AllFreeNovel Stories worth discovering

The Wrong Exit Strategy

Page 109

by Laura Ashley Gallagher

“You say that now, then you’ll smell my breakfast burrito and steal it.”

“I have never stolen a burrito.”

“You did last night.”

I freeze. “I what?”

He nods. “You took mine. Didn’t even blink. You ate the whole thing.”

I stare at him, horrified. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

“You growled.”

“What?”

“You growled at me.”

I drop my face into my hands. “I hate myself.”

“You good?” he asks.

“No,” I say. “But I feel less like dying now.”

“Good. Then you can walk.”

He grabs the tent zipper and opens it. Light floods in, making my eyes burn. I hiss and pull back.

Griffin shakes his head. “Come on, Pipes.”

“Carry me.”

“No.”

“Please.”

“No.”

I reach up and hold onto his hoodie strings. “You’re heartless.”

“And you need hydration.”

He pulls me up by the wrists as if I’m a toddler learning to stand. My legs wobble, but he steadies me by the waist, and for a moment, the tent falls very quiet.

Very warm.

I swallow hard. “Breakfast?”

“And coffee before you cry again.”

I close my eyes. “I want to go home.”

“You are home,” he says, tugging me out of the tent. “It’s called suffering. Now walk.”

And I do.

Very slowly.

With great pain.