“Steve!” Corey grabbed the sleeve of Steve’s T-shirt and jerked him sideways to the second sink. Corey turned on the cold water and shoved Steve towards the stream gushing from the tap. On autopilot, Steve reached for the running water, leaning forward and splashing it over his burning face. Handful after handful of refreshing water soothed his skin. He’d automatically worried about his face, but suddenly realised that, although it hurt like a motherfucker, it had only received minor splashes. His wrists, on the other hand, were in agony, and in his rush to cool his face, he’d ignored them. Once the realisation came, he flipped his hands over and allowed the cold water to run across his inner wrists.Fuck!He bit back a groan as the water hit his inflamed skin.
“Oh, God. Are you okay?” Corey’s voice held an edge of panic.
Steve’s inner wrists bore the brunt of the burn—the delicate skin was fiery red, and it felt like flames were still licking there. “I… I’m… okay.” He closed his eyes and swallowed against the pain.
“Just keep your arms under the cold water. I’ll check to see if we have some ice.” Corey’s tone was now calm. He patted Steve on the shoulder and went to check the freezer. He came back empty-handed. “There’s a couple of ice bricks the boys must’ve brought up with the esky, a tray of ice and some frozen peas. But you’re best off keeping your hands under the running water for a while yet. What is it they recommend? Ten? Fifteen minutes?”
“Um… something like that.” The water didn’t feel like it was having any effect but Steve knew it would be stopping his tender flesh from “cooking.”
“What’s going on?” Malcolm asked from the doorway, concern evident in his voice. The other guys were standing behind him, looking over his shoulder. “Is everything all right?”
“Slight accident with the pudding,” Corey said.
“Yeah. It tried to attack me,” Steve said, attempting to lighten the situation.
Mal wandered close. “Shit. That looks painful.”
Steve followed Mal’s gaze to his wrists. Both were bright red, and the left wrist had the beginnings of a large blister. The pain was nearly unbearable.How on earth can a little bit of red skin hurt so goddamn much?
“Do you need a doctor?” Matt asked. “I have no idea where the nearest hospital is, but I can look it up. Or there’s probably a GP closer than the hospital. Jeez.” He glanced at the others. “Maybe we should have checked out the emergency services situation before we came out here. What if we’d had an accident on the bikes or something?”
“Don’t be a drama queen,” Mal responded. “We may be in a remote area but if we really had a crisis, emergency services would respond. They can even fly in the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, if needed.”
Ken punched Steve on the shoulder. “So, what do you say, mate? Do we call in the helicopter to whisk you off to the hospital?”
“It’ll be like on one of those TV shows. You know, where the sexy paramedic gets lowered down on a cable and they winch you to safety.” Douglas actually seemed quite excited at the thought, bouncing on his feet and grinning. “I wonder if they’d let me come along with you to the hospital?”
“I think I’m pretty safe staying right here. Thanks,” Steve said.
“Doesn’t look very safe to me.” Ken smirked, then glanced around the kitchen. “Did anyone think to hide the knives?”
Steve tried to laugh but grimaced instead. Fuck, it was hard to ignore the pain. His legs wobbled slightly as he focused on his arms again, rotating them through the stream of water.
“Oh, for God’s sake. Give the guy a break.” Corey retrieved a stool, stuck it under Steve’s arse and shoved Steve down on it. “You sit right here,” he ordered, “and you guys go back to your beers and check on the barbecue. I’ll take care of Steve.”
Steve sighed with relief as Corey shooed the other four men from the kitchen. He didn’t need their hovering or their kidding around. He didn’t really know what he needed, his mind clouded with pain, but he trusted Corey—he was calm and serious, and Steve knew Corey was someone he could depend on.
