Page 90 of The Wayward Son

“We’re done with that game.”

“Fine. But you’re no fun.” She grinned. “Or maybe you are. I guess I’ll never know.”

Sawyer set his beer down and picked up the bottle of tequila. “I think I’m going to need more than beer to get through this ordeal.” He opened the bottle and took a couple of sips, then offered the bottle to Jade. She looked at it for a moment, then took it from him and took a drink.

She wrinkled her nose. “You should’ve taken the scotch.”

He took the bottle from her and drank some more, then put the lid on it. “This is going to put us behind schedule. We need to be done packing tomorrow. Figure out what to do with the rest of the stuff on Tuesday. And leave on Wednesday.”

“You don’t have to be back until Friday, right?”

“At the latest. Dad wants to ride out to the herd on Friday. I wanted a day to recover from this trip before spending three days on a horse chasing cows around.”

She patted his leg. “We’ll make it. Someone will come along anytime.”

“Well, the someone will need to be someone who is brave or stupid enough to try to take the elevator. Then, also, they need to be someone who gives a shit. The thing is out of order so often, nobody is going to report it.”

“So, we’re going to die in here?”

“It’s possible. Once the alcohol and junk food runs out.”

She shook her head. “You’re just trying to freak me out. But I refuse. I’m going to stay upbeat and cheery.”

“Super.” He drank some more beer.

“We could try yelling.”

He looked at her, then they both got to their feet. He went to the doors and banged on them, then they both yelled for a few minutes.

Sawyer stopped first and went back to where they’d been sitting. “What’s your next brilliant idea?”

Jade sat next to him. “You need to stop being so grumpy. It’s not helping anything. And it’s very un-Sawyer-like.”

He bounced his head on the wall a few times. “I’m sorry. I just don’t like feeling helpless and unable to do something to fix things.”

Jade held up the tequila. “Have another drink.”

“How will that help?”

She shrugged. “It won’t get us out of here, but it’ll make you less grumpy about it.”

“How do you know I’m not a grumpy drunk?”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Sawyer drank some more tequila and finished his beer. “If you were stuck in here with Seth. How would he be reacting?”

She thought about it for a moment. “Hmm. Well, for one thing, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have taken a drink in response to the sex out of the bedroom question.”

Sawyer started laughing. “Not the adventurous type?”

“Not really, no.” She handed him another beer and the package of snowballs. “Time for junk food.”

Sawyer shared one of the snowballs with Jade, then they started in on the Fritos. She looked at the bag. “Should we be rationing this stuff?”

“God, I hope not.”

Halfway through the bag, Sawyer stood and paced around the small space while Jade watched him.

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