Page 70 of Chasing Caine
“You have three choices, bella.” I planted my feet, ready to haul her up. “Naked, underwear, or fully clothed.”
I wouldn’t actually throw her in, but the threat would make her laugh. The protest barely escaped her lips before I yanked her hands, prepared to catch her against my body.
Instead, the moment her foot hit the ground at the base of the stairs, she crumpled, crying out.
“Samantha!” I dropped onto the rock next to her, the rocky surface jagged against my bare knees. “Are you alright?”
She clutched at her left leg, head buried against her knee. She whimpered, “Ow, fuck.”
I gripped her shoulders. What else could I do? “Let me help you up.”
Her breaths were slow and ragged, whistling through clenched teeth. “I just need a sec.”
“Mi dispiace.” I was playing a silly game and hurt her. Taking hold under her armpits, I lifted her up to sit on the steps. “What happened?”
She leaned her face back, staring up at the cloudless sky, blinking rapidly, her breaths coming faster.
“Stay calm.” I placed my hands over hers at the base of her calf. “I may need my survival instructor’s advice.”
A smile mingled with the mask of pain. How high was her threshold? Samantha Caine hardly seemed like the type to overreact to a scratch. No, she seemed more the type to refer to a lost limb as a flesh wound. Her reaction to this, the way she rocked back and forth, focusing on her breathing—this was likely bad.
“Is it your ankle?”
She nodded furiously, sniffling.
“Mi dispiace, bella. I’m so sorry.”
The nodding switched to rapid shaking of her head. “I landed funny. It’s not your fault.”
I stuffed our packs behind her, encouraging her to lean back. “Let me look at it.”
She slowly released her grip on the calf, and I took over.
“I need to take the boot off.”
“No.” Clenching the top of her pack in one hand, she used the other to cover her face. “We should leave it on. It’s—” She huffed. “—It’s just twisted. The boot will help support it until we get back.”
“You think you can walk on it?” I held her leg slightly elevated from the ground. There was no one else down there. No one to help. It was getting late and the sun had just passed the top of the cliffs, sinking us into shadow.
She waved me off, breathing out slowly. “I’m sure I can.”
“But then you’ll hurt it more, won’t you?” My voice rose in volume. That was not helping.
“I’ve done it before.” She swatted the hand in my direction, knocking my arm and jostling her foot. “Ow, shit!”
Marone, no. I did this to her. “Oh, bella, I’m so sorry.”
“Stop saying that.” She leaned on the bags, both hands scrubbing at her face, pushing her hat off. “I’ll need your help to climb up to the grotto and hike back to Termini.”
I pulled my backpack out from under her, so she lay further back. I tucked her hat into the pack and withdrew my phone before propping the pack under her ankle. “Is it alright like that?”
She nodded, adjusting against her pack. Snatching my discarded shirt, she held it over her face, breathing deeply. “And I thought tripping on that case was an epic fail.”
“Stop that.” I sat next to her with a sigh and turned on my phone. There had to be some sort of emergency pickup we could arrange either by boat or to pick us up at the top of the grotto. But the phone had no signal. “Where’s your phone?”
“Underneath me. Top pouch.”
I pulled out her phone, which she unlocked, but the same result. No signal. “We had a signal up top. Why not down here?”