And my hands hurt even worse from how dry the cuts were, and my elbows felt the same way, and I was sure my knees would too, but their joints were so bad, they didn’t have room to wonder about any other pain.
But just as I started heading toward my car, Rhodes slipped his fingers around my biceps and steered me toward his work truck. He didn’t say another word as he unlocked it and dropped the tailgate, shooting me a look over his shoulder as he patted it briefly before heading around to the passenger door.
I went straight for the tailgate and eyed it, trying to figure out how to sit on it without using my hands to boost myself up.
That was how he found me: staring at it and trying to decide if I went face-first and shimmied up on my stomach, I could wiggle around and sit up on my butt eventually.
“I’m trying to figure out how to—okay.”
He scooped me up, one arm under the backs of my knees, the other around my lower back, and planted me on the truck. In a sitting position. Like it was no big deal. I smiled at him.
“Thanks.” I would’ve figured it out, but it was the thought that counted.
It didn’t change the fact he was confusing, but I wasn’t going to pick at that thought any longer. I still hadn’t moved past him calling me beautiful. I probably wouldn’t.
From under his arm though, he set a red kit beside my hip. Wordlessly, those big hands went straight for my foot, and I watched as he undid the lace and tugged the boot off by the heel as I said, “Hold your breath. I’ve been sweating, and I’d like to think my feet don’t smell, but they might.”
That gaze flicked up for a second, and he lowered it again before doing the same to my other boot.
I sighed in relief. Man, did that feel good. I wiggled my poor, tormented toes and sighed again just as he started rolling my pant legs up, stopping the folds just above my knee. His hands were gentle as they did the same to the knee that hadn’t totally torn.
And I watched, silently, as his palm cupped my calf and he extended my leg, the side of it pressing against his hip. He tilted his head and examined it some more before doing the same to the other. He had just started digging through his case when I asked, “Whatcha doing here?”
He didn’t look over as he pulled a couple packets out and set them on top of my thigh.
Not the tailgate. My thigh.
“Someone reported illegal hunting; I was coming to see if I heard anything,” he answered, setting out a small clear bottle too.
I watched him put on some gloves, then take the top off the bottle and give it a swirl. “I thought hunting season hadn’t started yet?”
He still didn’t look at me as he lifted my leg again at an angle and squirted the clear fluid over my knee. It was cold and it stung just a little, but mostly because the skin was broken. I hoped. “It hasn’t, but that doesn’t matter to some people,” he explained, focused below.
I guess that made sense.
But what were the chances…？
Had Amos told him I was here?
He did the same to the other knee, which was scraped up but not as bad.
“Are you going to get in trouble for not going up there?” I asked him with a hiss as it stung too.
He shook his head, setting the bottle aside and nabbing some precut strips of gauze that he used to dab under the wounds, drying them. Rhodes worked on me some more before grabbing a couple more gauze pads and putting them over the treated wounds, taping them down.
“Thank you,” I told him quietly.
“You’re welcome,” he replied, meeting my gaze briefly. “Hands or elbows first?”
“Elbows are good. I need to work up to my hands; I think those will hurt the most.”
He nodded again, taking my arm and starting the whole process over again with the solution. He was drying it off as he asked quietly, “Why are you by yourself?”
“Because I don’t have anyone else to come with me.” With his head ducked, I got a really great view of his incredible hair. The silver and brown mixed together perfectly. One could only hope to gray that nicely. At least I did.
Those almost purple eyes flicked to me again as he applied something to my elbow. “You know it’s not safe to go hiking alone.”
Here was the inner Dad and game warden. “I know.” Because I did. Better than anyone, probably. “But I don’t really have a choice. I texted my uncle and told him where I was. Clara knows too.” I watched his face. “Amos asked when I was leaving this morning. He knew too.”
His features didn’t shift in the slightest. Amos had definitely told him. Right?