Page 21 of They Will Fall

She swipes the tears from her eyes and drops her hands to her sides. “I know you want to keep me safe, but this isn’t the way to do it, Maddox.”

“What other way is there?”

Her shoulders slump in defeat. “I don’t know, but I know I can’t stay here.”

“I’m sorry,” I say softly. “But I can’t let you leave. Not yet.”

“You don’t have a choice. One way or another, I’m getting out that door.”

She turns around and steps up on the ladder, but I grab her by the waist and pull her back. “No, babe. You’re not going anywhere.”

CHAPTER8

RILEY

“I officially hate you,”I tell him, truly believing what I say as he hammers another nail into the board at the top of the ladder.

“You can hate me now, but I know you’ll love me again later.”

“Nope,” I quip. “I’m going to hate you until I take my last breath on this cold floor in this dark and dirty room. Because that’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to die down here. Be it starvation, hypothermia, or even murder. It’s going to happen if you don’t let me out.”

“Murder, huh?” He chuckles. “You plan on killing me?”

My shoulders rise and fall slowly. “I’ve contemplated it.”

“Guess I better sleep with one eye open then.”

He hammers another nail into the board. When those idiots cleared this space out, it would've been nice if they took all their tools and shit with them. Somehow Maddox stumbled across some old two-by-fours and a box of nails. He couldn’t find a hammer, but he improvised with a big flat rock. Fortunately, he’s doing a poor job of getting them in all the way, which should make it easy for me to get them out.

“So,” he begins. “How do you plan on taking me out?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe with that rock in your hand.”

He laughs again as if I’m not serious. Which I’m not. I could never hurt Maddox, but I have every intention of making him realize how extremely pissed off I am right now.

I grab his backpack and reach inside to pull out an individual bag of pretzels. “Or starvation. Maybe I’ll just eat all these snacks until you’re so hungry, you’re forced to take down the boards on that trapdoor and go out for food.”

I rip the top of the bag apart and reach inside to grab one, then I pop it in my mouth, smirking at him.

“I’ve gone days without food before. I can do it again. Especially for you. I do suggest you eat the food sparingly, though.”

My entire hand goes in the bag and I bunch every pretzel in my fist, then I stuff them all in my mouth until my cheeks are stuffed full with every last one.

I glower at him as I hastily chew on the dry pretzels out of sheer defiance. “Don’t tell me what to do,” I say as a powder of crumbs puffs out of my mouth.

Maddox sighs heavily and rubs his temples with a smirk on his face. “You are something else.”

I swallow in one gulp, barely chewing them all. Suddenly, I feel the prickle of a jagged piece scratch against my throat. I try to cough, but a small piece gets lodged. When it doesn’t come up, I panic.

Beads of sweat form on my forehead, and my heart races as I claw at my throat, trying to dislodge the pretzel.

Oh my god. I’m choking.

This is how I die.

Death by pride—in the form of a pretzel.

“Jesus Christ, Riley.” Maddox hurries down the ladder as I push myself up on my knees, choking on a fucking pretzel. “You’d literally choke yourself to death just to prove a point.”

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