Page 74 of Hurry Up And Wait
I tried to roll and cried out as pain zinged down my spine. “Fucking hell, that hurt.” I was in my thirties. I shouldn’t be in pain from something as simple as climbing a roof. What was next? Would I pull a muscle while putting my socks on?
Determined not to let this slow me down, I gritted my teeth and rolled to my knees. Though it was hard, I put one hand out and reached for the next shingle, determined just to make it one crawl tothe next. I gasped as pain coursed through my body, but I fucking pushed, refusing to give in.
“I will make it,” I gritted out. “Nothing can stop me. I’m a fucking warrior.”
My phone rang, interrupting my motivational speech. I almost didn’t answer it, but then I decided I needed the fucking break. I slid my hand into my pocket, wincing as my back tweaked again. Fucking hell. “Yeah?”
“Kavanaugh?” Eli asked.
“Yeah.”
“Why the hell do you sound so weird?”
I glanced around my surroundings, trying to come up with a good fucking reason. “Uh…I’m on Isla’s roof.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “Do I want to know why?”
“There’s…” I panted heavily as I craned my neck to finally get a look at what was hanging. “There’s a camera out. I’m fixing it.”
“And that made you winded?”
“I fell,” I lied. “It’s slippery and I fell.”
“It hasn’t rained in weeks.”
“There was a cloud…” I panted. “Overhead.”
“Right,” he snorted. “So, what really happened?”
Fuck, I really didn’t want to tell him, but I was going to need his help to get down. “Promise you won’t laugh.”
“Why would I laugh because you’re hurt?”
I groaned, knowing right then that he would say or do anything to fuck with me. “Just get over here and help me down.”
“No, I don’t think so. Tell me what happened first.”
“Eli, don’t make me fuck you up,” I snapped, wincing when my back twinged.
“Just tell me what happened. I need to know what to bring. Is it your leg?”
“My back.”
“Okay…do I need a back brace?”
“Fuck, just bring a shit ton of painkillers. And maybe a back brace.”
I heard him moving around. Relief was on the way. I knew it. “What the fuck happened?”
“I…I tweaked my back climbing up the trellis.”
It was silent on the other end. So silent that I already knew what was coming before?—
He burst out laughing—so loud that it was deafening. I yanked the phone from my ear, then cursed everyone at OPS when I felt a zing all the way to my toes.
“You tweaked your back climbing a trellis? What the fuck, man? Can we rely on you in the field, or should we be worried you might stub your pinky toe?”
“That’s not fucking funny. Broken toes can be serious injuries that can lead to gangrene and amputation if you’re not careful.”