After about ten minutes of this, I can't take it anymore, and I drop him, falling on my ass, breath heaving.
I didn't even make it around the back of the cabin.
"Get up," Elias says.
"I can't," I tell him. "I can't do it. He's too heavy."
"Heisquite literally deadweight," Dax tells him.
Nolan shakes his head, taking my place. "We don't have time for this. I'll get his head. You get his feet."
I don't move at first; I don't mean to, but I look to Elias for permission instead. He seems to like this, smirking before nodding slightly, and I pull myself off of the ground and grab Miles by his legs instead.
"Nolan must like you, Saige," Dax says. "He doesn't offer to help just anyone move dead bodies. You'll have to be really generous when you make it up to him."
Neither of us acknowledges the comment, but at least he's easy to move now. In just a couple of minutes, we're standing at the precipice of the small gorge, the river rushing below. Idrop his legs on the rocky ledge, and Nolan gives him one final shove with his boot, sending him into the water.
Not only did I kill this man, I subjected him to my worst fucking nightmare.
The splash follows a couple of seconds later. It's like my own lungs fill with water when I hear it. A lump forms in my throat; my chest contracts. I fold my arms in front of me, hugging my body, willing the pressure to convince my lungs to take in air the way it did the night I almost went over.
But it was Elias's hands then, and this time, no one notices I'm choking. None of them would care if they did.
Nolan, wearing a hoodie and sweatpants like he always does, removes his glasses before using his sleeve to wipe sweat from his brow. Then he pulls himself to his feet, and the three of them walk back toward the car, Dax grabbing me by my arm and dragging me along with him when I don't immediately follow.
"I hope you learned your lesson about the dangers of hookup culture today, Ripley," he says.
I must fall asleep before we even get to the bridge, because I don't remember any of it. The sun is up when I open my eyes again, and Nolan pulls the car into the garage just minutes later, lowering the door behind him.
No one puts the seat forward and waits for me to get out this time. I fumble with it in the dark for a minute before following them into the house through the garage entrance. I grab the bag I'd dropped on the floor when we broke in and drag my heavy, aching body through the living room to the front door.
"Hey," Elias says. I freeze with my hand on the knob. "Where are you going?"
"Um…home?" I answer. "Back to my room."
"Um, no, you're not. Not until this place is cleaned up."
"But—"
"No. There are nobuts. I told you how this was going to work. This is your fault; it's your mess, and you're not going anywhere until it's cleaned up, and even then, it's only ifIallow it." He kicks off his shoes, lying down on the living room couch. At 6'5", he's so tall that his feet hang over the edge. "You can start down here, then I want my bedroom cleaned up."
"When we get up, you can make us breakfast, too," Dax says from the landing above before he and Nolan both disappear into his bedroom.
"That's a really good idea," Elias says, crossing his arms over his chest before closing his eyes. "There's bacon in the fridge. Make sure it's crispy."
"I don't even know where anything is," I tell him. "Do you even have cleaning supplies?"
"Yep. Figure it out."
I sigh and begin opening cabinets.
"And do it quietly," Elias says. "Don't piss me off."
4
the weakest link
Saige
