Page 59 of In Too Deep
It was a long shot, he knew.Most of those old shafts had collapsed decades ago.Or were too narrow to climb.Or led to dead ends.But he’d tried to keep the hopelessness from his voice and inject confidence he didn’t feel into every word.
By the look on Meg’s face—eyes too wide, jaw too tight—he hadn’t succeeded.
She swallowed once.Then again.
Her breathing slowly picked up speed, her chest rising faster—shallow and rapid.The beginning of a panic attack he’d seen her fight off before.
Noah closed the distance between them in two strides and pulled her against his chest without hesitation.One hand cradled the back of her head.
“Deep, slow breath.We’re going to be okay.I’ve seen maps of these caves—old survey maps from the park-service archives.Climbing out through a shaft is possible.”
Possible, yes.Probable?Likely?
He couldn’t even let himself think about the odds.
But they’d get out.They had to.
Because the alternative—Meg dying down here in the dark, never seeing sunlight again—made him ready to retch.
Meg sank into him.Her breathing gradually slowed as she matched her breaths to his.Then she leaned back and pulled away.She wiped under her eyes with the back of her hand, smearing dust across her cheeks in dark streaks.
“Talk to me.”Noah kept his hands on her shoulders, his grip firm and steady.“Before you came to the park—what were you doing?Working in a hospital?”
Meg blinked at him.“What?”
“Just—” He needed to keep her focused on something other than the walls closing in.“Tell me about before.Keep your mind somewhere else.”
She drew a shaky breath.Then another.“ER.I worked in an ER in Denver.”
“That’s right.I remember you saying that.”He encouraged her to continue.
Her voice was still thin but steadier now.“Crazy pace.Gunshot wounds, car accidents, heart attacks.Never knew what was coming through those doors next.”
“Sounds intense.”
“It was.”She reached for Alex’s wrist again and found his pulse automatically.Her mouth moved as if counting in silence.“Andy loved it.My boyfriend at the time—he was a doctor too.Thrived on the chaos, the adrenaline.Didn’t understand why I…” She trailed off, her eyes distant.“Why I didn’t.”
Noah waited, sensing there was more.He already disliked this Andy.
“I had a panic attack one night.”Her voice turned flat and emotionless.“It had been an extra intense day at the ER, but I held it together until I got to my apartment.My dad had died the year before, and they had been coming more regularly—the attacks.Andy arrived to take me to a fundraising gala—you know, one of those schmoozy events where you rub shoulders with the board members and donors.”
“And you were alone?”Noah ran his hand over her back in slow circles.
Just the idea of it—her alone and terrified on cold tile—had him wanting to lift her into his arms and hold her forever.
“No, Andy found me huddled on the floor in the bathroom.”She let out a bitter laugh.“He stayed with me.Missed his opportunity to network with the hospital’s biggest benefactors.He was furious.”
The muscles in Noah’s arms tightened.
Yup.He detested Andy without even meeting him.Wanted to punch him.
“He broke up with you?”
“Not that night.He waited a few days, let me think everything was fine.Then it was ‘Maybe you need to get your life together first,’ and ‘We can try again when you’re more stable.’”She mimicked his voice, dripping with condescension.“So when the opportunity to work at the canyon came available, I took the job.”
“Meg—”
“Didn’t have a panic attack for two whole years.”She looked at him, her gaze direct.Her eyes were bright in the lamplight.“Two years of perfect control.”
