Page 4 of Corrupted Lies

“I know you're scared, Alannah, trust me, I'm terrified having you in here with me, but I will get you out, I swear.”

“H-how?” she managed to force the word out past her chattering teeth.

“I’ll figure something out, but I need you to trust me, okay? I need you to calm your breathing down. Can you do that for me?”

It wasn't really a matter of if she could or not.

She had to.

If she wanted to live, she had to help Jake, not work against him by becoming dead weight.

Dragging in a shaky breath, she nodded. When he released his hold on her, she wanted to call him back, insist that he never let her go because he made her feel safe.

But she didn't.

She got her breathing under control while he prowled around her office looking for … something.

A way out, she guessed, only the door was the only one. This was the basement. There were no windows and only one set of stairs up to the first floor.

Only they couldn’t get to the stairs if they couldn’t get out of the office.

Focus, Alannah.

You're not the weak, pathetic, waste of space your parents are always insisting that you are.

Help Jake.

The pep talk worked, and she managed to calm both her breathing and the shaking. “What do you need?” she asked Jake.

“Something to break down the door. It’s locked. I called my brothers, so they’ll get here as quickly as they can. Firefighters will check the building, too, but I don’t want to count on someone else getting us out. Not when you're here.”

His words made her smile, her protective grumpypants was there, and somehow in her mind that meant everything would be okay.

Running over to a corner where she had a stack of new weights she’d been going to think about stocking in the small shop on the ground floor, she ripped it open and grabbed two. “Here, Jake, we could use these.”

“Perfect.” He took one, she kept hold of the other, and they both headed for the door.

While she hammered on it with her weight along with Jake, Alannah knew he was the one making progress. She was like the toddler who you allowed to help but really only wound up getting in the way.

Making his way methodically up the door, when he got near the top, he began to hammer in earnest, and soon he was able to smash right through her door.

Immediately, smoke billowed into the room, making Alannah choke as all the oxygen seemed to disappear.

“Damn,” Jake muttered as he grabbed hold of the hole he’d made and lifted himself up enough to see out it.

“What is it?”

“Someone has shoved one of those metal storage shelves you have up against the door.”

“So we’re trapped?” Try as she might to remain calm, Alannah could feel her heart hammering in her chest. They might be found in time by either Jake’s brothers or firefighters, but they also might not.

It didn't take long for smoke inhalation to take effect.

“The hell we are,” Jake snarled. Dropping back down, he picked up the weight he’d set down and hammered at the door again, stopping only once he’d made a bigger hole. “I’ll give you a boost.”

“We’re going to climb through the hole?” As badly as she wanted out of the room, they didn't know what was out there. Maybe they were safer inside.

“I’ve got you, sunshine.” For a second, Jake palmed her cheek, his fingertips feathered across her cheekbone, and Alannah got the weirdest desire for him to lean down and brush his lips across hers the same way his fingers had just caressed her cheek.

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