Free Sacrificing Sloan (Sloan Series Book 3) by Kelly Martin Page A

we both had lost our legs or our vision. That would have been a lot worse.
    “I don’ t see how.”
    “You don’t see anything.” There would come a time when I figured I’d cross the line on blind jokes, but I hadn’t gotten there yet… and it wasn’t that I was talking about blind people. I had nothing but respect for them. I had no respect for Boyd, and if I could taunt him in any way, I was going to take it. Even if it did make me feel a bit bad to say. It wasn’t like I walked up to a random blind person on the street and kicked him. I wouldn’t do that. I would never mock a person’s disability. But this was Boyd. Boyd wasn’t a person. He was a monster.
    He was fair game.
    I just had to keep reminding myself of that because behind the monster was a guy who could be charming and funny when he wanted to be. I saw that side of him just a little in the cabin. He could be “one of the guys” if he wanted. He could actually be fun to mess with. A guy who, if circumstances had been different, could have been my friend.
    Okay, so maybe not that far, but as much as I hated to admit it, it wasn’t horrible being stuck with Boyd. He had his purpose.
    Then I thought of everyone Boyd had hurt: Ray, Sloan, even that Darcy chick, and it took everything I had not to kick Boyd with my good foot. Or strangle him. Or break his neck.
    “Don’t think about it.” Boyd said, before I could do any of those things.
    “Don’t think about what? How stupid this is?” I yelled into his ear because it was sort of hard to hear over the wind and rain.
    “Kicking me, or whatever it is you are planning back there.”
    There was no way this guy could read minds. “I wasn’t thinking about kicking you, Boyd. I like you too much.” Too much sarcasm? Maybe… possibly…
    Boyd actually snickered. “Didn’t think Christians lied. Isn’t that frowned upon?”
    “You keep mistaking me for my brother. You know, the one you shot? Yeah. He’s the Christian. Not me. I don’t live by anybody’s rules but my own.”
    Boyd grunted and moved me up higher on his back, making me flinch. My ribs! Oh, my ribs. “Guess we aren’t so different, then.”
    Oh, we were different. So. So different. “Let’s get something straight right now. We are nothing alike. I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to have to spend time with you.”
    “Thought I was your worst enemy.” He sounded a bit… sad… about that? That settled it. Boyd was definitely mental. One couldn’t go from the guy that actually kidded and had, dare I say, fun, to the guy who hurt people, without there being some cause for it.
    “Maybe not my worst. But definitely high on the list.”
    Boyd stepped around a mud hole, only to step in another one. Actually, there wasn’t one place that didn’t have either mud or water or just general horribleness. I hoped he didn’t fall because it would be bad if both for both of us if he did. “Aww, Aaron. Are we having a moment?”
    We were, but it was over now.
    “You might want to move to the left.” I told him, being the eyes and all.
    “Why?”
    The question came too late.
    Whack!
    Boyd’s knee hit the front bumper of Mr. Lawrence’s jeep. The useless thing had been disabled, thanks to a fallen tree. Boyd cursed, grumbled, and said some words that even I didn’t say.
    “I told you to move left.”
    “A little more warning, moron! What good is it going to do if both of us have lame legs and can’t walk, huh? Wanna be stuck here forever?”
    Since when had Boyd been the voice of reason? “Oh, lighten up. Next time, do what I tell you to do when I tell you to do it. I say jump, you say how high.”
    “You say jump, and I’ll throw you off my back.” He huffed, as he used his elbow to feel around the car, as his hands were currently occupied holding my legs around his waist.
    It was as uncomfortable as it sounded.
    “Just get to walking. We need to get out of the woods before it gets dark.”
    “Anything else I need to