s he like?”
“Which one?” The question tumbled out. “I have four.”
“Whoa. Your parents must’ve had their hands full with five kids.”
A bitter laugh escaped me. “It’s just Mom. Dad pissed off with another woman right after Dane was born.”
Cody inhaled a sharp breath. “What an asshole.”
His anger surprised me. I couldn’t turn to see his face, but the heat in his tone was unexpected.
“So, Dane grew up without a father?”
I shifted forward.
“Yeah. We all did. Dad wasn’t in our lives.” Something crawled over my left leg. “Shit.” I flicked away the biggest ant I’d ever seen.
“What?”
A swarm of ants replaced the first.
“Shit. Shit.” Gripping the log with my legs, I flicked them away. Ants raced over my other leg. “Fuck.”
Cody swatted my back. “Shit. They’re bull ants.”
“Oh my god, they’re everywhere.”
As fast as I flicked them off, more appeared.
Cody brushed them off my shoulders.
They crawled up the back of my neck. Searing pain exploded on my outer thigh, and I cried out.
“Fuck. Move.” He grabbed my hips. “Move.”
One stung my ankle. “They’re biting me!” A needle of pain stabbed my lower back. “They’re biting my back!”
Cody lifted my shirt and slapped them away. “Go, Jewel. Move.”
Tears stung my eyes as I pressed my hands to the log and inched forward.
Cody swatted the ants on my shoulder and right hip. “That’s it. Keep moving.”
A sting pierced my knee, and I squished the ant with my palm. “Fucking hell! They’re biting me everywhere.”
“I know they sting like a bitch but they’re not poisonous.” He brushed my back.
“Are they biting you?”
“I’m okay. You’re doing great.”
A sharp, searing pain shot through my thigh, more intense than the other stings. I gasped. Ants swarmed over my bloody gashes from falling down the cliff and scurried onto the open wounds, making my skin crawl.
“Shit, they’re attacking the cuts on my leg.” I whimpered, trying to flick them away. Each touch sent jolts of pain down my leg and up to my groin, but the ants kept coming. “Cody. Help me.”
He nudged forward, pressing his chest to my back.
The pain was overwhelming, burning, stinging.
Cody reached around my side. “Jesus, hold tight and grit your teeth.”
I squeezed my legs around the log.
He brushed his hand over the wound on my thigh and a cry burst from my throat.
“We need to get off here.” He brushed my wounds again.
“Fuck, that hurts.” I gasped. Tears stung my eyes.
“I know. Jewel. Move!”
I couldn’t see through my tears, but every inch of my skin seemed to crawl with ants. Begging for the nightmare to stop, I shuffled faster.
“That’s it.” Cody swiped his hand across my lower back.
A needle of pain stabbed my wrist.
Cody gripped my waist. “You’re nearly there. Come on.”
I gritted my teeth and shuffled forward.
“Good work. You’re doing great.”
Rage burned inside me. Why the hell was this happening? What else could go wrong?
A blinding sting pierced my neck, and I screamed my frustration.
“That’s it. Use that rage. Just four more feet.”
“They’re in my hair.”
“Ah, Jesus.”
Fighting pain and fury, I nudged forward like a machine, blocking out the crawling ants. Determined to get this over with, I moved faster, scaping my thighs along the rough bark.
“That’s it. Go. Go.”
I moved so fast, I didn’t realize I had reached safety until Cody jumped down beside me. I fell sideways, and he caught me and helped me to stand. He brushed my legs, flicking off the ants.
As I swept them away from my arms, ants crawled over his back, too. “They’re on you.”
“I’m fine,” he growled.
A sudden sting lanced my stomach, and I yelped, tearing off my T-shirt. Ants swarmed my skin, and I frantically brushed them off as Cody swept them from my back.
I bent forward, shaking my hair out and a choked gasp lodged in my throat. “Shit, they’re everywhere.”
Cody seized my hand, dragging me away from the infested log. I swatted a few ants from his shoulder, my voice pitching higher. “They’re all over you, too!”
He tore open his shirt, revealing ants scurrying across his chest. “Christ, Cody?—”
Spinning him around, I flicked the ants away, my heart pounding. Angry red welts mottled his back. “You’re covered in bites.” He hadn’t uttered a single complaint. “Are they in your jeans?”
“Are you trying to undress me?” Smirking, he swept his hands along his arms.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
He reached for my wrist and brushed his finger over a red welt near the bone.
Cody had muscles on muscles, and yet his touch was so tender that the lump in my throat grew bigger. “You okay?” He reached for my right arm, checking it too.
My chin quivered. “No.”
“Hey, it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.” A sob burst from my throat.
“Come here.” He pulled me to his chest, and as tears spilled from my eyes, he wrapped his arms around me. His embrace was warm and soft, yet somehow firm and achingly incredible.
Every inch of my flesh seemed to burn, and I still felt like ants were crawling on me, yet Cody’s embrace stole all my attention.
He ran his hand over my hair. “The stinging won’t last too long.”
As I sniffled, his beating heart was an anchor to my swirling chaos.
I forced myself to push away from him, wiping my eyes. “Sorry.”
“No need to be. What you did was incredible.”
I huffed. His gaze swept to my cleavage and an unexpected tingle raced through me. I cleared my throat.
“Sorry.” He picked my shirt off the ground and flicked it a few times. “Here you go.” He handed me the shirt.
As I pulled it on, he tugged on his shirt, hiding his spectacular torso from me. I’d seen my share of men with rippling abs, but the definition in Cody’s muscles was incredible. Must be all that farm work. I didn’t care what he said, Cody was all cowboy to me.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked.
“Oh, umm . . .” Shit! “I was just thinking how lucky I was that I didn’t fall off that log.”
“It was more than luck. You kept a level head. That’s truly something.”
I huffed.
“I mean it. I’m so impressed that you didn’t fall.”
“Me too.” My left arm had three bites, two on my right. More stings dotted my legs and stung my back, but it was the one at the base of my skull that hurt the most. “This is fucked.”
Fighting the urge to scream to the heavens, I stared at the jungle ahead.
It was impossible to see more than three feet into the dense greenery and I had the rotten feeling the worst was yet to come.