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“Doubt it,” I said matter-of-factly, as if I didn’t feel my bones breaking already.As if the pain wasn’t consuming my entire body.“You were never the strong one.”
An ear-piercing scream ripped from Stanley’s throat.His foot slammed down on mine, his fist uppercutting my gut.
A grunt burst from me as the punch landed, stealing the air from my lungs.A sharp jolt tore through me, and my grip faltered for a second.The world narrowed, the pounding in my ribs almost too much to handle.But for Sherry, I had to.
Another blow crashed into me, and stars burst behind my eyes.My fingers dug in harder, my knuckles scraping the rough fibers.
I tightened my grip on the rope still.My muscles strained against my t-shirt, the burn consuming me, but I held strong.
For Sherry.
Headlights lit up the parking lot.“Fucking cops,” Stanley muttered and took off, leaving Mario.
Mario glanced at me, hunched over, hanging on for dear life to the rope.“Should have walked away, kid.”
“You should have walked away from my dad a long fucking time ago,” I ground through clenched teeth.“Now you’re going to go down with him.”
He stared at me for a beat.Something flickered in his eyes, then he took off into the vines, disappearing into the dark.
“What the fuck was that?”Alec’s voice echoed through the night as he hurried over to me.“Dude, you’re bleeding.”
“No shit,” I mumbled.“I need to anchor this.”I hugged the rope to my chest, ignoring the pain that was consuming my entire body.
Alec dropped to his knees beside me, scanning the structure.“I’ve got it.Just hold on a second.”
“Don’t really have much of a choice.”My jaw tightened, my teeth ached.I inhaled, each breath like a shard of glass cutting deep.
He ran off to his truck and returned with rope, a stake, and a hammer.He got down on his knees again.The sound of the hammer hitting metal echoed through the night.Each smack of the hammer was like a jolt to my already aching head.
He held his hand out to me and took the rope.
I collapsed to the grass, my chest rising and falling in shallow ragged pulls.Stars danced at the edge of my vision, but I needed to make sure the tent was secure.I tried to push up, and Alec’s hand shoved me down.
“I got it.”
“But I need to make sure it’s secure.”
“I think I’m capable.”The sound of metal on metal broke through the quiet over and over.“Let me guess.The same jackasses who fucked up Murray's furniture.”
“Yeah,” I said.
Headlights cut through the parking lot, followed by the slam of a car door.
“Ben?”
Sherry.
I glanced at Alec, realizing how bad this looked.I had accused him of working for my dad, and now the two of us were here in the middle of the night at the scene of the crime—a crime that would have completely destroyed the wedding and ultimately Sherry’s career.
I was ready to spew out my innocence.Tell her it wasn’t what it looked liked, but as she neared, her hair wet from a shower that she had probably hoped I would join her in, she tripped on the grass, then dropped down beside me.Her hand cupping my cheek.
“What the hell happened?”Her gaze flicked to Alec and the loose rope he was still securing.
“It’s not what it looks like,” I said.“We aren’t trying to destroy the tent, we’re trying to fix it.”
Alec’s one hand rose in front of him.“I stumbled upon this disaster.Had nothing to do with it.”
“I didn’t even think that,” Sherry said, and every ounce of my broken, beaten-down body relaxed.She did trust me, even when I looked guilty as hell.