Page 120 of Off Plan

Oh my God. How was this happening?

I pinched myself, foolishly, wondering if I’d somehow fallen asleep, possibly on my bed back in New York, and I’d dreamed up my entire life on Whispering Key, both the beautiful dream that was Fenn and the horrible nightmare that wasthis right now.

And then the nightmare and the dream were one and the same because there in the cold, wet darkness, deep inside the earth, I heard Fenn’s voice.

“Mason! Mase! For fuck’s sake, you’d better be alive down there!”

I sucked in the biggest breath I could, which was not very big, and managed to squeak out, “Fenn!” There was no way he could hear it over the pounding rain…

Except he did.

“He’s alive. He’s conscious! Fuck, Rafe, give me the rope. Oh, yes I fucking can! You stay back and—Listen to me! I know what I’m talking about here, okay? This whole area is unstable, and you need to staybackor it could collapse further. No more weight. Just hold the rope, and when Beale gets back with the ladder, you push it over to me, okay?”

I couldn’t hear a damn thing Rafe said, if he replied; the only thing I was capable of hearing—the only thing I wanted to hear—was Fenn’s voice.

“Mason! I’m coming down, okay? Can you talk to me, baby?”

I was pretty sure I could do a whole lot of things if he kept calling mebaby, but I didn’t say that. Instead, I managed a pitiful, “Yeah.”

“Good! Okay, so what we have here is a sinkhole. Remember we talked about those, Mase?”

Yeah. I remembered him saying they were super rare, the lying liar. “Yeah,” I managed, a little more strongly this time.

Suddenly, there was light shining down from above, illuminating my hands on the steering wheel and the crumpled front end of the car. It was only the weak light of someone’s phone flashlight, but it was better than nothing and it calmed me slightly… at least until the beam swung toward the nose of the car, which was hanging overempty space.

“This is good, Mase!” Fenn said, as calmly as if we were talking about television shows.

I was glad one of us thought so. But it was hard not to respond to the overwhelming confidence in Fenn’s voice, hard not to feel like, as long as he was with me, everything wasn’t justgoingto be fine, it already was.

“This side hasn’t collapsed entirely, so I’m sliding down to get you, baby. It’s slow going. Can you do me a favor and open the car door?”

I felt for the handle and found it easily, but before I pulled it, I hesitated. “Safe?” I croaked.

“Of course! It’ll be fine. Just push that door open gently, okay? Try not to rock the car too much.”

Oh, sure. Just open the door without rocking the car.No prob.

I did exactly as I was told and…shit.The water poured into the car even faster.

“Fenn!”

“Yeah, baby! Right here.” His voice was closer now. Almost right next to me.

“I’m stuck.”No shit, Mason.

“It’s okay. I’m coming!” His hand flew in the open door and smacked me in the face.

“Hey!” I said, but I grabbed at that hand anyway and clasped it with bruising force like the lifeline it was.

“Okay.Okay,” Fenn breathed, like he was reassuring himself more than me. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you, and I’m not letting go.”

That sounded seriously fucking perfect.

“Fenn! Got the ladder!” Beale’s voice called from somewhere above. “You sure this will work?”

Fenn edged closer. “Absolutelypositive. I’ve seen cave-ins like this before. This is standard procedure. It’s going to befine. Lower the ladder down to me, just don’t come close to the edge, Beale. I’m gonna attach the rope to it, then you and Rafe are gonna pull the rope to get us out.”

And that’s exactly what happened. Fenn helped push the seat back so I could squeeze out of the car, and then he positioned me flat on the ladder, which he used almost like an EMT’s spinal board. He laid himself on top of me, holding on to the ladder while I held on tohim. And then Beale and Rafe, with much groaning, managed to haul us up onto the pavement where the headlights from Rafe’s JeepandBeale’s motorcycle lit the place up nearly as bright as day.