Gio

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 h

as 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.