Page 95

The heaviness of our shared exhaustion hangs in the air. Our tired breaths are the only sound that breaks the palpable silence. Although physically separated, we lean on the bars, reaching out to each other, grasping for comfort and respite from the brutality we endured.
"How are you?" My voice is barely audible in the dimness. I trace my fingers lightly over the cold bars of my cell while imagining my fingertips are actually touching him, grazing his skin.
Alec offers a pained smile. “I’ve been through worse.” He exhales, a weary sigh escapes his lips. "How are you?"
His attempt to uplift my spirits is overshadowed by the exhaustion and pain that his voice can't hide. I grip the bars, wishing we weren’t separated like this.
"Don't worry about me.” I downplay my injuries. Aching and bruised, I cradle what I suspect are cracked ribs. Every breath is punctuated by a stabbing pain.
“How can I not worry about you?” Like me, his fingers squeeze around the metal bars. “The things they did…”
“Are nothing compared to what those girls endured and will endure.” I meet his gaze, letting him see my unwavering resolve despite what the men did to me. “No matter what they throw at us, you can’t give them what they want. You promised."
“Keeping that promise is breaking my heart. How are you really holding up? Some of those punches…” His voice cracks, leaving the sentence unfinished. “I wish I could hold you.”
“It’s just a body,” I try to reassure him, but he watched those men deliver every blow.
Alec’s not the only one who’s bruised and battered. Although, they’ve yet to take my fingernails like they did to him.
“Just a body?” He attempts a laugh but ends up wheezing.
“Yep. At the end of the day, it’s just a body. As long as they don’t break our spirits, we win.”
“It’s not a contest. We’re not going to win this.”
“I haven’t given up hope. I still believe there’s a way out. I see a long future ahead of us, a future filled with all the children we’ll raise.”
“Children?” His surprise echoes between us. “You want children?”
“Eventually.”
“With me?”
“Who else? Don’t you want kids?”
“I haven’t proposed to you yet.”
“Do it now.”
“Are you crazy? In here?” He looks at me as if I’ve totally lost my mind. Maybe I have? Or maybe, this is exactly the way it’s supposed to be.
“Where else, silly? If I’m going to get through this, I need to know our forever is real. Call me crazy, but since watching Fake Elvis marry all those strangers, it’s all I can think about.” My words ring with truth.
Alec’s the right man for me. He’s the other piece of my soul. I’m willing to fight for our future, and if we have no future, at least I want to die with the knowledge we planned for one.
“I want to marry you, and I want to have kids with you, but there’s no fucking way I’m proposing to you with me in this cell and you in that one. We get out of here, and I’ll do it right.” He stares at me with conviction.
We gaze at each other, drawing strength from our connection, our love a shield against the despair that threatens to consume us.
"I can't imagine enduring this without you," I confess, my voice trembles with the vulnerability of my admission. "You give me the strength to keep fighting."
Alec nods, a silent affirmation of our shared resolve. "We're in this together, and we'll find a way out of here,together, no matter what it takes." His eyes burn with unyielding resolve.
Something overcomes Alec, as if suddenly infused with a surge of strength. He turns to look at his cell. Not that there’s much to look at.
He hasn’t said it, but it’s clear escape is our only chance at survival. I don’t know how much more torture either of us can endure, but our usefulness will fade once it’s clear we’d rather die than reveal Guardian secrets.
The change coming over Alec is magnificent to behold. With a determined glint in his eye, he shifts all his attention to the confines of his tiny prison. I don’t know what he sees that I don’t, but there’s nothing in my cell that will help us escape.