Page 63 of Cheap Shot

“I’m kind of afraid of falling on my face,” Sebastian said aloud, which was true enough. “You know your way up here better than I do. Can I hang on to your arm?”

Crawford shot him a quizzical look, one eyebrow raised, but nodded.

Sebastian looped his arm through Crawford’s.

Was he convinced he could keep them both upright if one of them lost their footing? Not really but it was better than going it alone or watching Crawford topple over like a felled tree and be too far away to at least try to keep him upright.

“What I wouldn’t give for a tree branch right now,” Sebastian muttered, glancing around. “I could use it for balance.”

“I’ve got a couple of old hockey sticks in the garage.” Crawford glanced back toward it. “If you wanna grab them.”

“Yes,” Sebastian said, relieved. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Crawford huffed but he tugged his beanie down over his hair and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Make it quick.”

Sebastian walked as fast as he could down the path back to the garage and just as he unlocked the side door to get inside, he heard Crawford yell out, “There’s a motorcycle covered in a tarp on the left. Sticks are hanging above it.”

Sebastian found the sticks quickly enough and pulled out a couple of them, then locked the garage again.

By the time he returned to the yard, Crawford was leaning against the fence with his eyes closed. He looked even worse than before, tired and in pain.

Damn it, Sebastian was starting to feelbadfor Crawford. Ugh, that was the last thing he wanted.

“Hey,” he said nudging Crawford’s shoe with his.

Crawford gave him a slow blink. “Hey,” he said roughly. “You came back. Thought you were gonna leave me here or something.”

Sebastian huffed. “I thought about it. But you’re not allowed to sleep standing up in the freezing-cold yard.”

“No?”

“No.” Sebastian sighed. “C’mon, asshole, let’s do this.”

With their arms looped together and using the butt ends of the hockey sticks to dig into the snow, they started up the small hill, one careful step at a time.

“Fuckin ridiculous,” Crawford grumbled after a few steps.

It made Sebastian laugh. “Don’t look at me.You’rethe one with the deadly backyard.” He planted the stick in the snow and took another careful step forward.

“It’s never been this bad before.” Crawford jammed his stick in on his side and took a step up. He grunted and Sebastian wondered if he was still in pain.

“Suuure,” Sebastian threw back.

Crawford shot him a dirty look but didn’t reply.

They made it halfway up the hill before one of them lost their footing.

Crawford stepped forward but his foot slid back and suddenly he was clutching Sebastian tighter. The weight of his body yanked at Sebastian’s shoulder, and he jammed his stick harder into the icy snow and held on for dear life, wondering if Crawford was going to take him down with him.

The image of them tumbling down the small hill and landing in the broken heap against the fence flashed through Sebastian’s eyes but Crawford righted himself at the last second, his breath hissing out in what Sebastian was certain was a pained noise this time.

The second time that happened, Crawford let out a string of particularly vivid oaths and Sebastian glanced over and burst into laughter.

“What’s so goddamn funny?” he grumbled.

“You?” Sebastian said. “This fucking situation? I don’t know. Ever think we’d end up doing this?”

Crawford huffed. “No.” But he was almost smiling now.