Page 76 of Back To Our Beginning

“Don’t be expecting me to do you any more favors. You ain’t worth it.”

Lana was now leaning against the wall beside the door, scrolling through her phone.

I uncapped the bottle and took a sip, then I grabbed the soggy sandwich and bit in. Of course, it was bologna and Wonder Bread. My life had truly turned to shit. I tried to pretend it was the roast beef sandwich that I had been about to eat at Trenda’s house, but my imagination wasn’t that good.

There had to be something around here I could think about besides shitty food and crappy companionship. I turned and looked at the workbench again. In the light, I could clearly see that the belt buckles were for rodeo events.

I choked down bite after bite, finishing off each one with a sip of water. I needed to keep my strength up if I wanted to get the hell out of here. I didn’t think for one moment that I could get away from Grizz and the other guy, but maybe I could get some kind of message to someone, and Lana’s phone was my best shot.

“Okay, time’s up.”

Lana put her cell phone in her back pocket, then walked over and picked up the plate and bottle of water and went back inside. This time I didn’t hear any kind of conversation. She came back holding a roll of duct tape.

“Wait,” I said as she started ripping off a piece.

“What?”

“I need to use the bathroom.”

“You can wait.”

She ripped off a long strip of tape and bent toward me.

“Please,” I said. It wasn’t hard for me to work up some tears. The idea of lying around in pee-stained jeans all night was just another level up in this horror show.

Lana looked me over, and my tears must have paid off, because she set the roll of tape on the work bench and pressed the ripped tape on the side of the bench. “Can you stand up?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“Shit,” she groused. She stepped over me again to pull a pair of clippers off the workbench, then she clipped through the duct tape holding my knees together. “There. Now you can walk. Get up, and I’ll take you to the bathroom.”

“Thank you.” I gave her the most pathetically grateful smile I could conjure. I pushed up against the cement floor with my shaky arms and tried to get my legs under me so I could stand up. Like I figured, they wouldn’t work. I fell back down.

“Oh, for God’s sake. Get up already,” Lana huffed.

“I’m trying. My legs have gone to sleep.”

“Try harder.”

I needed to time things right. I knew that if I made her wait for over two minutes, she’d play with her phone, which would mean when I got my hands on it, it would be unlocked.

“Can you give me five minutes? Just let me rub them, okay?”

Lana rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She flounced to her spot by the door, leaned against it and grabbed her phone out of her back pocket. I watched as she started to scroll. I rubbed my legs and felt them tingle.

I attempted to get up and made a big deal of falling down. It wasn’t hard. I looked over at Lana. She just rolled her eyes again. That seemed to be her go-to expression. I tried two more times, each time I landed back on my ass.

“If you could just lend me a hand, I know if I could just get on my feet, I’ll be fine.”

Lana shook her head in disgust, but put her phone in her back pocket, then walked over and reached out with both of her hands and braced. It was perfect. I grabbed her hands and pulled hard. She fell on top of me. I made sure my hands were all over her as I apologized profusely.

“You dumb bitch,” she screeched.

“I’m sorry.”

“Get off me!”

“I’m trying.”