Page 6

“Ever, it’s really me. Are you hurt anywhere else? Can I move you?” I ask, trying to keep the concern in my voice to a minimum so I don’t make her panic.

“Please move me. My head is the worst, but I’m pretty sure I’m approaching hypothermia. I’m so fucking cold, and I can’t stop shivering.”

“Shit,” Rage curses.

I don’t need to be told twice. I carefully pick her up and wince, she is soaked through, covered in mud, and freezing cold. Her whole body is shaking from the cold.

I sit on my four-wheeler.

“Can someone help to arrange her so she’s facing me? I can wrap her in my jacket, and she can use my body heat? I only have a shirt on,” I ask the guys.

Ever is clearly in worse shape than I thought because she doesn’t make a dirty joke about the fact that she’s straddling me.

She always makes a dirty joke whenever one of us says something even remotely close to an innuendo. It’s one of my favorite things about her, which may be weird to some people, but it always makes me smile no matter what.

“It will probably be best if we undo her jacket as well. It’s too cold to take it off, and we’ve got at least a twenty-minute drive back to the house, but I really don’t like the color of her lips,” Luc says, studying her with his professional eye, as Riot and Rafe help to arrange Ever.

“Rude,” Ever mutters in response to Luc’s words, and we all let out a small sigh of relief.

“Ever, I’m just going to undo your jacket, and then we’re going to zip you up into Jensen’s, and you can snuggle while we take you back to the house. Then we’ll have a look at your head, okay?” Luc tells her.

She nods and then winces when it obviously hurts her head.

“Soup.”

I share a look with the guys.

“Soup, Sunshine?” Riot asks gently.

“I need some of Rafe’s soup,” she replies. “It will warm me up. Wait, you brought the four-wheelers?”

“Yes, so we could get to you quicker, and you got it, Baby, let’s get you home and sorted out first,” Rafe replies with a worried smile.

She’s definitely not behaving normally, but she isn’t talking complete gibberish, which I hope is a good sign.

Ever’s head suddenly pops up from my shoulder. “Wait, Tank, we have to find Tank. He’s going to be absolutely terrified, and we can’t leave him out in this weather.”

“He’s right here, he came and got us,” Rage reassures her as he brings Tank into her line of sight, and I feel the tension leave her body as Tank gently nuzzles her face.

Rage backs Tank up and jumps on, “The weather is somehow getting even worse. We need to get the fuck out of here.”

“Fucking hell!” I exclaim before I can agree with him.

“What? What’s wrong?” Trick asks, panic crossing his expression.

“Is she okay?” Pete asks, completely white and watching Ever closely.

I wince. “Sorry, sorry. She’s okay, she’s fine. She just put her freezing cold hands on my back.”

The guy's shoulders drop in relief, and then they all smile as they hear a short giggle come from Ever.

“You fiend,” I tease and then kiss the side of her head.

I don’t care that she’s covered in mud, it makes her sigh happily, and I know how much she loves it, so I’ll do it happily.

“Come on, I want to get her home so I can check her out properly,” Luc says.

After Rafe has helped to zip Ever into my jacket, we all take off toward the house. It’s slow going because we’re having to dodge branches that have fallen on the path and be careful in case any more fall.