Page 107 of Never and Always
There was no give in it. I slumped back.
A frightened sob tried to escape my chest but I shoved it back. I was Piper Ellis. I was a problem solver.
I was getting out of here. I wasnotgoing to die.
I clumsily got onto my knees, and that’s when I felt a weight in my jacket.
My phone.
Yes. I wriggled and tilted, trying to get to my phone. I couldn’t reach it while I was tied up. I dropped to my hands and knees, wriggling some more. I winced as pain shot through my side. I was pretty sure I’d just pulled a muscle. My gaze moved to the fire. It was getting bigger.
I kept wriggling.
Thunk.
My cellphone fell to the concrete.
“Yes.” I sat down and tried to get my hands free again.
Nope. With a frustrated breath, I stabbed at my phone, unlocking it. Then I found my Contacts and pressed Everett’s name.
Come on, come on.
Then I heard footsteps. I tensed and saw Corvo coming back.Fuck.
Quickly, I shifted to sit on the phone and hide it from him. He nodded at the growing fire, smiling again, then looked back at me.
“Wish I could stay and play, but it’s enough to know you’re burning here. I need to be far away when they find you. Plausible deniability and all of that.”
His dark, smug gaze raked over me, then he turned and strode out.
I let out a breath and moved.
That’s when I realized the phone had landed in a puddle of water. My chest clenched. The screen was dead.
“No, no.” I nudged it out of the water and touched the screen.
Nothing.
I squeezed my eyes closed. The smoke was growing and I coughed.
“Everett will come. He’ll have gotten the call. He’ll come.”
I didn’t want to die. I swallowed. I really, really wanted to live. For the first time in a long time, I wanted more than just taking care of my family and work.
I wanted cocktail night with the girls, I wanted to wander Windward’s boutiques and galleries, I wanted to snuggle on the couch, I wanted hot sex in front of the fireplace.
I wanted Everett.
I wanted to see him in his flannel shirt, smiling that sexy smile of his.
He’d turned everything upside down. Everything I’d planned, everything I thought I wanted.
Futilely, I tugged on my rope again, heaving hard.
The smoke thickened.
Everett, hurry.
