Page 29 of Wired Ghost

Sophie snuffled against his chest, still covering her face. “You might as well know everything. We tried to—be together. But there wasn’t anything but friendship between us. You have to believe that.”

“I believe that. Or we would never have gotten this far.” Jake kissed her forehead, the scar on her cheek, her lips that tasted of salt and tears.

She pulled back, looked him in the eye. “Connor and I have a bond, and he will always be in my life. He’s important to me. I don’t want to have stress about him. And you.”

“That’s fair.” Jake clasped her hands. “I also accept Alika. He’s Momi’s dad, and will always be around, too. You’re an unusual woman, and you have unusual relationships. As long as I’m the only guy you sleep with, I’m okay with it.” Jake wiggled his brows, trying to make light of needing to hear her make a commitment to him aloud. “Am I your main squeeze, babe?”

Sophie let go of his hands and placed hers on his biceps, kneading them gently with a quality of testing fruit for ripeness. That fleeting dimple appeared in her cheek. “Main squeeze. That must be slang for being my lover. Yes, Jake, you’re my lover. Myonlylover.” She leaned forward and kissed a scratch beneath his jaw. “My beloved. Mycootie.”

“I’ll take it.” Jake drew her in for a kiss. Time became irrelevant. Their surroundings didn’t matter. All that mattered was her in his arms.

Suddenly, the ground shuddered and heaved. A terrible groaning filled the cave, a deep roar from somewhere deep, a sound like a thousand demons gathering to drag them to hell.

Another earthquake!

Jake couldn’t keep his feet, but he turned as he fell so that Sophie landed on top of him as he hit the bucking, heaving ground—and this time, cracks opened in the floor with a sound like ice breaking on a lake in winter.

Steam hissed out of the cracks, filling the cavern with heat, cutting the visibility, burning their skin.

The torch on the wall went out.

Jake jerked with alarm—flame needed oxygen,and it wasn’t getting any.

A foul stench filled the air.

Sulfur dioxide smelled horrible. The deadly gas trapped down in the magma usually flushed out before the lava appeared, when an eruption was imminent.

Belching out of the fissures on the cavern’s floor with the steam was a shit-ton of awful-smelling sulfur dioxide.

They were about to be gassed like rats, and then burned to a crisp.

Jake didn’t even waste breath on cursing. He surged to his feet, staggering as the floor continued to rock n’ roll. He evaded a column of swirling mist and sucked in a big breath, running with Sophie along the bouncing, shuddering ground as brittle lava broke loose from above and fell around them. Dirt cascaded through the opening above, peppering the steaming surface of the floor with debris.

They reached the wall and, his lungs already beginning to burn, Jake hoisted himself up onto the lowest ledge. He tugged Sophie’s hand and pulled her with him. She climbed after him, her shirt up over her nose and mouth like she’d done before.

He hoped she wasn’t breathing—the air was toxic as hell, and a shirt as a mask wasn’t going to do a thing.

Jake could taste the sulfur dioxide, the noxious poison of it metallic in his mouth. He climbed desperately, reaching up for the next ledge, swallowing his breath down to make that one gulp last longer, towing Sophie after him as she flagged.

He’d already decided where they would position themselves when he’d assessed the wall—a ledge a couple of feet wide at the top, just beneath the ceiling. They’d be safe there from being parboiled by the superheated steam at the floor, and perhaps the air would be clear enough to breathe because they’d be as close as they could get to the ceiling vent.

In any case, it was their only option.

Sophie gasped and coughed, clawing at him, her eyes frantic—and then she sagged and passed out.

Jake circled an arm under hers and heaved her up against his side. He climbed blindly, hauling her dead weight. Dark spots danced in his vision, narrowing to a tunnel-like circle as he dragged Sophie’s limp form, lifted her up, and rolled her onto the highest ledge above him, under the cave’s ceiling.

Jake gripped the edge, trying to pull himself up after her, his solar plexus spasming with the need to breathe—and finally, he did.

The air tasted like metal and burned like smoke and gave no relief.

Jake sagged back, collapsing onto a ledge well below Sophie’s.

Another breath seared his lungs. He coughed, but it didn’t help at all. His whole body shuddered. He pressed his lips into a crack against the wall, sucking the air hiding in it. He was smothering, and it hurt like a mofo.

Agony.

Fade to black.

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