Page 90 of Keeping Zita

But it did happen. Was happening. To her. However, Carmen had underestimated Sage. And how quickly he and Zita had come to care about each other. Even if Carmen showed up in Norfolk and pulled out all the stops to seduce Sage, Zita knew without a doubt he wouldn’t give her what she so desperately wanted.

Sick of her thoughts, and tired of lying on the hard, cold metal bed that reminded her too damn much of what dead bodies were put on in the morgue, she sat up…and immediately felt dizzy.

Shit. Same thing happened the last time she sat up, and she knew it was a bad sign. Zita was trying hard to stay positive, but it was getting more and more difficult. What were the odds that Sage could find her in time?

Honestly? Slim.

She sat on the edge of the metal bunk with her head bowed and tried to breathe slow and even. Not to let her heart rate get too fast. She couldn’t control much of anything else, except for her thoughts and what she was doing right this moment. One minute at a time. That’s all she had to get through.

As she sat there with her head down, eyes closed, and doing her best not to lie back down and give up completely, Zita thought she heard something.

It wasn’t one of the voices of the ghosts she imagined were on the ship. It wasn’t one of the creaks or groans that were so familiar by now. It was…

A bark?

That couldn’t be right. What the hell would a dog be doing in here? That thought just made her sadder. That another living creature could be as trapped as she was.

But then, by some miracle, she thought she heard her name.

And it happened again.

Shit! She wasn’t hallucinating!

Zita shot to her feet—and she had to grab the upper bunk to keep from face planting as the room spun around her.

“I’m here!” she screamed as loud as she could. “Help!”

She paused to breathe, praying she really wasn’t dreaming. That she really had heard her name twice…that someone was looking for her.

“Zita!”

If she had any extra moisture in her body, she would’ve started bawling right then. “Yes! It’s me! I’m here! Help me, please!”

Then she heard the bark again. There was a dog out there. Zita was confused, but she didn’t care if there was a hippopotamus outside the door. She’d been found!

Seconds later, she heard banging on the door to her prison, and she couldn’t stop smiling.

“Zita!”

The voice was muted, the metal of the door and the ship doing its best to steal the sound away, but she knew without a doubt that it was Sage.

He was here! He’d found her!

“Sage!” she yelled back.

For a moment, she heard nothing, and she had the thought again that maybe she was asleep and dreaming. Maybe she wasn’t being rescued. Maybe she’d completely lost her mind down here in the absolute silence and darkness.

Until she heard her name again.

“We’re going to get you out, Zita! Sit tight! The door’s locked and we don’t have the fucking key!”

He was muffled, but it was still so good to hear Sage’s voice, Zita’s legs gave out. She sat hard on the metal bunk, barely feeling the pain that shot up her spine. He sounded stressed out and pissed way the hell off. But nothing had ever made her happier in her life than to hear his voice.

Zita relaxed. It didn’t matter how long it took for them to get her out, Sage wasn’t going to leave her. He’d stay right there outside the door until it opened and he could get to her.

“You hear me?” Sage asked.

“Yes!” she yelled back.