Page 62 of Knot Your Sugar Rush
I drop to my knees in the narrow gap I’ve cleared, splinters biting deep into my palms. “Cam, I’m here—” I reach through ceiling debris, fingers skimming hers before I find Jamie’s wrist. Warm. Alive. I tighten my grip. “I’ve got him.”
Dane grunts, muscles corded with the strain of holding the wall upright. “Then pull, Theo!Now!”
I try—but the debris doesn’t want to give him up. It’s got him caught under something heavy. Every inch I gain, the timbers shift with a sound like a gunshot, and I freeze, because if I pull too hard, the wrong way—
Another crack. Louder. The floor jumps under my knees.
“Back! Back!” Dane shouts, and my heart stops.
But I can’t justlet go.I shift my weight lower, wrapping both hands around Jamie’s arm now. My elbows wedge into the wreckage, my shoulders screaming.
Cam’s still holding on, her knuckles white. Our eyes meet for a heartbeat through the dust, and in hers I see it—the same stubborn, terrified refusal that’s running hot in my own veins.
The wall beside us bows inward. Dane roars something—I don’t even hear the words—and braces harder. I canfeelthe building deciding to come down.
I yank on Jamie’s arm, using every bit of leverage I’ve got. Something tears — fabric? — and his hand slips halfway into mine before catching again on the beam pinning him.
And then the sound hits — deep and final, the crack of something vital breaking.
The whole placemoves.
I hold on anyway.
Chapter forty
Cam
The dust tastes like old pennies. Metallic and bitter, coating the back of my throat so thick I can barely swallow. Every breath is a scrape of grit and fear.
“We’ve got you, Jamie!” Theo’s voice cuts through the chaos, close and sharp, but the rest is a blur — the groan of wood under too much weight, Dane’s strained curses, the muffled scrape of Jamie trying to move under the wreckage, a mumble I think I almost make out of “leave me.” I ignore him.
My arms ache. My hands are locked tight around Jamie’s wrist, the pulse under my fingertips a frantic flutter that’s keeping me from falling apart. If I can feel it, he’s still here.
The floor shivers again, a deep, rolling tremor that jolts through my knees and into my spine. Somewhere above, something shifts and falls with a bone-deepthud. I flinch, my grip almost slipping.
“Don’t let go!” Theo’s there, suddenly, on the other side, wedged into the wreckage like he’s part of it. His eyes meet mine, dust-streaked and fierce. His hand covers mine, reinforcing the grip. “We’ve got him. We’vegothim.”
I want to believe him. I want to believe any of us are strong enough to hold up an entire building with our bare hands.
Dane’s still braced against the wall behind us, sweat and dust streaming down his temples. His shoulders bunch with the effort, his boots slipping against the uneven floor. “If you’re gonna move him,do it now!”
I pull. Theo pulls. Jamie shifts a fraction — enough for hope to flare sharp in my chest. But then the beam pinning him groans, sinking lower, and his sharp intake of breath cuts right through me.
“Stop—stop!” I gasp. “We’ll tear him—”
Theo’s jaw locks. “One more—”
The building makes the decision for us.
The sound is deafening — the long, slowcrackof surrender. The air rushes hot and heavy around us, the walls shudder, and something big drops just behind Dane with a slam that rattles my teeth. My vision tunnels until there’s nothing but Jamie’s arm in my hands, the rough drag of his skin under my fingers, the desperate burn in my lungs.
“Cam—” Jamie’s voice is strained, half-swallowed by the noise, but it’s enough. I tighten my hold, leaning back with everything I have.
Theo shifts, wedges his shoulder in deeper, and Dane roars — the sound of someone pushing past what’s possible. The wreckage moves. Not much, but enough.
“Pull!”
I do.
