Page 45 of Undeniably Enemies

I didn’t see him on the elevator until the doors closed because I was busy texting Tinsley, who told me she was streaming the game from London. I’m not surprised he’s here. He’s very close with Sorel, and Sorel is married to Mason, who is playing today. Plus, Owen is going to be here, and thetwo of them rarely miss an opportunity to hang out when they can.

But I was hoping I wouldn’t have to see him, let alone get stuck with him.

“I just want to see Mason play.”

He leans back against the wall with a bored expression and his eyes on his phone. “I’m not stopping you, sweetheart. This wasn’t by design. I’m sure they’ll get us out of here in a minute.”

“What if we plummet?—”

“Elevators don’t do that anymore. Relax and breathe.”

Breathe? I’m in a tiny elevator stuck between floors with Jack. How am I supposed to breathe?

I close my eyes and center my body.The valency of carbon and the atomic number of beryllium is four. There are four matriarchs in Judaism: Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel. Four Gospels in the Christian Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?—

“What is that?”

My eyes snap open, and I scan the small space, my ears searching. “What? Do you hear something?”

His phone is in his hand, but his eyes are on me now, studying and cautious. “What were you just muttering to yourself?”

Shit. I hadn’t realized I was speaking aloud. “It was nothing.”

“I’ve heard you do that before. With the fours.”

“Fuck you.”

His lips twitch. “I don’t think that’s what you want from me right now, Cinderella.”

I flip him off and press the button for three again. It’s glowing, but we’re not moving. Jack called the number on the elevator wall, and they said they’d work on it, but so far, no one has come. What the fuck? How do elevators even get stuck anymore?

“Are you really freaking out?”

“I’m fine,” I lie. I’m trying to be fine. I don’t want to lose my mind in front of him of all people, but I’m close. I can feel the panic rising. I don’t like being in places I can’t get out of. I don’t like feeling trapped. Caged. Pinned.

I stare at the floor, right in the center of the elevator, and take a deep breath. Leaning against the wall, I bend my knees so I don’t pass out. As it is my mind is hazy, and my vision is crackly. My fingers tap out a pattern against my thigh.One, two, three, four.

A four-sided plane figure is a quadrilateral or quadrangle. Sometimes it’s also called a tetragon. Rectangle. Square. Kite?—

“Wow. I thought you were tougher than this.”

My eyes snap up to his, flaring. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” He slides his phone into his back pocket and folds his arms over his chest as he props his foot up into the wall behind him. “You’re like a tiny kitten with scrappy, ineffective claws. Where’s the lioness who likes to bite my head off every chance she gets?”

“Are you serious with that right now? We’re legit stuck in an elevator.”

He hitches up an unimpressed shoulder. “So? You don’t see me freaking out. If you’re this weak here, you’ll never make it in the ER.”

Riotous indignation scorches a path through me. I storm over to him and get right up in his face. “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

“I know more about you than I’d like.”

“And I can’t see anything about you that’s likable.”

“Back atcha, wimp.”

“You’re such an asshole!”

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