Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Monster, is he? I thought he was a pretty bottle of poison wrapped up in a shimmering satin bow?”
I make a face. “He’s a frog. You’re the prince. I was just fuckin’ with ya.”
Riggs laughs and those dark eyes go light again. “Anyway…”
“Anyway.” I flop back onto the bed and look up at the ceiling. “Here’s your last fantasy.”
“Are we still playing?”
“Your fantasy is… the two of us packing up our shit and walking out of here. We go back through those tunnels, leave the mountain behind, get my car, and start over somewhere.” I turn my head to look at him, meeting his critical gaze with a weighty one of my own. “Together. And we forget all about Collin Creed and Hattie Miller. We just start over.”
“It would never work.”
I ignore him and keep going. “We could drive south, maybe. Down into the Ozarks.”
“We’ve got bases in the Ozarks, Clover.”
“We could drive down to Texas, cross the border—”
“We’ve got bases in Mexico, Clover.”
“We could get on a boat—”
“We’ve got bases all over the world, Clover. It’ll never work. They would hunt me to the ends of the earth.”
“Just forget about that for a moment and think about this. We… I dunno. Find a little village in Peru and get jobs making tortillas.” He chuckles here, so I know I’ve got him. Not got him as in agreeing with me, but he’s playing into my fantasy. “We settle in, learn Spanish—do they speak Spanish in Peru?”
“They do.”
“So we’d learn Spanish and save our money so we could… open up a little bed-and-breakfast, maybe.” I side-eye him. “I could plan weddings in Peru. Isn’t that the place where llamas come from? Maybe llama weddings are a thing down there the way horseback weddings are here? That’s kinda fun. But back to your fantasy. We’d settle in, sell llama weddings. I’d get pregnant and we’d have twins, of course. A boy and a girl.” He chuckles again. “We’d name them… Sophia and Marco. Good Spanish names so they’d fit in. They’d grow up there, working in the llama wedding business. And we’d grow old.” I side-eye him again. “Together. We’d have a nice, long, quiet life on the top of some Peruvian mountain. Now isn’t that a nice fantasy?”
He wants to pull me back to reality, I can see it in his eyes. But then he sighs and decides to agree. “Yeah. It’s a real nice fantasy.”
“You’re just saying that.”
“No. I’m not. I swear, a Peruvian mountaintop has never sounded so attractive.”
“But you’re not serious, Riggs.” He lets out an exhale that feels like surrender, so I point at him and make my voice stern. “Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Give up! You can’t give up! There’s no giving up. If we decide we’re getting out of here and starting over, then that’s what we’re gonna do.”
“Clover, the very idea that we’d make it out of Trinity County on the outside is ludicrous. This is West Virginia. It’s three hundred miles to DC.”
“So?”
“Everything underground between here and there is military. There are so many access points, we wouldn’t get more than fifty miles in any direction. The only reason we’re still in this escape plan of mine is because we’re in Ike’s territory and he’s possessive about it. If I tried to leave with you up top, we’d already be caught.”
“Well, I don’t think this plan is gonna work either. I think if we get on that train, we’re gonna get busted anyway. It all feels hopeless right now and all I’m trying to do is make things a little brighter.”
He throws his hands up and turns onto his back, looking up at the ceiling. “Fine. Your plan is great. I love it. Let’s move to Peru.”
Now I flop onto my back and stare at the ceiling. “Maybe I should go back home and pretend you never happened.” Obviously, this is not up to me, so I’m only saying this to irritate him.
“You know what? Maybe you should.”
I turn back over on my side. “How dare you!”
“How dare I what? I’m setting you free. You should go now.” And then he actually throws the covers off and tries to get out of bed like this declaration of his is law.
I jump on his back, taking him by surprise, and then tackle him so he falls over on his side. He starts laughing right away, like my attack is a joke.
But I’m dead serious. I climb on top of him, place my hands flat on his chest, and lean down into his face, looking right into the wolfish eyes of his. And I say, “That is not happening. You are not sending me back!”
“You literally just said you wanted to leave.”
“No! I said maybe! This is how women argue! I get angry and make threats, you come to your senses and agree with me!”