Page 56 of Waves

Mary scoffed and turned back to me. “I mean, I know he’s a pretty big guy, Ezra, but come on. The three of us can definitely carry him.”

“No. You need to do it here,” I said, staring down Eric again. “The hospital is not an option.”

“You mean me?” Eric asked while he pointed to his chest.

“I know you can.”

“Ezra, I, I don’t know...” he stammered.

“I actually paid attention when we spoke. You’re a vet tech.”

“I mean, technically, but I haven’t done that in years. Besides, this is a person.”

“Look, I’d do it myself, but I’ll botch him right now.” I held out a shivering hand to prove my point.

Eric let out a sigh and looked at Kai then me. “I don’t even have...”

“Mar, the first aid kit is under the bathroom sink and on the left,” I interrupted.

“On it,” she said before walking down the hall.

Eric squatted beside me. He cringed as soon as he lifted the blanket to get a closer look at Kai’s back. “What happened?”

“I don’t really know. He showed up this way,” I said with a frown.

“And the seal carcass in your garage?”

“Oh, that... Well, we can talk about that later.”

“He better not have you involved with some radical environmentalists or something,” Eric grumbled before he turned to me.

“Whoa, where did that come from?”

“What do you even really know about this guy?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly defensive and scowling.

“Look, I’m only saying this as your friend, Ezra. Something ain’t right about this guy. I mean, he’s nice enough, but I still don’t know a damn thing about him. He’s like a secret agent or something.”

“You’re ridiculous,” I said with a wave of my hand.

“And you’re deflecting,” Eric muttered. He bounced on the balls of his feet while he shifted his weight and looked down at Kai then back to me. “I will do this because you’re my friend, and you asked. But I want answers when he’s awake. Straight from the horse’s mouth, capiche?”

I nodded while I watched Kai steadily breathe in his sleep. When I turned away from him, it was only to see if Mary made any progress. She gave a thumbs-up when she exited the bathroom with the first aid kit under her arm.

Something bit into the flesh of my back, causing me to flinch. I still felt cold as well. I hated being cold. With a groan, I tried to roll and pull a blanket on me higher.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Ezra’s voice drifted over me, hazy and delicate.

I cracked my eyes open to see his face, so very close to mine, hovering over me while he held my head.

“Almost done, babe. You just need to stay still for a little longer,” Ezra said, rubbing my scalp with his fingertips.

I growled under my breath, but I lay still. My memory remained foggy even as I tried to recall exactly how I got here. I remembered being in the water and swimming to the beach down the road from here, then blackness. Probably got run over by a stupid human with a motorboat, because swerving into a defenseless animal was so damn funny. At least Ezra was not like that; he could never hurt a living thing.

“It’s actually not as bad as it looks.”

My back stiffened from more burning while something touched me. I couldn’t turn toward the speaker, but recognized Eric’s voice. What he was doing here, I couldn’t say.