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sound, full of pain and desperation. The fierceness of it vibrated through my chest, and in that moment, I was sure I would never forget it.
    He collapsed against me, catching me off-guard. His arms cinched down around my neck and he began to sob against my shoulder. I’d comforted a lot of people over the years, but Zane didn’t strike me as the cuddly type, and I had zero experience with mental breakdowns. At least I assumed that’s what I was dealing with here—and I was completely lost over what to do with him.
    It didn’t look like he was letting me go anytime soon either. His arms hadn’t even loosened an iota. As a matter of fact he had a death grip on me, his body shaking against mine. Slowly, so as not to alarm him, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. His breath hitched, and I thought he might push me away. But he didn’t. Instead he pressed his chest so tight against mine I could feel the pounding of his heart.
    Even drenched in sweat and oozing blood, he smelled amazing—felt amazing pressed against me. I decided this wasn’t the time to think about my odd infatuation over him. Truth be told, I didn’t want to think about that at all.
    “What the fuck?” Tye exclaimed as he burst through the brush. Zane flinched against me, turning his face into my neck as if trying to hide. Maybe he was.
    I glanced at Tye, and shook my head, possibly in warning, but I wasn’t really sure. “Can you take AJ home, tell my dad where I am, and if I’m not back in half an hour to come find me.” I kept my voice low and even so as not to spook Zane.
    The square toe of Tye’s boot hit the knife, sending it skittering across the rock. He picked it up, then seeing the blood on the blade, let it go, and wiped his hand on his jeans. Tye’s eyes latched onto the burgundy streaks seeping into Zane’s jeans.
    “Is that the new kid? What...what happened? Is he okay? I mean...shit, man, he’s bleeding .”
    I raised my eyes to his frenzied browns. “Tye, take the horses back to my house. I’ll take care of him, and get him home,” I said.
    Tye swallowed and nodded frantically. He never had been able to stay calm in a crisis. When he broke his thumb at a jackpot a few years ago, he became hysterical. He hesitated, glancing at the knife, then back at me and Zane.
    “Go!” I commanded, eliciting a hollow moan from Zane. I tipped my head to him. “It’s okay,” I said softly, then sighed, not sure any of this was okay. If he refused to move, how was I going to get him home? I opened my mouth as Tye was swallowed by the huckleberries, fully intending to tell him to send my dad, but instead I called out, “Tye? Just tell my dad...I don’t know. He twisted his ankle or something, okay? That I’ll be home in a bit.”
    Tye’s hand waved above the bushes. Dad would turn this into a religious revival that would last all night. He would talk to Zane, pray with Zane, pray with the Cormley’s, then talk and pray with me. If he felt it necessary, he would even work something about this into his sermon. He wouldn’t mention specifics, but people would figure it out easily enough. I didn’t think Zane was up for that, not after seeing this side of him.
    Why he had chosen to lean on me I wasn’t sure, but he was getting heavy, and my knees weren’t happy about the rocks they were resting on. I felt his damp hair travel through my fingers. When had I started petting the back of his head? His hair wasn’t as soft as I would have imagined. The strands were thick and heavy. Very unlike my fine, sun-bleached, cowlicked mess that passed for hair.
    What was wrong with me? First I become enamored with the way he smells, then I experience a wholly inappropriate reaction when he touches me, and now I’m comparing his hair to mine? And I’m still running my fingers through it . Just once more. I let my fingers comb through all the way to the base of his neck where sweat had softly curled the ends. I set my hands on his leather