by Lexi Post
“Would this help?” Garrett held out a piece of rotten wood that had fallen off the ore car.
“Definitely. Thanks.” She took the wood and held it against the wall of the tunnel and started forward. “Come on, Copper.” The light dimmed as Garrett walked in the opposite direction. She was almost at the fork when it finally went completely black. All she had to do was move forward, staying in touch with the wall and being careful how she stepped.
She counted her steps as much to know how close she was to where they had camped as to keep her mind on her surroundings. When she reached five hundred, she stepped across the rail. As her foot sunk in soft dirt, she knew she’d either stepped in Garrett’s bed or she’d hit the cave-in.
Crouching, she felt around. When she touched the towel that made his pillow, she grinned. She’d never thought she’d use the skills she developed while trapped in that cave, but they were coming in handy. Carefully, she rose and stepped over to her bed and reached into her back pocket. Taking out a mint, she broke it in half with her teeth. Moving the mints to her front pocket, she sat down. “Okay, Copper. Try this.”
The dog jumped on her lap, almost causing her to lose the half a mint. “Whoa, there. I’m not a horse to ride. Here.” She held his head and stuck the mint in his mouth. Immediately there was a crunch and then a smacking of his lips. The next second he had jumped off her and barked.
The sound sent loose dirt cascading down the new pile.
“Shh. If you don’t like it, I won’t give you anymore. Sorry.” She sucked on her half. Having Copper with her made her anxious. Knowing he depended on her to survive whittled away at her confidence.
And Garrett? Strangely enough, she wasn’t worried about him. He obviously knew a bit about survival and didn’t try to pull the macho, “I’m in charge” shit. She respected a man who recognized strength in others.
Her stomach growled, her body reacting to the mint, thinking it was time for breakfast. Hopefully, it would stop before Garrett returned. Working on empty stomachs would make it slow-going for them. She had to figure out how to make her hands useful. There was no way she’d let him do all the work.
It was bad enough she’d slept on the man. It had been far too comfortable, and he was far too nice to look at. For being buried alive, he was the perfect teammate. It had been a long time since she’d been interested in a man, and it hadn’t happened once since she’d returned from her second deployment. She just hadn’t been around anywhere long enough to get to know anyone.
That was probably why she’d been at Last Chance so long. All the men were taken and she worked alone most days. It was easy to keep separate. She did have a certain fondness for Annette though. The older woman was what she’d hoped for in a mother, not what she’d had.
She hadn’t expected to get to know Garrett either. Then again, what did she really know about him? He could be engaged for all she knew. The thought bothered her. If he was with someone, he shouldn’t be letting her sleep on his chest. But if he didn’t, he would one day soon. He was the full package. If she wasn’t determined to be alone, she’d be interested.
She snorted. Not that he would be interested. He’d already seen what a crazy woman she was. He now knew more about her than half the men she’d served with. Uncomfortable with that thought, she rose. She didn’t need to waste time thinking about what Garrett Walker thought of her. What she needed to do is figure out how she could help him dig.
Chapter Ten
Garrett strolled out of the “bathroom” his good mood returned despite the additional dirt he’d have to move. Waking up with Riley sleeping on him, her head nestled in the crook of his shoulder, her arm thrown over his chest, and one of her legs entwined with his had been an unexpected surprise.
Everything about the woman screamed stay away, but in this mine, he’d discovered her softness and her weaknesses, even those she didn’t know she had. Her bravery and strength called to him even as her pain and suffering made him want to protect her.
He reached the fork and continued up the rail, his pace quickening with the knowledge he would be with her again. There was something about her that had him wishing more than ever that he wasn’t such a scarred mess. He’d pursue her in a heartbeat if he was more ‘normal.’
He slowed. Pursue Riley? How exactly would a person do that? He didn’t see her as the out-to-dinner and roses kind of woman. More like a night of pool at The Black Mustang, or better yet, a ride into the mountains and camping overnight, making love beneath the stars.
His pace resumed as he grinned. Yes, that’s what he would do…if he could. Despite the knowledge that it would never happen, he still enjoyed the daydream. After all, he had her all to himself in the mine where it was pitch black and—He stopped. She wouldn’t be able to see him in the dark.
He shook his head and resumed his course. He was an idiot. What she couldn’t see, she’d be able to feel, and there was no way he’d make love to her in a dirty old mine, no matter how much he wanted to.
His light finally fell on the end of the tunnel and on Riley’s ass as she pulled dirt back from the new pile with the old mining pan. Damn, the woman was going to open her wounds! “Stop! What are you doing?” He ran forward.
She knelt back and dropped the pan. “Bring the light over here.”
He stopped next to her. “You’re going to open your fingers up again.”
She grinned up at him. “No, I’m not. Look.” She held her hands up for inspection.
Sure enough, there was no dirt on her fingers. “How?”
“If I hold the pan like this and dig down only halfway, I can move the dirt back as you bring it in. So instead of working side by side, we can work in tandem.”
He tried to come up with a reason why it wouldn’t work, but that made no sense. He wanted to get out of the mine as much as she did. No, not as much. She needed release far more than he did, and like him, she needed to feel she did her part. He was figuring her out more and more. He nodded. “You’re right. That will work.”
“Great. Now grab your shovel head and let’s get to work. Oh, would you like a mint?”
“Yes, thanks.” As she dug in her pocket, he noticed Copper sitting farther away than usual. “Did Copper like his mint?”
“I don’t think so. He hasn’t come near me since.”
Her concern showed in her lowered brow, and he gave her an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry. He’ll forgive you. They always do.”
“And you know this how?” She handed him the roll of mints.
Flicking one out, he put it in his mouth. “I had a dog when I was a boy.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, you did. I should have known. So, grab your tool and tell me all about him.”
“Her.” He strode over to where he’d left the shovel head last night, thankful he’d thought to keep their tools by their small camp. If they’d left them where they’d been working, they’d be buried right now.
“Her?” Riley’s surprise had him chuckling.
“Yes, her. Her name was Schatzie.”
“Odd name for a dog.”
Though she spoke about Schatzie, her eyes were on his right arm. He quickly turned the light to focus on their day’s work. “She was a unique dog, a German Shepard.” He crawled up onto the fresh earth, waited for her to get situated, and quickly turned the phone off, stuffing it in his back pocket. “She was with me from the time I got home from school until I left in the morning.”
He pulled dirt through as he spoke. “If I was doing homework, she was laying at my feet.” He chuckled, “rather she had a paw on my foot, just to make sure I didn’t move without her. She was my best friend for six years.”
“Is that a long time?” She scraped dirt farther back.
“You really don’t know much about dogs, do you?” He paused in his movements.
“Not a clue. I only know horses. Every other animal under my care has died or run off. It’s why I told Whisper she shouldn’t leave Copper i
n my care.”
He dug in again. “You’ll learn. I did. As it turned out, even I couldn’t have known what would happen.”
“She got hit by a car.”
He stopped again. “No.” It was odd how she always went to the worst-case scenario. Then again, maybe it would have been kinder to Schatzie than wasting away. “She had something called EPI or exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Basically, though she ate, her body wasn’t pulling the nutrients from it. Eventually, it shut down. It’s a very unusual problem and is difficult to diagnose. By time we figured it out, it was too late.”
“You must have missed her.” More dirt rolled over the edge as she pulled it back. “Did you get another dog then?”
His parents had talked about it, but…. “No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s hard to explain. I loved that dog. Losing her left a hole in my heart. Of course, with time I moved on. I just didn’t want to love another dog only to lose it. That happens with dogs. Different breeds live longer. German Shepherds usually live to be about twelve or more. Smaller dogs like Copper can live longer. But either way, they don’t live as long as us. I didn’t want to experience that pain again.” She probably thought him a wimp of a man for that. He tried to think of a defense, but he couldn’t.
She didn’t say anything for a long time. Not only did that concern him, but it also hindered his efforts to dig straight. “Hey, you still there? You’re not crying over my dog story, are you?”
“No, I was thinking about the people I’ve lost. I totally get where you’re coming from. It’s better not to get that close again.”
People? Probably because of her family. Someday though, she’d have her own family. He tried picturing Riley with a baby. He couldn’t do it. Instead, he saw her with a teenage boy, teaching him how to shoot at a target range. He grinned. Now that fit her perfectly. “Tell me about these pets of yours.”
As she spoke, he kept digging, half of his mind on her story and the other half on getting her out of the mine safely.
The day was spent digging and talking. He told her more about growing up with an older sister who thought she was his third parent and a younger brother who liked to compete with him. She spoke mostly about her time in the Army, though she did share a story about a prom date gone bad and having to be picked up at the police station for underage drinking.
He learned more about her by what she didn’t talk about than by what she did. She didn’t talk about her family except an occasional word about her father. She never spoke about her pets, though he now understood why she knew so much about horses. “Your parents didn’t mind you living in the stables?”
“They didn’t know. As far I was concerned, at the ripe age of fifteen, I didn’t need them anymore. Turned out, I didn’t, which was a good thing.”
He pulled more dirt to the side before responding. Having her right behind him helped even more with his direction. The gravel seemed more condensed. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but it felt like he was making better progress. “Why was that good?” Though he’d left home at the usual age and begun his own life, he was glad to have both his parents still living.
She let out her self-deprecating chuckle. “Because when I turned seventeen, my father went overseas and my mom was a basket case, so she depended on me instead of the other way around. She was weak.”
The last was said with so much derision that he felt the need to defend the woman. “In what way was she weak? I’m sure being an Air Force wife isn’t easy, especially with two daughters.”
Riley pulled dirt, the gravel rolling back before she answered. “She was nothing but emotion. Couldn’t get her to see the logic in anything. It was all about how she felt. It was frustrating and a waste of breath to try to talk sense into her. If she wanted something a certain way or an item in the store, that was what had to happen, even if it made no sense.” The movement of dirt behind him stopped.
He pulled more toward him with the shovel head and pushed it to the left of him. When he didn’t hear her gold pan, he paused. Had she gone back into the past again? “Riley?”
“Yeah, I’m still here. Just thinking.”
“About your mother?”
“No, Big Bird. Yes, about my mother. She and my father were complete opposites. He was logical, stoic, rational, and strong. She was emotional, always ridiculously happy or incredibly depressed. I have no idea why they ever got married.”
“Opposites attract?”
She snorted. “Or maybe my father couldn’t help but fall for a woman who needed him. Whatever the reason, they should have never been man and wife.” Her gold pan hit the dirt again.
Relieved that she simply reminisced, he chuckled. “But if they hadn’t married, you wouldn’t be here.” He dug the shovel head deep ahead of him.
“You’re kidding right. If they hadn’t married, I wouldn’t be in this godforsaken mine? Sounds like a win to me.”
He recognized her humor now. “True, maybe you’d be on an island sipping pina coladas.”
“Presidente.”
He pulled the earth toward him. It was definitely heavier and it seemed colder, which made no sense. “What president?”
“No, the beer. It’s what I drink when I’m in the Caribbean.”
This was new. “And how often have you been there?” She hadn’t mentioned being stationed there.
“Not enough. Just a few times. You should go. It makes for a perfect vacation.”
He had never had the urge to go to the Caribbean. The people he knew either went north to the mountains in the summer or to Rocky Point, Mexico in the winter for vacation.
“Hey, is this dirt getting heavier or am I just getting weaker from a lack of food?”
Though her question was said half in jest, it confirmed what he’d been thinking. “I noticed that, too. Let’s take a look.” He brushed his hands off on his jeans and pulled out the phone. Half-covering it with his hand, he turned on the light. “What the hell?”
“What?” She crawled forward, squeezing in next to him.
“It looks wet. Hold this.” Handing her the light, he picked up a clump with his hand. “It is wet.” He brought it close and sniffed. “Rain.”
“Rain? As in outside? As in it rained outside and we are near to breaking through?” She pushed past him, crawling forward a foot, the excitement in her voice concerning him.
They hadn’t even dug as far as they had the day before. How could they be close to the outside of the mine? “I don’t think that’s it.”
“What else could it be?” She put her palm to the end of the hole he’d been digging. “I don’t feel any air.” She examined the darker earth with the light, following its color where it met the dry dirt. “It can’t be an underground spring. This is coming from above.”
“Monsoon.” Fuck. They really couldn’t catch a break.
She looked back at him. “What do you mean monsoon? That while we were in here last night, a monsoon came through?” Her tone had risen, her deeper almost raspy voice sounding more like an eight-year-old girl now.
Shit, he needed to keep her calm. “Yes, I think that’s what happened. That could be good. It may have washed a lot of loose dirt away.”
Her widening eyes suddenly narrowed. “Or it could have caused a mud slide and buried us deeper.”
Her anger made it clear she didn’t like being coddled. Fine, that was exactly what probably happened. “It may have, but it also would make the dirt more stable.”
She crawled backward, shaking her head until she’d left the pile of dirt they’d been working on and stood on the tunnel floor. “I’m not staying in here for another eleven days.”
Shit, this wasn’t good.
He scrambled backward, his gaze riveted to her shaking head. “You won’t have to. We’ll be out of here in two days or less. I’m sure Wyatt has already called Cole and he’s returned to start searching for us.”
“Don’t you see? They won’t find us. Domin
o would know enough to go home with a monsoon coming. You said survival would overcome training. With the monsoon, any tracks we left are gone, and if she went back to the ranch, there’s no way for them to know where we are.”
Her voice was rising in volume now as well. He had to keep her calm. “They don’t have tracks, but they do know they have two loose horses with saddles which means we are in the area somewhere. How many places can there be to look? From what I saw, except for the hill Cole’s house sits on, this valley is flat and easily reviewed. That leaves the surrounding mountains and this mine.”
Her shaking head had slowed. “But that could take days.”
Slowly, he slid off the pile and stood. He could feel how much she wanted to hope. He had to find something for her to cling to. “Didn’t you say Cole was supposed to take Cyclone and pull the loose beams at the entrance to this mine back to his house?”
Her head stopped. “Yes, so?”
He relaxed. “So, that means he knows the mine isn’t safe and what the mine looked like just days ago. All he has to do is check this place, see the cave-in and know we’re here.”
She remained silent, her mind obviously processing what he said. When her head started to shake again, he tensed. “With the mudslide, he won’t know we were trapped in here before that occurred. Or he might think we were buried alive under it. We’re never fucking getting out of here!”
Even as she threw the phone to the ground, light snapped across the tunnel like lightning and he leapt across the space between them. He grabbed her by the shoulders. “Riley, listen to me. We are getting out of here.”
“No! No. No. No, no.”
His chest tightened at the hopelessness in her voice, and he pressed her to him, holding her tight, despite her struggles to get away. “Shh, I promise, we will get out of here. I won’t stop until we’re free. It’s okay. You’re not alone.”
