Page 132 of Burning Skies
“Are you hurt? You’re bleeding.”
“I think it’s from the window, but I’m okay. I’m really glad to see you.”
She starts to cry, and I shake my head. “We’ve gotta be tough right now. Once I get you out of there, I’ll fucking cry with you, but right now, I need you calm.”
Or as calm as she can be as she hangs upside down off the ledge of a bridge. Her chest heaves, and she nods.
Next to her, that asshole moans. He’s alive. Noted.
I try Honey’s door, and miraculously, it opens. But the truck groans again. Fuck.
Honey wipes blood out of her eyes. “Do you want me… want me to undo my seatbelt?”
“Not yet. Let’s get you tethered first.” This is the dangerous part. “I want you to move the top part of your seatbelt down and behind your head and shoulders, leaving the waist strap attached. Then wrap my harness under your arms, but move slowly.”
I open the door enough to hand her the gear, but I keep the door from swinging out and shifting the truck. I could extract her through the window, except I’m worried I won’t have enough room to lift her out when she releases the seatbelt. That part has to be fast because of the shifting weight.
Once I have her secured, I just need the hitch to hold long enough so I can grab her.
It’s a challenge to get the harness over her shoulders since she’s tilted so far forward, but she manages it. Fortunately, she wore her hair in a bun, so it’s one less obstacle. “You’re doing so good, baby.”
“It’s on.” Her worried eyes meet mine.
“This is the tricky part. Now I want you to brace your feet on the dash.” I wait while she does it.
“Like this?”
“Good job.” It’s an awkward position because she’s still stuck to her seat, but I’m hoping that will give her a little leverage. “When you unclip your seatbelt, I’m going to open this door and pull you out. But we need to do it quickly. Just try to keep your legs braced against the dash.”
“What about… what about Adrian?”
My sweet beautiful woman is worried about the asshole who put her in this position. “We’ll worry about him after we get youout. There’s a team assembled below that’s ready for any situation. They can get to him quickly if needed.”
She gets what I’m not saying.
The truck might go over.
“Are you ready?” I’m tempted to shout I love her at the top of my lungs, but I don’t want her to think this is the end.
Because it can’t fucking be the end.
Swallowing, she nods and wipes the blood off her face. “All I have to do is unclick the seatbelt and brace my legs, right?”
“Exactly. On the count of three, you’ll do that, and I’ll open the door and reach for you. All you have to do is focus on getting that seatbelt off your waist as soon as possible. Like this.” I mimic what I want her to do so we get that damn thing off her. “Move it all the way to the right and off you. Understand?”
“Yes.” Tears stream down her face, and she wipes them away. “I need to tell you something, Beau.”
“You can tell me when we’re on the bridge.” For a moment, I take stock of what’s going on around me. The crew is on the bank to the right. My guys are above me and ready to pull us up. And I know Honey has the strength to handle this. “You got this, princess. Here we go.” I count out loud. “One. Two. Three.”
I pull the door open enough to reach my arm around her chest. Steel groans all around us as she falls forward, but I pull her tight to me and put my hand on her head to protect it before I kick off the ledge of the truck to yank her out seconds before the vehicle breaks free of the chains above with a loud twist of metal.
Dangling there, we watch the truck hit the water.
“Oh my God!” she screams.
“It’s okay, baby. They’ll get to him. They’re already in the water.” I hoist her higher, and she wraps her arms around my neck and legs around my waist. “Hang on just like that. I got you.”
Loving calls out to us. “You’re coming up.”
