“We need to get you to a hospital.” I glance out the window and into the darkness, and my stomach lurches again. “We can’t stay here.”
“No one will find us here,” Katia hisses. “Outside, we’re exposed.”
I glance around the abandoned shack with its stacks of firewood on one side and a large sheet covering a dusty worktable. Then I swing back to Katia, who is holding out her hand and examining it.
Even in her weakened state, she could still kill me.
I wouldn’t blame her if she tried after the mess I got us in.
How are we supposed to get back to safety?
“You need to push the arm back,” she says. “You’ll rotate and shove.”
Bile rises in my throat. “I can’t do that. I’m not a doctor. I’ll only make it worse.”
“I am not going to ask you again, Blondie,” Katia snaps. “You’re the reason we’re in this mess. The least you can do is help me with the pain.”
I kneel in front of her and frown. “Are you really going to guilt me into this?”
“Just do it.” Katia whips a rag out of her pocket and bites down on it. Then, she holds out her arm and looks at me. My throat is dry as I gingerly take her arm and count to three. Then, I raise her arm and suck in a deep breath, abruptly shoving the arm back with a wince.
Katia spits the rag out and heaves a breath. Wordlessly, she rips off a piece of fabric and uses it to bind her arm to her side.Her eyes are a little tight and unfocused as she looks at me. “How are you going to get us out of here?”
I rake my fingers through my hair. “Me? I don’t know how to do these things.”
Katia rolls her eyes. “I have a burner phone in my boot. Miss Deveroux’s number is programmed into it. Don’t give me that look. You wanted her to help and prove she’s trustworthy. Now’s your chance.”
I reach for the boot. “Won’t that make things worse?”
Katia blinks. “Too late to worry about that now, Princess. We’ll just have to grin and bear whatever Mason dishes out. Think you can handle that?”
I square my shoulders and dial Miss Deveroux’s number.
She answers on the fourth ring.
It takes a few tries for me to force the words out of my mouth, and when I do, Miss Deveroux is quiet for so long that I think she hasn’t heard me. Then, the line goes dead. The bitter taste of disappointment and frustration is in my mouth.
“She’ll be here,” Katia says. “It just might take her a while to sneak out unnoticed.”
“You should save your strength,” I say.
“I don’t need you to tell me what to do,” Katia growls. “I can end you where you stand.”
I snort and bend over to shove the phone back into her boot. “I know you can.”
Katia’s eyes fly open, and for a moment, they’re surprisingly clear. “You could’ve left me back there. You could leave me here right now.”
I shrug and lower myself onto the hard floor next to her, considering my next words carefully. “I still could. You never know.”
Katia smiles. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“It’s good to know that you’re grateful to me for saving your life,” I grumble without looking at her. “Next time, I’ll just leave you by the side of the road.”
“There will be no next time.”
A cold wind rattles against the window, and I glance up sharply. I rub my hands up and down my arms and try to ignore the lurch in my chest. “It must be nice to always be so sure of things.”
Katia makes another, weaker sound. “You have to be… keeps from… getting killed.”
