Page 63 of Second Go-Round

Jarod kissed the side of my head before clicking another SOS on that damn bit of metal he’d managed to find. “You’re going to get another chance to stay, even if I have to dig our way out of here.”

I tried to squeeze his hand tighter, desperate to hang onto him regardless of the fuzziness slipping over my mind again. “Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t.” More damn clicking jolted through me.

Dad…

My throat tightened. I’d done what I’d promised I wouldn’t—gone to a bar after the game. Nothing good ever came from disobeying my daddy. I thought I’d learned that as a teenager, but I guess not—

“Greatest fear?”

I considered Jarod’s question, taking a few seconds to process it since thoughts of never seeing my father again battled for dominance over my emotions. Attempting lighthearted, I said, “Not being stuck in small places, thank God.”

His quiet chuckle ghosted warm breath over my cheek, and a tear trickled from beneath my eyelids.

I wanted to snuggle in closer to Jarod, an instinct to hide against him, close my eyes, and escape reality for a while. This man…

He had deserved more of me. My effort in finding a way to open my heart to love. I’d never wanted it before him. Never had allowed myself to dream.

And now I had no time left to show him the level of affection I’d stifled.

Did I sleep?

I blinked in the darkness, noting that Jarod gently touched my face.

“Still with me?” he whispered, his voice ragged as though as parched and tired as I was.

“Mmm,” I hummed, once more murky between the ears.

The clinking SOS clashed against my brain. Goddamn him…no. He was trying to let rescuers know where we were…

“Greatest fear?” he asked again.

“Grizzlies,” I answered without thought. I’d had enough nightmares of them as a kid even though I’d never seen one in real life.

“I won’t ever take you to Yellowstone or Alaska,” Jarod said, his voice as soothing as aloe on a sunburn.

“Yours?” I asked, fighting for every last second I had with the man who I wished I’d allowed myself to love. It would have been better to enjoy him in the moments we’d had even though it had been short.

It would have been worth it.

He would have been worth it.

“Used to be dying, but I’ve found something else that I fear more,” Jarod answered, keeping me from spiraling into tears.

“Whas that?” I murmured, my voice sounding like no more than a drunken slur even though I’d only had a couple of beers throughout the entire day.

“Dying without having a chance to tell you how I feel about you.”

Butterflies took to flight in my stomach, and my breath caught regardless of the heaviness of darkness beckoning me to slip away again. “So tell me,” I whispered, an emotional basket case on the verge of losing my sanity.

“I’m well and truly fucked, Christine.”

A barked laugh tried to rip from my lungs at the resignation in his tone, but I started to cough. Fucking pain tore through me from head to toes I could definitely feel.

“Shh.” He soothed me, hands soft on my breast.

“P-pretty sure I’m the one who got fucked that night,” I rasped out once I caught my breath.

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