“You’re taking forever.”

I halted my digging.

“I don’t need your pressure right now, Neala.”

With that said I began working on the tunnel again, and Neala went back to being silent. After about an hour, she complained about feeling cold, so she went and got her blanket from the storage room and wrapped it around herself, then went into my living room and kept herself busy with something. I didn’t ask what she was up to or go and check on her because I was revelling in the silence. It didn’t last long, though; when she was bored she decided to come back out to the hall and open up her mouth again.

“It’s my turn. I’ve nothing to do, and making sure the candles don’t blow out is stupid.”

My God, woman!

I had a decent tunnel in the making and she still had to complain.

Ungrateful witch.

“Keeping the candles lit is an important job!” I turned my head so she could hear me.

She kicked my leg. “Then you bloody do it.”

I was fuming mad – so much for her never hitting me again. She couldn’t just let me finish the damn tunnel so we both could get out of here and away from one another.

“Fine!” I snapped, and began to wriggle my body to back my way out of the tunnel.

My shoulders hit off the sides with each inch I moved backward. I halted when a noise from above me sounded. Just as I turned my head to the side to look up and see what was happening, snow caved in around me.

The cold stabbed me like needles, but what was worse was that it weighed me down and pressed me to the floor of the tunnel. I tried to move, but I couldn’t. I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself down, but breathing became difficult with the snow surrounding me.

Fuck.

This wasn’t good.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

It all happened in slow motion.

Darcy was shouting at me from inside of the tunnel one minute, and the next his upper body disappeared as the roof of the snow tunnel literally collapsed on top of him, and now he wasn’t moving.

At all.

For at least twenty seconds I did nothing but stare at him; then my senses kicked into overdrive.

“Darcy!” I screamed, and threw my blanket off my body as I rushed over to him.

I stared down at his legs with wide eyes, my limbs shaking. My heart was slamming into my chest, and each pulse got louder and louder; my ears rang with the noise.

“Darcy!” I shouted, hoping he would make a noise from under the snow or at least move his legs.

Nothing.

Not a sound or kick from him.

I really started to worry then; the thought of him suffocating crossed my mind. I mean, snow was made of water so while it looked fluffy and beautiful, in reality it was very dense and heavy. I didn’t have much time before Darcy smothered to death.

Fuck.

I had to save him.

I dropped my candle to the ground and ignored it as the glass bowl that encased it smashed, causing the flame to blow out.

It was darker now, but the rest of the candles along the hallway were still lit, so I could see pretty well.

“Darcy, don’t worry!” I shouted. “I’m gonna get you out of there!”

I dropped to my knees and began to scoop handfuls of snow off his body. I threw it off to my right onto the pile Darcy had created while digging the tunnel, but I had to stop, because my hands hurt with the cold. I instead moved to Darcy’s legs, gripped them, and pulled with all of my might. The idiot’s body moved only slightly.

“Move!” I shouted, and pulled at his legs again.

I held on to Darcy with every fibre of strength I had and pulled again, and by the grace of God, his body moved.

It actually moved.

I was strong!

“Yes!” I cheered.

I scrambled up to Darcy’s back when his shoulders became visible. I placed my hands on both of them and pulled as hard as physically possible; the wet floor under him made him slide, which made things so much easier for me and my arms.

“You’re out!” I cheered.

Darcy was gasping for air. I rolled him over so he could suck in as much as he needed. His eyes were closed, but his body was shaking. I instinctively placed my hands on his arms, directly on his biceps.

His firm biceps.

Stop it.

I began to rub up and down very fast, hoping to generate some heat for Darcy to ease his shivering. All the rubbing was pointless, though; unless I got him up off the cold wet floor he would just get sick.

“Darcy, stand up,” I said.

He didn’t move; nor did he reply to me.

That worried me.

I looked to Darcy’s face and found his eyes were still closed. I looked down to his chest and saw it was moving up and down, which relaxed me immensely.

“Darcy!” I said loudly, shaking him.

“Darcy!” Einstein called from the kitchen.

I screeched, “Shut up, Einstein!”

Stupid bloody bird.

I looked back down to Darcy when I thought I heard him chuckle, but I was mistaken, because he was motionless, with his eyes still closed. He was still breathing, but it wasn’t right that he was so motionless. This wouldn’t do; I had to wake him up because we’d be stuck in this house if he didn’t fix the tunnel and continue to dig so we could get out of here.

Was that selfish?

“Darcy!” I shouted, and shook him again, hard.

He groaned and it caused my pulse to spike.

“Neala?” he croaked.

He was alive!

“Yes, Darcy, it’s Neala. I’m here. It’s okay. I saved you.”

I was so proud of myself.

“Neala.” He gasped my name again, and this time it was followed by a cough.

I frowned down at him.

Why was he coughing?

“Are you okay?” I asked, genuinely concerned for his well-being.

Darcy coughed again. “I don’t think so . . . Everything is fading.”

Oh, my God.

Fading?

As in fading to black?

“Don’t you die and leave me here alone!” I snapped at him.

I may still have hated him close to ninety percent, but I didn’t want him to die . . . I also didn’t want to be left on my own with his corpse and just Einstein for company.

“I’m . . . I’m dying . . . Neala.”

Oh, no.

“You can’t be; you weren’t under the snow for that long – Darcy!” I screeched, and shook him when he started to go limp.

“Neala.” He gasped. “Come closer.”

I couldn’t believe what was happening.

This was not how things were supposed to end; we were supposed to get out of here . . . together.

“I’m here, Darcy,” I said, and swallowed back a sob that wanted to escape.

Darcy’s breathing slowed. “I can see the light,” he whispered.

Like the light of Heaven? Surely he was Hell-bound.

I shook my head clear and said, “Go to the light, Darcy.”

Darcy gasped for breath; then all of a sudden everything stopped.

His movement.

His breathing.

His everything.

Oh, no.

“Darcy?” I whispered.

Nothing.

Oh, my God.

“Please don’t be dead,” I said, then released the sob that was dying to be let out.

I stared down at Darcy’s face, and I couldn’t believe what had just happened.

He had died in my arms.

What was I going to do?

I’d never even told him I was sorry for giving him the runs, or for all the other times I was a bitch to him, and now I would never get the chance.

I felt like dirt.

I began to cry, but Darcy’s body suddenly twitched; then he inhaled sharply and loudly.

I blinked, then widened my eyes in

shock.

“Darcy?” I whispered.

Darcy blinked open his big brown eyes.

He was alive!

“Am I in Heaven?” he asked.

He thought he was dead!

Darcy blinked his eyes a couple of times; then he flicked them to mine and stared at me for a long moment before he sighed.

“Nope, not Heaven. This must be Hell if you’re here,” he said, his face as serious as if he’d just told me someone had had a heart attack.

I stared down at him, then narrowed my eyes.

Ex-fucking-cuse me?

“What?” I asked, completely confused.

Darcy looked at me, then burst out laughing.

Laughing!

I gasped and dropped him to the floor.

He grunted in pain, but continued to laugh.

Tags: L.A. Casey Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net