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“No need” He grimaced “Got into a roith some mates and lost”

She pursed her lips at him “Maybe you should rethink your circle of friends”

“I’ll take that under consideration” A ghost of a s his face

She sat back on her heels “As nice as you were to me yesterday, I should leave your sorry tail out here to rot”

“Sorry, love,” he said as his eyes closed and the skin around his mouth turned white, “Couldn’t help myself”

“But now you can?”

“Can we discuss this later?” Once again his green eyes focused on her, and the need to help hiated the desire to leave hi in his own misery

Rose scanned the field To her left it lay ereen tractor was around To her right there oods but it wasn’t deer season, so she couldn’t flag down a hunter

She sighed in resignation “Either I can go get help, or—”

“No!” He struggled to rise,position

“Why not?”

Shaking his head, he waved her question aith his hand “Help me up, Rosebud,” he ordered

She raised her brows and crossed her arms “Ask nicely, Alexander”

“Call rin, “All my friends do”

Well, Sasha sure had a funny way of treating his friends Why couldn’t so on in her life without this Him

“Please?” he asked

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Sasha grunted It was harder than she thought He hated asking anyone for anything He hated being helpless

As she leaned forward to help him, black curls tumbled onto his blood, dirt and God-only-knehat-else-covered chest He had the urge to shove her away, desperate that this filth not touch her Not even the silky tips of her hair

The scent of night bloo the odor of violence He breathed deeply, then scanned the road He found her Jeep up the small incline “Four-wheel drive?”

“No, but I think that between the two of us, we can get you to it The closest hospital is fifty minutes away, but—”

“No, no hospital It looks , he put ht on it, then tried the other A fresh wave of pain rose over hi out

Rose’s arht for his dislocated shoulder back in place

His vision blackened, stars sparked and he shouted, “Son of a bitch!” Breathing through his nose, he fought down the nausea

She looked up, her eyes shadowed Did she feel any pity for hiood God, this was quickly turning into a let’s-talk-about-our-feelingsconversations with oneself is entirely sane