Page 21 of Tower (Post-Apocalyptic Fairy Tales #1)

I never would have been able to manage it if I hadn’t committed myself to regular yoga for years.

We travel a couple more minutes in silence. Sick appears disgustingly pleased with himself, and my mind whirls frantically, searching for options, for ideas, for a plan to get me out of here.

I only come up with one thing.

It’s not a great idea. In fact, it’s pretty stupid. It might end up killing me. But my only other option is to submit to this appalling indignity, to accept the complete ruin of my life.

I’m not going to do it. I’ve made it this long in a terrible world, and I refuse to let the world win without a fight.

So I squirm into a new position, flattening my lower back on the floor as much as I can with my hands bound behind me, bending my knees, and inching myself closer to the driver’s seat without provoking Sick’s suspicions.

He glances over at my motion, but he evidently believes I pose no threat.

He might be right.

I wait a few more seconds to rally my courage, but I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. And every minute I stall takes me farther from base.

From home.

So I lever my legs up as high as I can get, stretching my abdominal and thigh muscles painfully so I can slam my still-bound feet against Sick.

I was hoping to reach his belly, but I get his hip and thigh instead. I shove with a lot of force though, and it was the last thing he was expecting.

He howls, and his body jolts to the side. As I hoped, he loses control of the truck. It swerves off the road, and he’s too hurt, disoriented, or surprised to get control of it again.

I pull my legs back immediately and curl into a tight ball to brace for the impact I know is coming. Sick exclaims shrilly, “You cunty little bitch!” as the truck hits the ditch at far too fast a speed.

There’s a dramatic lurch. Then a horrifying impact. I knock my head hard against the upward curve of the floor. So hard I’m dizzy.

The world starts fading into darkness, and my last thought is that all my effort will be in vain if I can’t wake up enough to get the hell out of this truck.

The next thing I’m aware of is a familiar voice. Low and gruff and anguished.

Anguished.

“Fuckin’ hell, sweetheart, wake the fuck up right now. Don’t you dare do this to me. You gotta wake up. You gotta be all right.”

There are hands on me then. Strong ones. As familiar as the voice. They’re carefully drawing me out of my curled position on the floor of the passenger side.

It hurts. Everything hurts. I try to groan and only succeed in making a weird squeak.

“That’s right,” the voice says, pulling me all the way out of the truck and stretching me out on a hard surface.

Except my head. My head is on something softer.

“That’s my good girl. You’re not dead. You’re not gonna die from this.

You’re not gonna let this fuckin’ world win. You’re not gonna destroy me that way.”

He’s so upset and so beloved and so closely matching my own earlier reflections that I try to say something. Try to speak. All that comes out is another throaty sound. I squirm because my body hurts so much.

“It’s all right. You’re gonna be all right.

I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I never should’ve left you that way.

All I wanted was to be a good man for you, and I acted like a shitty one instead.

I’m so fuckin’ sorry. But you don’t get to die.

I’m not gonna let it happen. I’m not livin’ in this goddamn world without you. ”

He sounds so broken I can’t let it continue. I fight to get my eyes open just a slit. “Levi.”

“That’s right. It’s me.” His hands are moving over me. Not exactly caressing. More like searching for injuries. He finds one on the side of my head.

I suck in a gasp at the pain.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. You got hit pretty bad right there. I can’t tell if you have any other injuries yet. I need you to wake up more so you can tell me.”

“You’re… you’re…” I’m forcing my eyelids open more with each repetition of the word. “You’re not shitty.”

He chokes on what sounds like a half laugh and half sob. His features twist dramatically as he tries to control his emotions. “I was kinda shitty to you this mornin’, and I’m so sorry for it.”

“I’m sorry too.” My mind is working better now. So is my vision. “I think I’m okay. Can you help me sit up?”

He eases me up to a seated position on what I discover is the pavement of the old road.

The truck is still in the ditch. I move my body inch by inch, testing every part to make sure there are no more obvious injuries.

“I think I’m okay. Bruised with some pulled muscles, but the bump on the head is the worst.”

He’s sitting on the road beside me in an awkward position, but it doesn’t stop him from pulling me into a tight hug with another helpless, anguished exclamation.

He’s shaking as he holds me. I’d probably be shaking too if I weren’t so dazed.

After a minute, certain realities force me to draw away. I peer into the open door of the pickup. “Sick?”

“He’s dead.”

Sick wasn’t wearing his seat belt. The impact clearly threw him forward to hit the windshield and then slung him back into the seat. But I don’t know if the accident killed him or if Levi did when he arrived. The amount of blood looks more like a gunshot than injuries from a car wreck.

To tell the truth, I don’t much care.

“Can you get him out of there?” I ask Levi. “I don’t want him to bleed all over my dad’s truck.”

It’s probably a silly, irrelevant concern, but it feels important to me.

Levi doesn’t even hesitate. He climbs into the ditch and opens the driver’s side door. Then he drags Sick’s body out of the cab of the truck and into the overgrown weeds of the pasture. He leaves it there as he checks inside the pickup and then walks around, assessing the damage.

His motorcycle is parked on the road behind us. I notice it for the first time.

When he returns to stand above me on the road, he says, “Gonna have to get some guys out here to fix a tire and push it out of the ditch. But I think it’ll still be drivable.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

I’m not sure what it is that hits him then. Maybe the crisis mode from before finally empties out.

Whatever the reason, Levi crumples. It’s some sort of emotional collapse.

He drops to his knees beside me. Right there on the worn road. His face twists dramatically. “Jesus Christ, Hailey, I thought I lost you. You were gone.”

“I didn’t run away.” My voice sounds strange. Stretched. But I’m thinking better now despite the throbbing of my head.

“I knew you didn’t. I knew you wouldn’t’ve left me that way.

Not without a word. And, despite all my obsessin’, you were right before.

You never once put yourself in danger by doin’ somethin’ stupid, and I knew you wouldn’t’ve gone off on your own.

I knew you were taken. I thought it was too late.

Then when I saw you curled up in the truck, I was sure you were dead.

” He sucks in a raspy breath. “You were dead .”

“I almost was.”

“You think I don’t know that?” He takes a couple more ragged breaths to compose himself again.

“How did you get here so fast from the river?”

“I didn’t get to the river. I didn’t get even halfway there before I realized I never shoulda left you like that. So I turned right around and came back to you, only to find you were gone. I can’t live through that kinda nightmare again.” He reaches to hold both my hands.

“Levi.”

He’s still on his knees, clutching my hands and gazing at me.

“I’m so sorry for all of it. I think I was still tryin’ to…

to come to terms with whether I took advantage.

That’s why I reacted so bad about keepin’ you safe.

But this is the truth, Hailey. I’ll work every day of my life with no rest and no reward if it means I get to keep you safe and keep you happy and keep you in my life.

I don’t care how hard it is. I don’t care how much it scares me.

You deserve to have everythin’ and that includes your freedom.

As much freedom as this world will allow. ”

I choke out a little sob and lift a hand to cover my mouth.

“I mean it, sweetheart. I’m not gonna keep you locked in a tower. I’ve seen how much happier you are when you’re free. And I want that for you. I want everythin’ for you. So I’ll fight however hard I need to fight to hold onto that for you.”

I burst into tears and throw myself at his chest.

The force of my need almost throws both of us onto the ground, but he manages to hold himself up as he wraps both arms around me.

As I cry, he’s still talking. “Oh my fuckin’ God, sweetheart.

I might’ve made way too many mistakes in my life, but I refuse to make any more with you.

I’m not gonna fuck this one up. I don’t think everythin’ was right between us from the beginning, but I know for damn sure everythin’s right between us now .

I know I don’t deserve you, but no one on this entire goddamn planet deserves you.

So I’m gonna have you. And I’m gonna hold on to you and I’m gonna make you happy and I’m gonna give you anythin’ you need, even if it’s hard.

I’m gonna do it for the rest of my life if you’ll have me. ”

I pull out of his hug so I can beam at him. “I’ll have you. For the rest of my life, I’ll have you.”

Maybe it’s a miracle. I never thought I’d see it. But he’s definitely, all-in beaming back at me.

“And I’m sure we can keep working on things so I can feel basically free but you’re not having to run circles to keep me safe. I think we can figure it out.”

“I think we can figure it out too.”

With that, we realize simultaneously that it’s time to get up off the road. We aren’t safe out here in the open. We need to get back to base.

Both Levi and I are grinning as we climb on his motorcycle to head back home.

I straddle the seat behind him, squeezing him with my arms and my thighs.

“You smilin’ back there?” he asks.

“Of course I am. You better be smiling too.”