Page 31 of Vengeful

"I will be when I'm not stuck in a pit anymore," I replied. I had no words for how relieved I was to hear Slade's voice. I had no idea who this Kent was, but if he was a friend of Slade’s, I'd happily accept his help. Hell, at this point I'd happily accept help from just about anyone.

"We have a rope. We're going to tie one end around a tree and one of us will anchor it. The other will climb down to you," Slade said.

I shook my head and blinked against the glare. "It's not safe for either of you to come down here. If you can throw me a rope, I'll climb out to you."

I didn't want to risk Slade being stuck down here with me. I definitely didn't want his body weight to bring the pit down on us both. Dying down here would suck. Having him die down here with me would suck even harder.

Slade huffed. For a moment I thought he might disagree. Finally he said, "Fine. But if it looks like you're getting into trouble, I'm jumping down there with you."

"Noted." I nodded. "I'll be okay." I would be now. It was still an uncomfortably small space, but the glaring light almost balanced that out.

Almost.

"Give us a couple of minutes, all right?" The light moved as one of them placed it on the ground beside the mouth of the hole.

"That tree there," Slade said. "That should be sturdy enough. We'll both anchor for her."

"For double, I can tie some pretty good fucking knots," Kent said.

"You better," Slade growled. "If anything happens to her, you don't get jack shit."

"If anything happens to her, I'm pushing you in too and I'll take my original payday from Caleb," Kent retorted.

I frowned. What the hell didCalebhave to do with any of this? A lot by the sound of it. I'd have to wait and hear the story later. No doubt it would be interesting and aggravating all at the same time.

"Are the twins with you?" I called out.

"No, they aren't," Slade said. "They have things to deal with, but they won't be too far away."

Things to deal with?I mouthed to myself. Did Iwantto know what that meant?

Probably not, but I'd have to anyway, sooner or later. The lack of worry in Slade's tone went a long way to soothing any worry I had before it formed. If he wasn't concerned about the twins, then I wouldn't be. Unless Slade was a good liar…

But no, I suspected he was telling me the truth.

"Okay, try that," Kent said.

"It feels solid," Slade replied.

I pictured him tugging on the rope, testing that it was properly tied and would hold my weight.

"Of course it's solid," Kent said. "I tied it, didn't I?"

Slade didn't respond to him. He appeared beside the light, a tall, burly silhouette against the evening sky.

"I'm going to toss this end to you." He raised his hands and I saw part of the rope before it disappeared out of sight. "Are you ready?"

I raised my hands. "Very ready."

He nodded and threw. I snatched at the air and managed to grab one end.

"Nice catch," Kent said.

I smiled and tugged experimentally on my end of the rope.

"No one believes I can tie a rope," Kent complained.

"I tied a knot at the other end," Slade said to me. "If you stand on that, we can pull you up."

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