Page 2 of The Sunny Side (Rojo 2nd Generation: Rojo Police Department #3)
“It’s almost a mile up the mountain to the nearest house, and it’s a thirty-minute drive from town to get there. Do I have that much time?”
I sighed as I considered it and then shook my head sadly. “I don’t think so.”
Clarisse closed her eyes and slowly breathed in through her nose before she blew a steady breath out through her mouth. She did this several times before she said, “My leg isn’t stuck anymore.”
“You got it out?”
“Yeah,” she whispered before she cleared her throat and choked back a sob. “I’m almost positive it’s broken.”
I studied the window and asked, “Can you fit through that hole?”
Clarisse nodded, and then her eyes got wide when there was a loud groan from the tree holding the car. “I can, but I’ve got my seatbelt on.”
I thought about it for a second, working through the steps it would take to pull her through the window and trying to guess which direction the car would slide once she started moving.
Could I get her out the window in a straight shot, or would the car start to spin and drag her away before I could get her clear?
“Okay, I’ve got a plan,” I said as I dug through my backpack and pulled out a long length of rope.
I studied the trees behind me until I found an undamaged one that I thought would work, and then I tied the rope to it.
Once I checked the knot, I slid back toward the car on my ass.
I stood up and used my headlamp to find the place on the frame near the back of the car where I would put a jack if the car were upright and then tied the rope to it.
Once I was finished, I said, “I don’t know how long that will hold, but I think it will buy us some time. ”
“What did you do?”
“I tied some rope to a sturdy tree and then to the rear of your car. If the tree behind you breaks, that rope will hold it while the car slides toward those trees over there. Hopefully, they’ll brace the car enough to keep the rope from breaking, but even if it does, that should give us enough time to pull you out. ”
“Are you sure?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not, but that’s the only idea I’ve got.”
“Will you do me a favor, Brawley?”
“Sure.”
“If I die, will you come to my funeral?”
“You’re not gonna die!”
“But if I do, will you?”
I sighed before I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll come.”
“Will you do something for me while you’re there?”
“Yeah. What is it?”
“After the priest finishes his spiel and everyone is pretending to cry, I want you to walk up to the front of the church and say, ‘All of you are full of shit. She did not light up a room, she wasn’t always smiling, and she didn’t like any of you assholes anyway.’”
I burst out laughing and said, “Holy shit! I’ll definitely do that for you. I promise.”
“I don’t want to die, Brawley.”
“I don’t want you to either, although the thought of wreaking havoc at a funeral doesn’t sound like a bad time.”
It was Clarisse’s turn to laugh, but she was careful not to move when she did it. She got quiet before she asked, “Will you do me another favor, just in case this is the end?”
“Is this as epic as the funeral request?” I asked.
“Will you kiss me?”
“What?”
“I’ve never been kissed before,” Clarisse admitted. She cleared her throat before she explained, “I’ve always dreamed that I’d find a guy who gets me and that my first kiss would be magical.”
“Okay.”
“You laughed when I asked you to do that at my funeral, so I think you get me . . . or at least what you know of me. Right?”
“I think so.”
“I don’t want to die without knowing what a kiss feels like,” Clarisse confessed.
“You’re not gonna die, Clarisse,” I said firmly. “I won’t let you.”
“Just in case. Will you do that for me?”
I didn’t answer her, just crawled closer to the car and angled my body so that our faces were almost close enough for our lips to touch. The angle was weird, but I figured out how to manage it and then pressed my lips to hers and kissed her as if our lives depended on it.
By the time I pulled away, we were both panting. I tilted my head so we were looking eye to eye. I grinned and said, “I think that was pretty magical, Clarisse.”
“It was,” she whispered as tears fell from her eyes to the ceiling of the car. “Thank you, Brawley. No matter how long I live, I’ll never forget it.”
There was another loud crack, and the car shifted slightly, causing Clarisse to whimper.
I jolted into motion and said, “Let’s get you out of here, and then I’ll give you another kiss that’s not a reenactment of a scene from Spider-Man.”
I reached into my pocket to grab my knife and looked down when it got stuck on the fabric inside. I heard a loud thump, and my eyes snapped back to Clarisse. I gasped when I saw she’d gone limp. The sound I’d heard had been her arms falling off the steering wheel she’d been holding on to.
“Oh, shit,” I whispered as I reached in to take her pulse. “Please don’t be dead.”
She still had a pulse, but it was thready. I knew that this was it. I had no more time to waste trying to figure out the perfect plan. It was now or never.
The adrenaline rushing through my veins was enough to power an entire city block. I flipped my knife open and took a deep breath to help calm myself and steady my hand before I reached in to cut her seatbelt.
The sound of her body hitting the roof of the car was almost as loud as the sound of the tree behind it breaking. The terror I felt when I reached out to grab her was something I’d never forget.