The Secretary and Her Boss

Chapter 21

Nothing makes it clear how badly you want to live as having a moment where death seems to breathe down your neck— or pull you under a roaring river and into its greedy clutches.

Sharp pain cracked across my hand, a blinding spark of fire as the current tugged me into darkness. The water was warm, warmer than the lakes in Montana I had grown up with, but even without the sharp cold, the current was violent, yanking me in circles, shoving my body up against something hard that snagged around my waist like vines, yanking me farther away from where I thought the surface was.

I struggled, attempting to get free of the vines, terrified. But the fire that snaked up my hand again nearly made me go numb, and in my hesitation, I was pulled deeper into darkness.

Things seemed to stutter, splashing from light to dark and back again. The vines pulled me toward light. I gasped. The world went dark again.

The current tugged me back toward consciousness, the water roaring, my own name ringing in my ears, a leftover memory from falling off the rocks. Darkness again.

The world became solid. Body drenched, but somehow still moving. "Autumns, you need to wake up..." the words were pinched, concerned.

My eyes flickered open to see a pair of dark eyes looking down at me. Relief evident on his face at the sight of my gaze. He let out a huff of air, body seeming to sag. He was drenched, hair sent water falling onto my face, lashes collecting droplets at the tips before sending them falling on my cheeks.

His face was flushed, gasping for breath, warm against my neck, body nearly parallel with mine from where he hovered over me.

"Laurence?" I asked, trying to wrap my head around his expression. Around the state of him. "What happened?"

"You fell," he said as he rolled onto his back on the ground next to me, exhausted.

"Did you fall to?" I asked, brain feeling waterlogged.

He was quiet, eyes fluttering shut. Details clicked into place. My name being shouted. Hitting something solid. Vines— his arm wrapping around me, him pulling me toward the surface, shouting my name in the roar of the current.

"You... jumped in after me?" I whispered, the words feeling fragile in my mouth. Then I scanned the rest of him, my mind finally catching up.

"Your shoulder and wrist," I said, shooting up to a sitting position. "You can't move! What were you thinking!"

Laurence's sling was nowhere in sight, wrist brace swollen with water. His hand was across his chest, face pinched in pain. "I did just fine."

I shuffled over to him, growing worried. "You aren't fine! You were wearing a sling five minutes ago—"

"Can you stop shouting," he murmured, sounding like he was falling asleep, the fight draining out of him.

"No! You can't do that! You don't get to black out now when we are stuck in the middle of the rainforest!" My eyes went wide. 

OH MY GOSH... WE ARE LOST IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RAINFOREST.

"I'm just shutting my eyes for a moment..."

I shoved myself to my feet, determined to get him up before he passed out, and the sudden pressure on my fingers sent a bolt of pain up my left index and middle fingers. I let out a yelp, sending Laurence's eyes snapping open.

The sharp pain cleared away the rest of my brain fog, and I looked down at my left hand. Two of my fingers were broken. Laurence's wrist and shoulder were still injured and as I took in the world around us, I realized I had no idea where we were or how we were going to get back.