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He blows out a breath. “We’re almost there.”
“Then what?” I snap. “Zip line down?”
“What other options do we have?”
Seth flinches as Jordan crouches beside him and slides his arms under his limp body. “Back off, Keller.”
“You think you’re up to walking?” Jordan releases him with a shake of his head. “It’s over a mile to the bottom.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Seth slurs and staggers to his feet on unsteady legs.
Jordan steps back, palms out. “Fine by me.”
Clawing at the angry red welts dotting his skin and trembling from the huge dose of adrenaline, Seth doesn’t make it more than a few yards before dropping into a crouch. “I need a minute.”
With a pleading look at Jordan, I scoop up Seth’s pack, checking it for stray ants before slinging it over my shoulder.
“Quit being an idiot, Harmon.” Jordan exhales roughly as he drags Seth to his feet and hauls him over his shoulder like a bag of dirty laundry. “You have no idea how much I’d like to leave you up here. Don’t make me regret this.”
Seth lifts a shaky hand and flips Jordan off.
“Thanks, but I’ll pass.” Jordan doesn’t say a word about the added weight literally on his shoulders as we set out on the final stretch to the top. Once he finds a comfortable rhythm, he turns back to me. “Is it my turn again?”
“What?” With a pitiful moan, Seth lifts his head. “I don’t get a turn?”
Jordan snorts. “Hell no.”
Part of me wants to agree, but my sense of fairness gets the better of me. “No, it’s okay. Go ahead, Seth.”
“Sooo . . .” He drags out the word. “The whole virgin act—”
Jordan jerks to a stop, breathing heavily through his nose.
“Aww, come on, Keller, admit it,” Seth wheezes. “You’re wondering the same thing.”
“You just forfeited your turn, dickhead.”
“Total bullshit, right?” Seth chuckles, not taking the hint. “No way Kennedy’s still—”
Jordan bounces Seth on his shoulder, cutting off the rest of his sentence and making him suck in a ragged breath. “Are you stupid?”
Seth laughs and scratches his neck with a trembling hand like a junkie jonesing for a fix. “You’re the idiot if you think—”
Jordan lets go of Seth’s legs, dropping him to the forest floor. “You want me to leave you in the woods?”
Seth opens his mouth, but one look from Jordan changes his mind.
“Didn’t think so.” Jordan roughly tosses him over his shoulder again.
I worry my lip between my teeth as I stare at Jordan’s tense jaw. “He’s wrong, you know.”
“Despite what this asshole may think.” Jordan jostles Seth, making the jerk grunt. “I never doubted you for a minute. And for the record, it wouldn’t matter either way. The status of your hymen doesn’t interest me in the least.”
We finally reach the top and flag down a park ranger. After giving the man the basics of what went down, Jordan passes Seth off for medical attention.
“Don’t worry,” the dark-haired ranger tells us. “I’ll take care of him.”
Seth mutters a reluctant “thank you” before Jordan leads me to the zip line.
