“I don’t know if I can get down,” I fretted. I’d scaled the tree with adrenaline coursing through my veins. Now, hours later, I was exhausted, starving, and so thirsty I couldn’t think of much else.
“I’ll help you,” he assured me. “I have an extra headlamp for you, and I’ll talk you through it.”
I looked at him doubtfully.
“Em, swear to God—if you want to stay up here, I’ll stay right here with you for the rest of the night.”
As much as I appreciated the offer, and knew he meant it, I shook my head. “I need water,” I rasped. It was my main motivation at the moment. “Let’s get this over with.”
He reached toward me, placing the headlamp across my forehead. “You’re not hurt anywhere?” he verified, the worry more prevalent in his gaze now that I could see him more clearly.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” I assured him.
He leaned over, kissing me soundly once more before breaking away to holler, “Armstrong! Shine your light up here!” A moment later Theo’s faint light shone into the branches from below.
“It’ll get brighter the lower we get,” Travis explained. “You’re pretty high up here, and the leaves are dense. For now, we’ll use our headlamps. I’ll go first and walk you through the steps.”
“’Kay,” I replied. I was too tired to say much else, and I needed to preserve my strength for the climb down.
It was an agonizingly slow process as Travis walked me through every step. My limbs were shaking from exhaustion, my knees and palms bloody from falling earlier in my haste to escape Morales.
“You’re doing great, Em,” Travis praised as the lights from below began to shine brighter, helping to guide our passage. “Almost there.”
The ground couldn’t come soon enough.
Finally, I could see Theo and Declan clearly as they watched our progress with evident concern.
“There’s a branch six inches below you,” Travis directed in much the same way as he had since we started down. “Good,” he continued when I’d stepped on it. “The next one is a bigger drop, take your time.”
I followed his instructions, lowering exhausted legs one by one as I clung to the branch above me. When I thought I couldn’t take another step, that I’d have to hang there indefinitely, strong hands gripped my hips from behind.
“I’ve got you, baby. I’m going to lift you down.” Travis’s words, which meant he was at the bottom and so was I, offered a respite to my exhausted mind. I let go of the branch I’d been holding as he pulled me down and into his arms.
My job was done; I’d managed to somehow make it down that damn tree. Almost immediately, secure in Travis’s arms, I could safely float into oblivion.
