Chapter 2

UNEDITED

River's long hair hugs the sides of both of their faces as they collapse to the ground. It was like time froze for a moment.

Ryan gripped on to one of her forearms, and waist as they went down, and he still had a very tight hold on them. "Are you okay?" He scans her worriedly.

River was struggling to hold herself above him. She was only using one hand, and one elbow. Her legs were between his, trembling, her breaths heavy. "A huh." She nods slightly. Her eyes were magnetized to his by a forceful pull.

He searches her face for almost a full five seconds, before registering that he hadn't let her go. He clears his throat, releases his grip, and helps her back to her feet.

"Thank you." She whispers and gently rubs the part of her arm he was holding.

"You can thank me by never wearing heels." He begins searching by the door for the emergency button.

River looks down at her feet. "I'm short."

"You're fine. Why does that even matter?" He presses the emergency button. It lights up to a bright red, but no sound of a bell or anything like that went off.

"I don't know." She curls hair behind her ear.

"So, you're going to continue to add more height to your falls for an unknown reason."

"Hey, that's not funny. I don't mean to be clumsy."

"I wasn't trying to be funny." He glances at her seriously and looks up at the ceiling in search of a camera.

At that exact moment, the lights turn off.

River screams and runs into him again. She grabs onto his bicep and presses her face in his shoulder. "Oh god."

She began feeling his arms move and then sees light from his phone screen. He turns the flashlight on and points it to the ceiling.

She should have thought of that, but all she could think of was not being able to see.

"There's a camera." He points. "Someone should be working on getting us out already." He steps out of her hold and leans against the doors.

"Just don't turn that light off. "River drops her nervous hands at her sides. She needed to get a hold of herself, but this wasn't some girly-girl afraid of a spider. She has real, true, legit, fears.

Needing to feel safe, she picks the corner on the left and sits there with her back up against the wall.

After a moment, he too drops to ground across from her, and puts his phone in the middle of the elevator.

Minutes drag, and drag, with the two of them not making a sound. Then, like rain in a drought, the lights come back on.

"Finally." River releases a breath of relief.

A loud beeping sound blast through the monitor. "Everyone okay?" A man's voice appears.

Ryan stands, dust off the back off his pants, and picks up his phone. "Were fine. How long until we get out of here?" He looks at the speaker by the buttons.

"Unfortunately sir, it could be up to two hours."

He lets out a disappointed breath.

"We are very sorry for this inconvenience. There are some technical issues and we are doing our best to get you out as soon as possible. Please press the emergency button if there is anything you need, we will do our best to get it to you."

With Ryan being unresponsive, River shows appreciation "Thank you." She was always polite.

The beeping sound comes back as he hangs up.

Ryan shakes his head and looks around the elevator seemingly pissed.

"I'm sorry." She apologizes.

He takes in a breath and sits back down. "For what?"

"I feel like, this is somehow my fault."

He shakes his head again. "Things happen River."

"I know." He didn't need to tell her. With the beatings her mother got, and her sister being murdered, both by men who claim to love them, no one needed to tell her. She knew how life could be. Life could destroy everything you know, and love, in a blink of an eye, and there wouldn't be a damn thing you could do about it. That is why she took every precaution, and that's also the reason she's afraid of everything.

"Is there a reason whenever I've come around the past few weeks you've been gone?" He blindsides her with that question.

Her eyes widened. "No." She denies. "Not at all." Other than the fact that she was in love with him, and couldn't stand it that he is with someone else.

He diverts his eyes away and nods his head. Like yeah sure, or maybe it was more like okay I believe you. She couldn't tell.

"I got a job. I've just been busy." As she spoke her sentence, her voice got smaller and smaller. She clears her throat subtly."So, it's nice to finally see you." Real nice. "How are you?"

"Could be better." He answers. "What about you? How are you?" He then meets her eyes.

"I." She stutters. "I... I'm great. Mostly focusing on work since I got back."

He nods. "Good."

Good? She wondered. Just good? He was still the same. Always work and no play. When they met, he was twenty, she didn't know him when he was in his teens but she could tell he never acted like one. He was more like an adult than the adults. She always wondered why, but never got the courage to ask. It's not that it annoyed her or anything, it always made her feel safer around him. Playing it safe is her life.

He pulls out his phone and becomes very interested in it. So, she whips out her phone and soon realizes she has no service. What the hell was she supposed to do with no service? That must be why her mom isn't ringing up her phone. She sighs and throws her head back against the wall. "Ow!" She rubs the back of her head. Too hard River.

He narrows his eyes at her and shakes his head. "You okay?"

She couldn't look at him as she nods. Now embarrassed, she pulls her knees up and lays her head down.

They sat in silence for twenty-five minutes before the loud beep came back over the speaker. "Good news, we think we fix the problem. If you guys would stand up we're gonna start her up."

Both River and Ryan stand in front of the door as instructed. She made sure to put a little distance between them. She felt like maybe she annoyed him a little.

Seconds later, the lights flicker again. She ends up running into and hugging him. Full on, around the waist hug and damn he smells good.

"River."

She felt the vibrations of his voice in his chest. "Yeah."

"The lights are back on."

She opens her eyes and finds yep; the lights were back on. "I'm sorry." She took a few steps back and wanted to kick herself.

He fixes his jacket and tie and keeps eye contact with the door.

The elevator moves for a few seconds and then stops. The doors opened on the forty-seventh floor, and there were three men with black blazers, blue-collared shirts, and radios, waiting to greet them.

It was who was behind them that knocked the wind out of River.

Ryan's fiancé runs into his arms. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine Anastasia." He wraps his arms around her.

Anastasia was tall, skinny, and had shoulder-length platinum blonde hair. She was wearing a black one-piece romper, and black open toe heels. She was put together very well. Her nails painted a cream pink, and her makeup, very subtle.

"River!" Her mother yells. She too was standing in the hallway waiting for her.

"Nothing happened to me, I'm one hundred percent sure." She blurts out quickly.

"Are you okay?" Her mother asked anyway and pulled her into a hug.

"I told you, I'm fine." She looks over at Ryan. Angela was hugging him, and Anastasia was still holding onto his hand. She had the right be grabbing onto him, not her. She feels almost like a home-wrecker for touching him the way that she did.

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