Free Reap (The Harvest Saga Book 1) by Casey L. Bond Page B

trees until you have to leave. We’re behind on our quotas. Crew will go between and help both you and Laney.”
    I nodded and began climbing the tree beside my strangely silent-normally bubbly-blonde friend. My back stretched painfully as I maneuvered into the tree. The limbs were close together and some of the knotted bark scraped me as I moved past making me wince. I went straight to work, settling myself in a comfortable spot and began picking. “Crew, may I have a bushel please?”
    He passed me the small woven basket and our fingers brushed. I felt a jolt of electricity from the contact and broke it immediately. He jumped back, too, releasing the basket so that I jerked harshly back against the trunk. His lip snarled accusingly.
    I rolled my eyes. As if I had done anything on purpose. I didn’t even know what had passed between us. It was strange, like a spark of static electricity without the physical zap—only the shocking feeling left behind.
    I quickly filled the bushel and handed it down to him, making sure to avoid touching his hand again. The hour passed quickly and I was pushing it. I wanted to stay and help, but knew I had to get to the Preston’s house.
    Reluctantly, I handed Crew the final bushel and began my descent. I had positioned my sneaker on the final tree joint and shifted my weight. The worn rubber on the bottom of my shoe couldn’t grip the tree’s bark like it used to. It slipped and so did I. I wasn’t that high up, but felt the wind in my hair as I began to fall, clawing at the small branches beside my hands, though I knew they couldn’t hold my weight if I did grab hold of them. I closed my eyes. This was going to hurt. My back didn’t hit the ground. Instead, two strong arms folded around me, one under my back and one under my knees. I clung to him, out of breath.
    I couldn’t move. Beneath my bandages, I could feel the wetness soaking in. Some of the just barely healed gashes had just been torn open again and were bleeding. I panicked and began kicking and scooting away from him. Crew. He reluctantly let me go.
    “Are you okay?”
    His eyes searched mine, before they moved over my body. I winced as I stood up and began backing away. “I’m fine. Just shaken up. Thank you. Thanks, Crew. I…I have to go…to the Preston’s. Tell Kyan for me?”
    He pushed himself to his feet, eyeing me warily. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re not hurt?”
    “No. I just can’t be late. Thanks, though. Seriously. I owe you one.”
    He muttered something under his breath as I ducked into the next row and quickly began walking toward the dreaded part of my day. I couldn’t let him see my back. 
     
    ∞
     
    That evening I was sore from the fall, or the landing, though it had been better than landing on the ground. I was sweaty and needed to be clean. The only one place I could think of that would both soothe my skin let me get clean: the lake. A swim sounded amazing. I grabbed some clothes to change into and a bar of soap and took off down the trail that into the woods beyond. The sun had set and crickets were serenading the evening. The tall grasses along the pathway brushed my bare legs. I’d rolled my jeans up earlier in the afternoon. It had been a hot, sunny day.
    Crew’s bright red skin flashed into my mind and I smiled. I could smell the wild onions that thickened along the lake shore, made lush by the plentiful water and sunlight. My favorite spot was along the eastern side of the water, where a large flat rock jutted into the lapping waves.  No one else was here tonight. Some nights I had to wait to clean up. Most villagers, male and female alike, had lost their sense of modesty long ago due to necessity, but like my clothes, it was something I’d never been able to shed.
    I undressed quickly, hung my clothes on a nearby tree branch and grabbed my soap bar. Lulu had made it with a rope sticking out of each end so we could secure it to our wrists when bathing and wouldn’t