Page 6 of Searching for Bristol
“I’m sure I do,” she said with a small shrug. “I was throwing up for the first couple of days after I fell. The nausea’s better now, but the headache is still there.”
He frowned. None of that was good. But it had been three days since she’d fallen off the rocks. There wasn’t much he could do about the concussion now. Studying her leg, he was relieved not to see any bones breaking through her skin. “No compound fracture,” he said softly.
“That’s good,” Bristol said, watching as he examined her.
He probed her leg, taking note when she winced and where the pain seemed to be the worst. He wasn’t a doctor, but he’d seen plenty of broken bones in his life. “It’s definitely fractured. Won’t know for sure how bad it is until you get an x-ray,” he said as he began to wrap her leg tightly and re-splint it.
Bristol nodded but didn’t reply. It wasn’t until he was finished immobilizing her leg as best he could that Rocky looked up again. Her eyes were closed and her teeth were clenched. One hand was behind her, propping herself up, and the other was curled into a tight fist close to her side.
Once more, Rocky wanted to kick his own ass. He’d been so focused on wrapping her leg that he hadn’t even thought to give her the painkillers before he’d started. When he was with his team, one of the other guys usually took care of that while he looked over the patient.
Another reason to regret not calling Raiden. His friend would’ve dropped everything to come out here with him, and Rocky really needed a partner right about now. Someone who could head back to the trailhead to contact the doctor, maybe call LifeFlight so they could get Bristol evacuated by air to Roanoke to be looked over.
But instead, he was on his own. And his fuckery was causing her pain.
“Shit,” he said as he reached for his pack once more.
Her eyes opened at his curse. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, I’m just an idiot,” he told her honestly. “Here,” he said, shaking out two pills and holding them out to her.
She simply looked at them in confusion.
“They’re painkillers. I’m so sorry, I should’ve given these to you before I started poking and prodding at your leg. I could put in an IV, but honestly, I have no way of setting up the rig and getting you out of here at the same time. I’d rather do a scoop-and-go, and get you to a doctor as soon as possible.” He was talking too fast and overexplaining, but Rocky couldn’t stop himself.
“I fucked up,” he admitted. “I know better than to go on a search by myself, but I honestly didn’t think you were out here. I hoped you’d just forgotten to say goodbye to Sandra and were sitting at home, safe and sound. Getting out of here isn’t going to be easy. It’s gonna suck, in fact. Big time. And I’m kicking my own ass for that now. There’s no cell reception out here, and I can’t leave you to go back to the trailhead to my car to get more help.”
Bristol blinked. “Why not?” she asked as she took the pills and swallowed them down with water from the canteen she had strapped around her chest.
Rocky didn’t know whether to be relieved she trusted him enough to not even ask what the pills were, or pissed that she hadn’t. It was a weird sensation, a feeling he’d never had with anyone else he’d rescued. He couldn’t figure out why he was so off-kilter with this woman, and decided he’d worry about it later. “Why not what?” he asked.
“Why can’t you leave me? Now that you know I’m here, I wouldn’t be scared. Except, of course, if you got hurt on your way back to the trailhead. Or got in an accident while you were going for help.Thatwould suck.” She gave him a small smile.
“I’m not leaving you,” Rocky said firmly. She was right, it would probably be faster if he ran back to the trailhead to get help, but just the thought of leaving her alone again wasn’t something he was willing to entertain. It had been drilled into his head time after time that you didn’t leave a victim. Ever. He’d seen people who looked perfectly healthy go downhill in a matter of minutes. And the last thing he wanted was to have found Bristol, only to lose her because of his boneheaded decision to search for her without help.
“So, what’s the plan?” she asked with a tilt of her head. “I mean, I could keep dragging myself to the trail, but I’m not sure I can make it the whole six miles to the parking lot.”
Rocky rolled his eyes. “As if I’d let you. I’m going to carry you.”
Her eyes widened. “You can’t do that!” she exclaimed.
“Why not?”
“Because!”
It was Rocky’s turn to chuckle. “I assure you, I won’t drop you. You’re what…five feet tall?”
“Four-eleven,” Bristol mumbled.
“Right. I’m thinking some of the packs I carried when I was in the Navy probably weighed more than you. But it’s not going to be comfortable,” he warned.
“Like dragging myself was?” Bristol asked with a small eye roll as she held her hands palms out for him to see.
Once more, Rocky wanted to kick his own ass. He’d been so worried about her leg, he hadn’t even thought about what pulling herself over the rough terrain would’ve done to her palms. He gently grabbed hold of her wrists and leaned over to get a better look at the scrapes and tears on the palms of her hands.
“Don’t move,” he ordered, as he reached for his pack once more.
CHAPTERTWO
