Whatever I’ve gotten myself into clearly is dangerous.
“It’s 7:10,” Gio announces when I enter. He doesn’t even turn around to look at me. Just glances at his watch and announces the time. “You’re late.” he says.
When I don’t respond to defend myself, he finally turns around and takes in my appearance. I’m still wearing my baby pink scrubs that signify I’m a nurse's aid and not a full-fledged nurse and my blonde hair is pulled up into a loose ponytail. I imagine I look as exhausted as I feel. After classes this morning and then an eight-hour shift, I’m worn out, but I didn’t think Gio would care much if I told him I was too tired to work for him tonight.
“Anything to say?” Gio asks, raising a single eyebrow.
“Um, sorry?”
“And?”
And what? I have no idea what the right answer is.
He looks sinfully handsome standing there. His dark hair is slicked back, and he looks like he’s ready to work out in a pair of black Nike joggers and a white t-shirt.
“I’ll call next time?” I question, hoping that’s a good enough answer to appease him.
“Good girl.” he turns away from me, putting his attention back on the contraption in front of him. “Next time, wear tighter fitting clothes.”
I can feel my face flush, pink rising to my cheeks. I feel like a child. “What? Why in the world?”
He chuckles at my discomfort. “You’ll need them to fit through this.” he gestures to the contraption in front of him. It’s some kind of long metal box with twists and turns. “Your scrubs are going to get caught on something, but it’s fine for tonight.”
“Oh,” I mutter.
He waves me over. The warehouse is large, with what looks to be an office in the back corner, high ceilings, and a cement floor. Charlie and Frank are here plus another man I haven’t met yet. The one who escorted me stayed outside, was he guarding the place?
“Charlie, tell her,” he gestures to the silver metal that was wrapped in places with duct tape.
Charlie smiles at me. He’s slimmer than Gio and Frank, but still bigger than me. His light brown hair is shaggy and has a hint of copper in it. He has a strong jawline, and the friendliest smile of all of them. “How’s it going, Annie?” he asks. So far, I think he’s the nicest.
“Fine.” I give him a small smile, no need to be an asshole to the only one who’s nice to me.
“This,” he looks over his work, which to me looks unstable and likely to collapse. “Is your job.”
Great.
My “job” has something to do with this metal death trap. Awesome.
“This is the top,” he points to the piece that's higher, maybe 5 feet with a ladder. “You need to drop through here.”
“Drop?” I ask.
“Yup. And then it’s a 90-degree angle so you’re gonna have to go face first.”
“Wait. You want me to dive into a metal box head first?”
Charlie’s smile fades slightly as he looks to Gio.
“Yes.” Is all Gio says. He stands back from them, watching with his arms crossed over his chest.
“No.” I shake my head viciously, turning to Gio. “Give me something else to do. How in the world is this how I repay you?”
He sighs heavily and runs his hand through his dark hair. “You don’t know you can’t do it. That’s why we’re practicing.”
I look at the contraption again. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s not safe.”
Gio walks over to me in two long strides. He rests each hand on my shoulders, anchoring me. “You can do this, sweetheart. I won’t let you get hurt, understand?”
My eyes flicker between him and the metal contraption.
I don’t trust him, but I have limited options here. “I’ll try,” I tell him.
He grins in return, clearly happy with my response.
I climb the ladder trying not to show the men below how scared I am. The metal opening in front of me is small, barely wide enough to fit my shoulder through.
“Not catastrophic, are ya?” Frank asks with a sly smile.
“Just a little.” I release a shaky breath.
“We’re going to put a strap around you so we can slow you down and bring you back up if we need.” Charlie tells me in a soothing voice, handing me a blue piece of fabric to tie around myself. He smiles reassuringly. “I’ll hold on to the other end.”
“Here goes nothing.” I mutter, then fold forward to go through the opening head first.
True to his word Charlie holds the other end of the rope, keeping me from falling forward to quickly. I hit the ninety-degree angle where I need to pull myself through, and then I’ll be able to crawl on my belly.
“Just breath.” I hear Gio’s voice tell me from outside the box.
“Giving you some slack,” Charlie calls. “Reach out your hands and try to start pulling yourself forward.”
Steadying myself, I do as Charlie said, reaching out my arms, I try to pull myself forward. I barely have my head through when the anxiety begins to swell.
I feel trapped.
My heart begins to race, my palms are sweaty and slick against the metal, and I’m pretty sure I can’t breathe in here.
“I need out!” I cry, banging my fist against the metal.
“Just breath,” Gio tells me.
“No! No, I can’t.” I tell him. I try to reach forward again but nothing works.
I’m stuck.
“Please,” I say, this time whinier. “I can’t breathe. Please let me out!”
“Okay,” Gio replies in a soothing voice. “Charlie will pull you out, hang on.”
“No, just break it. Break me out of here.”
“Breathe Annie.”
