No Contest by Harper St. George & Tara Wyatt

Author:Harper St. George & Tara Wyatt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Star

14

ASHLYNN SUCKED IN a gasping breath, her heart beating wildly in her chest. The impact had rattled her bones and stolen her oxygen. She coughed, the scent of smoke and burning oil still heavy in the air. Rocks and dirt pinged off the side of the plane as they slid forward, the motion rumbling through the cabin like an earthquake.

Suddenly the plane lurched to a halt, and she felt as though her ears were packed with cotton. The flight attendant stumbled from her seat, pushing at the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Thiago stood, and together the two of them were able to shove it open.

“Everyone out! Go! Go!” the flight attendant yelled, wrenching the door open even farther. Ashlynn felt as though she were watching everything through a fog, and distantly, she knew she was in shock.

“Come, sweetheart, we have to go,” said Leandro, and at the sound of his voice, her head whipped around. Relief like she’d never experienced flooded her. He was alive. They were alive. She started to shake, her hands trembling as she fumbled with the seat belt, trying and failing to get it undone. Leandro’s hand covered hers, and then with quick, assured movements, he unbuckled her and helped her up. His fingers threaded through hers, the solid heat of them against her skin anchoring her against the panic threatening to crest over her.

She squinted as she reached the door, both against the smoke billowing from the engine on the other side of the plane, and the harsh, desert sunlight. On shaky legs, she managed to climb down the steps. Leandro stayed behind to make sure everyone else got off the place. Sirens wailed in the distance.

As she walked away from the plane, she saw Las Vegas rising up before her, maybe thirty or forty miles ahead. She kept walking, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other until something inside her broke, and she sank into the reddish-brown dirt, pulling her knees up to her chest. Fire trucks and ambulances appeared in the distance, racing down what she realized was probably the 15.

How had they survived? She glanced back at the plane, smoke still billowing from one of the engines, debris scattered around the damaged body. It felt like a scene out of a movie.

It felt nothing short of miraculous.

Moving her gaze from the plane, she searched for Leandro, taking in a deep breath when she saw him helping the pilot, who was cradling his arm, blood streaming from his nose. Silently, she counted the people who’d come from the plane, her lips moving as she forced herself to focus.

Eight. There were eight, including herself. Everyone had made it out.

She hadn’t realized that she was crying until she saw the wet splotches hitting her jeans. Absently, she reached up and wiped at her eyes, trying to blink away the tears, but they wouldn’t stop. They were tears of relief, tears of hope, tears of gratitude. Because while they’d been plummeting toward the ground, her life had flashed before her eyes, but not like it often happened in the movies.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.