by Dee J. Adams
Chapter Seven
Elena wanted to believe him. Not to mention the fact that she was at the end of her rope. She hated the helplessness. She wasn’t usually one to sit around and let life go by. She participated. She spearheaded. This waiting around for the sky to fall did not much appeal to her.
If Julie had been acting like this, Elena would’ve told her to make an attitude adjustment. “All right. I’ve had it. That last shake just pissed me off.” She scanned the pile of rocks in front of her. They’d definitely shifted after that last aftershock. She’d tucked herself into the back of the hole and watched some of the bigger chunks shake loose. In fact, she saw a brand new hole where there hadn’t been one before. She crawled forward and caught a glimpse of Bill’s leg. She stuck her arm through the hole and grabbed the material.
“Whoa!” He crouched down, a beaming smile on his face. “Hey there, stranger.”
She went straight for the whole enchilada. “Italy sounds like it might be fun. You know, the two of us.”
He nodded and he must have got some dust in his eyes, because they got red and watery all of a sudden. “Let’s get you out of there.” He stood up. “Push back a little bit and let me get a couple of these bigger pieces out of the way.” He worked for a few minutes until suddenly a big hole opened up and Elena crawled out.
Bill helped her up since her muscles were killing her. Looking into his stormy blue eyes, she felt an elemental shift in her feelings. His thumbs stroked across her cheeks, then he palmed her nape and brought her closer. His lips brushed hers before taking her mouth in a hot, electric kiss. Elena’s heart melted at the contact. She felt like they were a team, like together they could face anything. It was a crazy euphoric feeling that made her giddy inside.
“How’s your leg? You’ve been working non-stop.” She spotted something on his shirt and squinted in the dimness. “Is that blood? Where are you bleeding?”
He lifted his hand and showed her a nasty cut. “I’m fine. Just a little nick.” He took a closer look at the cuts on her left arm. “What about you? That doesn’t look too great either.”
“I’m okay. Just scratched up. You need to sit down. You’ll be needing your energy when we get out of here because I’m going to take you up on that big bed and satin sheets. Italy too.”
She didn’t see his sexy smile for long because he was kissing her again, no-holds-barred, total tongue and luscious lips. God, he tasted like the mint strips she popped all the time…icy and incredible. He tasted like every hope and dream come to life, right in her grasp.
“I could literally do this all day,” Elena said, pulling back. She glanced at the fresh destruction and all the cement that had crashed down. Maybe they could find a way out now. “But I want to get you help ASAP. So I’m going—”
“We’re going,” he said, shifting to follow her.
“Ugh. You are so macho. Now’s really not the time.”
“Hey, if I can’t be macho now, then I may as well not be macho at all. I promised myself that I wasn’t letting you out of my sight for a second. We’re sticking together. Thick or thin.”
“Through shake, rattle and roll, huh?” Almost like ’til death do us part. Why would that phrase pop into her head now? Ridiculous.
The corner of his lips lifted a fraction. “Yeah. That and hell and high water. You pick the cliché and I’ll run with it.”
Elena moved toward the front of the limo with Bill close behind. The air tasted dry, dirty and foul. The smell of a dead body hit her head on. Elena kept her arm up, her nose in her elbow to look around. A big ray of light shone from above. The last aftershock had tumbled a large chunk of cement between both trunks and left a hole wide enough for them to climb through. Provided they could scale the rubble enough to get to the top.
“I’ll go up and check out the area. There has to be someone around who’ll hear me who can get help.”
Bill caught her hand and shook his head. “I don’t like it. It’s too unstable.”
Not necessarily. “I’ve done a little rock climbing. It’ll be fine, I promise.” Of course she couldn’t promise another aftershock wouldn’t drop her on her ass, but it was either try and get out or stay here and be buried treasure. She opted for the first choice.
“Anyone up there?” she yelled, coughing after the cloying thick air choked her throat.
“Hey!” Bill called louder. “Can anyone hear us?” He seemed to consider the pile of rocks in front of them that led like a steep hill to the top of the collapse. Those same rocks had completely buried the trucker who’d already been crushed. “No use waiting. Let’s climb that and see where it gets us.”
“You sure you’re up for it?” Elena asked with a glance at his leg.
“I’m macho, remember? Of course I’m up for it.” He ignored her scowl. “You go first. I’m right behind you. If you hit a snag, I’ll catch you when you come down.”
She didn’t argue with him, but her philosophy differed from his. She wanted to blaze the safest trail to get them out of there and with both legs working fine, and she could do it easier than he could. “Don’t stay too close. If I hit some loose rocks I don’t want you to have to eat them.”
“Rocks and breath strips. Breakfast of champions,” he said behind her as she hopped onto the hood of the limo and started up the rock pile.
Leaning into the rubble, she found a toehold and eased her weight onto it. It held, so she stuck her hand on a cement slab and used it to hike herself up and find a new toehold for her other foot. “So far, so good,” she muttered. She got a couple of more feet when the rocks beneath her feet gave way and she slid down the same amount of space. Her involuntary shriek echoed in the space and stopped abruptly when she landed in Bill’s arm. “Well, crapballs,” she hissed, feeling the burn in her palms and shins. She’d scraped rocks all the way down. “Good catch, by the way.”
“You okay?”
Despite the trouble they were in, she’d never felt safer. Being in his arms did that to her. He exuded confidence in everything he did, the way he protected her, the way he looked at her. It was a trait she found irresistible. She turned, and the concern in his eyes made her stop and catch her breath. “Yes. I’m not a Faberge egg. I just slipped a couple of feet.” She turned back to the hill. “Let’s try this sucker again.”
A few rocks skittered down from the top. “Hey, anyone down there?” A booming voice called from above.
Elena’s heart nearly shot through her ribs, and relief almost brought tears to her eyes.
“Down here!” Bill yelled, squinting up into the hole.
“Yes! We’re here! We need help!” she added.
A burly man with a hard hat appeared at the edge above them, his face in dark shadows. “We’re working on it. This whole thing is unstable and every aftershock has been forcing us back. We need to get you out before it all collapses.
“Can you send down a rope and harness?” Bill asked.
“We’re on it. Now that we’ve got a hole, we should be able to lift you out. How many are down there with you? Are you injured?”
“Just the two of us as far as I can tell,” Elena called up. “There’s a truck driver, but he didn’t make it. Bill has a bad cut on his leg, but otherwise we’re okay.”
“Roger that. We’ve got an ambulance standing by. We’ll have you two out of there as soon as we can.”
“That would be really great,” Elena said to him. “Really, really great,” she repeated. When the man disappeared, Elena threw herself into Bill’s arms. He held her tightly and she practically felt the relief streaming off him. It matched hers. When she pulled away, he cupped her head and brought her mouth to his. His lips took hers in a soft kiss, one that molded their lips together perfectly before their tongues met in the middle. When he pulled back, Elena’s heart stuttered at an erratic beat. “You do that really well.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.” He searched her eyes. “I’m serious about Italy. You, me and a month in on
e of the most beautiful places on earth.”
All that confidence bowled her over and her eyes widened. “Seriously? A whole month?”
“Yeah. I want you to myself. I want to know everything there is about you and I want to do it without any distractions.” His gaze smoldered hot. “I mean distractions besides the sex.”
Elena swallowed back her nerves and buried the joy bursting from her racing heart. “There’s going to be sex?” She held a straight face because, after all, her daughter’s Oscar Award winning performances were partly due to her gene pool.
“Tons of sex. Hot, sexy sex.”
God, he was adorable. She laughed and kissed him. Short and sweet. She could very possibly grow to love this man. “Sounds like an offer I can’t refuse.”
“You’d better n—”
“Watch out!” A voice called from above.
A bigger chunk of cement broke off and tumbled down the hole. Bill pushed her out of the way and tried to dodge the debris. Unsteady rocks wobbled beneath his feet and he didn’t get out of the way fast enough. The cement splintered and connected dead on with his injured leg, taking his feet out from underneath him. He landed hard on his chest, just barely getting his hands in front of him to break the fall.
“Bill!” Elena rushed to his side. “Are you okay?”
He shook off the dust and grimaced as he sat up. “Yeah. Mostly.”
Easing his tattered pant leg aside, Elena saw fresh blood seep from her makeshift bandage. “This is worse than before.”
“I’m okay,” he assured her. “Looks worse than it is.”
She doubted it and shook her head, not liking his macho act one bit. It seemed as if half an hour passed before anyone came near the edge again. Elena put pressure on Bill’s leg to stop the bleeding.
“Sending a man down for you,” the guy at the top finally said. “One at a time. We’ll strap the harness on and pull you up.” As he spoke, a man lowered into their pit. He wore a blue uniform and a helmet. “We want to stay clear of the sides because we don’t trust the stability of the rubble.”
“Ya think,” Bill muttered drily as he got to his feet.
The man eased to the ground and faced Elena. “Let’s get you into this,” he said, pulling out a harness.
“Bill, you first,” she said, taking a step back. “You need your leg looked at.”
His eyes narrowed dangerously. “Not on your life. I’m only going to say this once. Put the harness on and do it now.” He looked dead serious, and fighting over it was only going to kill precious seconds so Elena stood in front of their rescuer and he placed the harness under her arms and secured it with a D-ring on her chest.
“My name’s Gage. I’ll be going up with you the whole way,” he said.
Elena barely heard him. She locked eyes with Bill and a fresh knot lodged in her throat. She hated leaving him down here. She felt pressure against her chest and slowly they lifted and she was airborne. “Is Gage your first name or last?” She distracted herself with small talk as they ascended the top of the rubble, but she kept her focus beneath them on Bill.
“Last, but most people use it, so…” He trailed off and followed her gaze. “Don’t worry. As soon as you hit the ground, I’ll go back for your guy.”
Her guy. She loved the sound of that, but had to be honest. “He’s not really my guy.” Heat infused her cheeks.
Gage smiled. “Does he know that? Because you sure seem to be his girl.”
It seemed ridiculous to be someone’s girl at forty-seven, but Elena kept her mouth shut, especially since they were sailing closer to solid ground away from the collapse. She hustled out of the harness as soon as her feet hit the dirt.
“I need a Stokes litter for the next one. He’s got a leg injury,” Gage said, helping to pull the litter over and secure it to a cable. A few minutes later, he went back for Bill. He disappeared into the hole and it seemed to take forever before she heard his command to lift them up.
No sooner had she exhaled a nervous breath than the ground rumbled beneath her. No, no, no! Her heart stuttered. Cement chunks broke off from the edge and fell into the hole. “Bill!” Elena screamed his name and bolted forward only to be grabbed by another man in uniform.
“Whoa!” he said, holding her back as the earth moved beneath their feet.
Trapped in his grip, she could do nothing but wait. Fear and anger wrestled in her chest. Fear for Bill’s safety, and anger at herself for taking so long to go for what she wanted. From here on out, she planned to take every day for what it gave and live in the moment. All she wanted was Bill by her side.
The ground stilled, but another rumble caught her attention and she saw a large crack form on the remaining slab of cement. No, no, no. Hold steady, don’t break.
If he cleared that pile of rubble, she was going to give their relationship every chance it deserved. She’d take every second of every minute he wanted to give her.
The longest seconds of her life ticked by in slow motion and Elena felt every heavy beat of her heart as if it might be her last. When the tops of their heads came into view, Elena exhaled a rough breath as tears stung her eyes.
The litter cleared the hole and the rumbling stopped almost as if it had been a timpani drum for their entrance. The silence didn’t last long. A giant crack sounded and the rest of the overpass collapsed onto the limo and everything around it. Smoke and particles dusted the air, and Elena choked on the grit.
Finally, the litter rested on the ground. She rushed to Bill’s side where paramedics started working on his leg. She crouched beside him, their fingers linking tightly together. An overwhelming relief brought a sting to her eyes, but Bill’s rogue grin had her laughing through her tears.
They’d survived.
Elena looked around at the devastation: some buildings had crumpled to the ground, others had split in the middle and fallen into themselves, huge cracks in the road had shifted the pavement several feet higher on one side, and power lines listed to the side because of snapped poles. Los Angeles was a mess. They’d been lucky.
She checked her watch as EMTs began removing the makeshift bandage on Bill’s leg. “Well, this is a first.”
“What is?” Bill asked.
“You didn’t get me to the airport on time. I missed my flight a very, very long time ago.”
“You may have missed a flight, but you caught me.” His sexy grin had her thinking about the next time she could get him naked.
She couldn’t hold back the smile. “You are learning from the master. Nicely done.”
“Mom!”
Elena knew her daughter’s voice anywhere. She craned her neck and spotted Julie waving behind yellow caution tape, her ponytail blowing in the breeze and dark sunglasses shielding her famous face. “Can you let my daughter pass, please?” Elena called to the officer keeping Julie back. She watched Julie whip off her sunglasses and saw the officer’s surprised glance. Most people buckled at her daughter’s smile and this man was no different. He let her go and Julie ran toward her.
“How’d you know where I was?” Elena asked as Julie crouched next to her. “And how’d you get here so fast?” she added as her daughter wrapped her up in a massive hug.
“You told me you were on Coldwater about to get on the freeway. This was freaking ground zero, Mom! It was the only overpass that collapsed. You would’ve called me if you could so…” She shrugged. “To answer your other question… I grabbed the first charter flight I could find. After hearing the news in New York and seeing the devastation, I found a pilot for hire. I just landed and came straight here.” After that recap, she turned her concern to Bill. “Are you okay? Can I call someone for you? Can I get something for you? Anything you need, you just let me know.”
Bill glanced at Elena and his searching gaze made her tilt her head. What did he want? “If we’re talking what I need, it would be her.” He tipped his head at her and Elena’s eyes bugged out wide.
“Bill,” she admonished. “One
thing at a time. Let’s get you back on your feet before…you know…before.”
“Before what?” Julie asked, a suspicious glow in her blue eyes as she glanced between them.
“Before we tell you that your mom and I are going to be seeing each other. A lot. A whole lot,” Bill said, taking her hand again and squeezing.
“Finally!” Julie said leaning her head back pumping a fist in the air. Her smile glowed movie-star white as she looked at each of them. “I’ve been waiting forever for you two to get your acts together.”
Elena’s gaze whipped to her daughter. “What?” Her mind was a total blank.
“Why do you think I’ve made you use Fido’s company all the time?” Julie asked.
“Because you like him as a driver?” Elena suggested dumbly.
Nodding, Julie conceded. “Well, yes, I’ve always liked him.” She took her mother’s hand and squeezed lovingly. “But I’ve liked him for you.”
The smile on Bill’s face was enough to crack the surprise at Julie’s revelation, and Elena felt her own grin widening.
“Julie,” Bill said through a grimace as the paramedic administered an IV. “You wouldn’t mind if I took your mom to Italy for a month or so, would you?”
The sparkle in Julie’s eyes lit up her face. “Nope. Not at all. In fact, the sooner the better. She needs a vacation. In fact, I think it’s time my mom get a new job completely.”
Elena’s head whipped again in her daughter’s direction. “What? What do you mean? Are you firing me?”
Julie nodded stoically. “I am. You’re fired, Mom. You’ll get a healthy severance package from my production company, but it’s the only way you’re going to live the life you want. If I don’t do it this way, you won’t ever leave.”
“That’s not true,” Elena argued. “In fact, I was going t—”
“Elena,” Bill said. He waited until she caught his gaze. “Take an early retirement. I’ll do the same. I’ve got employees to run my company. I’d rather spend every day with you.”
Elena felt her cheeks flush bright red.