Page 34 of Protecting Kelli
“Let it out, Kelli. I’ve got you.”
That was all it took for the dam to break.
Kelli cried because she was scared. Because she was sick of the dark. Because she was hungry. Because, despite Flash’s reassurances, she had no idea how anyone would be able to find them. Their kidnappers had obviously planned this meticulously. They’d stripped a bus and buried it in thejungle, for goodness sake. Then to further torture them, they’d purposely left a box full of ridiculous crap. This sucked!
As she cried, Flash kept rocking. He stayed silent and let her express everything she was feeling through her tears.
When she was all cried out, her head hurt, and she felt dehydrated and kind of sick. Flash shifted under her. Thinking he was getting uncomfortable, Kelli sat up and prepared to get off his lap, until she felt something on her face.
Freezing, she realized Flash was using part of his shirt to dry her face.
“Blow,” he ordered, putting the material over her nose.
In response, Kelli gently pushed his arm away from her. “I’m not blowing my nose into your shirt,” she told him with as much force as she could muster.
He chuckled, and she could feel the rumble all along her body. “I’d give you the cloth we found earlier, but it’s got blood on it now. I wish I had a real tissue for you.”
“Yeah,” Kelli responded, because she wished that too. If he did, they probably wouldn’t be where they were right now. Leaning away from him slightly, she brought the hem of her coverup to her face and blew her nose. In any other situation, she’d be disgusted. But she felt better afterward, and it wasn’t as if she was as clean and fresh as a daisy anymore. What was a little snot to add to this already fucked-up situation?
“Better?” Flash asked as she leaned back against him.
“Not really,” she said honestly.
“I know this situation seems hopeless, but it’s not,” he said.
Kelli rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh,” she told him without much conviction.
“It’s not. Let’s go over the positives. I’ll go first, then you. We have water.”
Kelli wanted to counter that with a snarky comment about how, yay, having water would only prolong their deaths, but she took a deep breath and tried not to be a negative Nelly. “We aren’t alone.”
“Good one. This would really suck if you weren’t here,” Flash agreed.
“It’s not as if I’m doing anything,” she felt obligated to say.
“The hell you aren’t. You being here is forcing me tokeep my shit together. I probably would’ve gotten shot if you weren’t. I would’ve attacked Jeckle and gotten shot by Heckle.”
To her amazement, Kelli found herself giggling. “Heckle and Jeckle. Those names are so stupid, and they sound so funny coming from you.”
“You got better names?”
“No.” She sobered. “They were careful not to say their real names in front of us.”
“I noticed that too. Doesn’t matter. My team’ll figure out who they are.”
“How?”
“No clue. My forte is not computers and ferreting out information. I’m more of a muscle man. A man of action. Of getting physical shit done.”
“I think I’d rather be in this bus right now with someone like you than a computer geek,” Kelli said.
“You haven’t met Tex. From what the ladies say, even with one leg and a couple decades on us, he’s hot.”
Kelli laughed again. Hearing Flash say another man was hot was funny. “One leg?” she asked, when she had herself under control.
“Yup. Okay, what else? Your head isn’t bleeding anymore.”
Oh, they were back to listing positive things about their situation. “Um…we have cans of food? Maybe?” She wasn’t so sure that was a positive, because even though Flash said he could open the cans with the spoon their kidnappers had left, they had no idea what was inside.
