Page 33 of Reset

“I’ll go slow.” He started by moving the smaller rocks under the large stone arch that kept up the rest of the cave-in.

Sarah’s knuckles turned white as she clutched the phone and, even though she kept it pointed where Ryan needed it to be, she couldn’t help looking up at the cracks above them.

“Death by Jenga,” she muttered.

“I heard that,” Ryan said. “I happen to be great at Jenga.”

“All kids are good at that game.”

“Ouch, brutal, Stats, brutal.” He removed another rock and bent to peer into the small indent he’d made. “Looks like it’s pretty deep. This could take a while.”

“Not like we have anything else to do.”

“That’s the attitude.”

One by one, Ryan removed the stones and placed them against the wall of the tunnel. Every now and then, the rockfall would groan and they’d freeze. Fortunately, nothing came down except dust.

Soon there was an indent in the bottom of the wall of rock. Ryan sat back on his heels to look at her. His hands were covered in dust, but there were no cuts that she could see.

“There’s a bigger boulder blocking my way.” He wiped his brow with the back of his hand, leaving a smudge. “I think I can get it out, but it’s gonna go slow. If I knew how deep this went, I’d try to push it through to the other side. Right now, I’m not sure what kind of chain reaction shoving it would cause. Gimme the light.”

As soon as it was in his hand, he stuck his head and shoulders into the hole to get a better look. The urge to grab his ankles and drag him away from danger was almost overwhelming. One loose rock, and he’d be crushed. All Sarah could do was stand there, twisting her hands, and praying the rocks stayed in place.

Thankfully, he wasn’t in there long. Slowly, he inched to sit beside her. There was dust in his hair, and Sarah itched to brush it out for him. It was hard, remembering that she didn’t have the right to touch him any way she liked. Not anymore.

It was for the best though. If there was one lesson she’d learned from their time together, it was that taking risks with a man like Ryan never worked out. Not for someone like her. She was better off with a safe, boring man. One who worked an average nine-to-five job. A man who wouldn’t suddenly disappear on her. Or get shot and nearly die.

Or break her heart.

Yep, it was very clear she wasn’t cut out to love someone who put their life on the line every time they walked out the door.

Ryan passed the phone to her. “The slab that’s holding everything up is wide and it seems to go over the boulder I need to remove.”

“And you’d have to keep your head in there the whole time, right?”

He didn’t seem worried about the risk. “I’m sure I can get it.”

“I’m sure you can too. I’m also sure that if it all goes wrong, those”—she pointed at the wall of rocks—”will come down and pop your skull like a grape under a boot.”

“Using my own imagery back at me. Nice touch.” He grinned.

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Accurate though, isn’t it? How about we give up and go see what’s at the end of the dead body tunnel?”

“That’s its official name now, huh?”

“Graveyard seems wrong.” She thought about it. “Crypt tunnel? That could work.”

“How about this? There’s a smaller stone beside the one I’m after. If I pull it out first, it will give me a decent handhold on the boulder, and it might give us an idea if it’s even worth trying to move the big one.”

Okay, she liked this idea better. “Do you have to stick your head in there for the smaller stone?”

“Nope, I can reach it if I stretch. It’ll only take one hand to remove.”

“Okay then, we can try that.”

She got the impression he’d been planning to do exactly this all along, and had only included her in the decision process because he knew she needed to feel in control.

“Crouch down and shine the light into the hole, will you?” Ryan wriggled onto his belly and stretched his right arm into the space he’d made. His cheek was pressed up against the rocks as he reached for the small stone.