Today's Promises (Promises #2)(25)

I don’t know if he hears me, but I pick up speed, just in case he’s gaining on me. It’s hard to see with all the falling snow.

Sure enough, Flynn, who is far faster than I am, catches up to me in no time, just as I’m about to enter the park.

Giving up hope that I can escape him—at least for the moment—I spin around and fall into his arms. “Okay, you win,” I say, breathless, as I peer up at him.

Chuckling, he nods to the woodsy entrance. “You still want to play in the park?”

“Yeah,”—I nod—“sure.”

Leaning down like he’s about to whisper some sweet nothing in my ear, he murmurs, “I call for a rematch in the park. And maybe, if I’m feeling generous, I’ll let you win this time.”

“Oh, really?” I twist out of his grasp and bump his hip with mine. “I see how you are. You think I can’t win against you fairly. You think that you’re way faster.”

He cocks his head to the side, like he’s finding this whole exchange amusing. “I am way faster, Jaynie,” he says smugly. “You simply can’t win on your own.”

“Pfft, we’ll see about that,” I scoff. And then I take off, leaving him in the dust. Or in the snow, as it is.

“Jaynie, Jaynie,” I hear him call out.

I run faster, but it’s not easy to gain traction in all the snow. It’s far heavier in the park than out in the streets. My boots carry me as fast as they can, however, and I make a few elusive moves, ducking under branches heavy with snow, and to areas where the pines are thick and Flynn won’t easily see me.

Still, I can hear him laughing not all that far way. I don’t even know if he’s searching for me at the moment. I think he’s just feeling free, like me, seeing as we’ve never had carefree fun like this. Even when we snuck off at the Lowry place, there was always the fear of getting caught and facing retribution.

But not anymore.

I stop for a minute and just peer up at the night sky. Snowflakes land on my face, melting as they do. A few even hit my eyes, making me blink. I put out my tongue and find out what snow tastes like. “Nothing,” I decide. “It tastes like nothing.”

“Oh, Jaynie,” Flynn sings out, with a tone that indicates he clearly believes he’s won. “Looks like I’ve got you now.”

“Hey, think fast,” I yell as I lob a handful of snow at him.

I take off, and the race is on.

The snow is so deep where I’ve turned that soon I’m slipping and sliding down a pristine-white slope that looks like it leads down to the river. Ironically, it’s the same river that brought me to Lawrence nearly six months ago.

Wow, this night is so different than that one.

Back then I was running for my life, whereas this night, I’m running for fun.

With a feeling of freedom that leaves me dizzy, I clamber down to the river. I sense Flynn is not far behind, but he’s letting me enjoy this moment.

Soon enough, however, I hear him laughing.

He’s definitely really closing in, so I juke left, then right.

And then I hear nothing.

“Hey, where’d you go?” I say as I spin around.

I see then that Flynn has fallen not too far away from where I’ve stopped. It looks like he may have slipped and crashed into a giant snow drift.

“Ha, serves you right,” I call over to him as I place my hands on my hips.

I’m totally teasing, but when he starts to groan, his falling isn’t so funny anymore.

I run over to him. “Crap, Flynn, are you really hurt?”

“Ow, ow, f*ck yes,” I am told.

Flynn bends his leg, bringing his knee to his chest. He grabs at it and says, “I think I hurt myself really bad here. I twisted something, for sure. And f*ck…it hurts like a mother.”

I drop to my knees and cover his hand with mine. “God, I am so sorry, Flynn. Do you think if I try to support your weight you can stand up?”

“I don’t know,” he says, grimacing. “Maybe.”

“Just tell me what to do,” I cry out, feeling helpless.

He smacks at the snow on the far side of his prone body and says, “Why don’t you try putting one foot over here.”

This is puzzling already, but a say, “All right.”

Unsure how it is even remotely helpful, I place my booted foot where he indicated, leaving me hovering over his body. At that weird angle, I have no choice but to hold myself up so I don’t fall on top of him.

“Now what should I do?” I ask.

“Keep that foot there, and lower yourself to your knee that’s on this side of me.”

I do as he asks.

And then I’m saying, “Um, this is really awkward.” I frown down at him. “Tell me again how this is helping you get up?”

He ignores me and continues with more of his convoluted directions. “Okay, now place your hands up on either side of my head.”

Once I comply with that directive, I’m straddling him.

And that’s when he begins to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I say. “I thought you were hurt.”

“Gotcha,” he murmurs as he reaches up to caress my cold cheek.

“Flynn”—I smack his chest—“you’re such an ass.”