Page 61 of Second Go-Round

“You probably have a concussion. I need you to stay awake for me, okay?”

“Don’t wanna.” Her slurred words barely reached my ears in the stifling space around us.

I let the cell’s screen go dark, saving it since I had no clue how long we would be trapped. “Talk to me.”

“’Bout what?” She sighed.

“The weather. Your favorite way to eat lobster. Anything.” I lay down beside her, the floor covered in dirt and bits of who the fuck knew what pressing into my bare skin. At least it wasn’t cold in our little tomb.

“You said…you said I was your best,” she whispered with hardly any tone to her voice.

A fucking ice pick stabbed into my heart at the memory of her walking away from me what seemed forever ago. “Yes.”

“D-did you mean it?”

I caressed the back of her hand with my thumb. “Every fucking word.”

Christine sighed. “I should have…should have given us a shot while I had the chance.”

“You still can.” I pressed in closer, wrapping my free arm over her but taking care to not jostle her body. The longer she lay in shock, unaware of how badly she’d been injured, the better.

“Wh-what if we don’t make it out of here?” she asked in the darkness, hopelessness settled over her voice as heavy as the wreckage above us.

“We will. I promise.”

I clenched my eyes shut and prayed harder than I ever had before.

Chapter 26

Christine

Jarod kept talking to me. His voice hurt my ears. I wanted to sleep, but the bastard wouldn’t let me. He couldn’t just drone on about his childhood…no. Every other sentence out of his mouth was a question, and if I didn’t answer him right away, he would jab me with one of the fingers I clasped against my side.

My left leg began to hurt. Head throbbed. I’d never known such thirst. My throat scratched from breathing in dust.

I wanted to sleep. Couldn’t open my eyes whenever he asked me to.

“Your head stopped bleeding.”

“Mmm,” I voiced acknowledgment of having heard him so he wouldn’t poke me again.

His hand caressed my cheek and my chin before disappearing. Clicking sounded a few times through the ringing in my ears.

“Whas that?” I tried asking but had difficulty forming the words past the fuzziness in my head.

“I’m tapping SOS with my watch against whatever this slab of rubble is overhead. Some sort of metal.”

“M’kay.”

The deliberate sound happened again, rousing me from the haziness creeping over my brain.

“Want to play a game?” he asked and clicked again.

“Uh huh.” I tried to swallow the dryness from my throat. Water would be nice. A cold brew even better.

So damn tired.

“Rapid-fire interview. Ready?”

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