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She followed him. “There’s nothing in there that will help. All the stuff we have that would have worked isn’t here.”
“Where did it go?” he demanded.
“Trey wanted to borrow it for a project at his place. I told him he could.”
Lucas muttered a curse. “So we’re stuck. Because you told a guy he could borrow the tools.”
“This isn’t my fault,” she said indignantly. “You’re the one who shut the door in the first place.” She folded her arms tight against her chest. Each of them stared at the other with accusation.
He huffed and stormed past her toward the door again. She spun to watch him. They were stuck. Didn’t he understand that? The door wouldn’t open unless they had more men or a tool to give them leverage.
The likelihood that someone would come look for them was next to none. Lately, she’d been coming home after her father went to bed and leaving before he got up. He’d think she was just putting in extra hours over the weekend.
Based on what she knew of Lucas, no one would suspect a thing if he was absent for a couple days. Still, she couldn’t help but watch with a morbid curiosity to see what he might come up with.
Over the next half hour, she watched him in all sorts of contorted positions try to push, pull, yank, hit, and rattle the door free. Nothing worked. Eventually, she tired of hovering nearby and she returned to her chair. She wrapped her jacket tighter around herself and sighed.
Stuck.
They were both stuck with one another and the conversation that had occurred just before disaster struck. Anticipating what it would be like to spend an entire weekend with him like this already set her teeth on edge. But what else could she do?
There wasn’t even anything to keep them entertained. No books. No games. No technology.
Another half hour passed, and Lucas was clearly getting worn out from all the exertion. She glanced in his direction after moving to the floor against an old hay bale. Thankfully, there had been no signs of critters. This place had a barn cat that hadn’t moved on after the owners had. She’d have to remember to bring a can of tuna for it as a treat when they finally got out.
Lucas muttered another expletive and threw a hammer he’d been holding.
“Maybe you should take a break,” she groaned.
“No,” he snapped.
She shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
He grabbed another tool and marched over to the chair to drag it across the floor toward the door. He stood on it and shoved the screwdriver into something at the top of the door.
All she could hear was scraping sounds and more angry mumblings. There was only one good thing she could be grateful for. She’d brought a few cases of bottled water for the workers. They were stacked on one side of the barn with only a few missing. At least they wouldn’t get dehydrated.
Ella leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. She was already tired from a long day, and now the rest of her energy had been zapped with that last burst when they’d gotten into the fight.
Something Lucas was doing screeched, but before she even opened her eyes, she heard Lucas swear again. Irritated, she glanced toward him to tell him to mind his manners when she found him holding one hand with the other and staring down at it. His face had drained of all color.
Ella jumped to her feet and hurried over to him. He jumped back, closing his hand into a fist. “Don’t bother.”
Scowling at him, she snatched his hand from him, surprised that it was so easy to retrieve. Carefully, she pried open his fingers to find his palm bleeding. Ella gasped. “Lucas! What did you do?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he said with sarcasm. “I was making a sacrifice to the false idols I worship so the door will magically open.”
She snickered, then bit down hard. “Sorry. Not funny.” When she lifted her eyes to meet his, Ella was surprised to find a hint of amusement peeking through. For a moment she was lost, swimming in his eyes, but she quickly brushed it off and tugged on his arm. “Come on. We have to get this rinsed out. You don’t want it to get infected.”
Lucas shuffled along with her toward the water. She pulled a bottle free and opened it.
“This might sting a little.” She glanced once more toward him, and he nodded his assent. She poured it over his palm, and he hissed. “Sorry,” she whispered, then poured more of the liquid over his hand.
Ella released him just long enough to take the hem of her shirt and tear a strip from it. She wound it around his hand a few times, then tucked it into place. “I don’t know how deep your cut is, but this should help. We should put some pressure on it to stop the bleeding.”
“I don’t think it was that deep. It just bled a lot.” His voice was soft, and it drew her attention. Their gazes locked again. She didn’t know for how long, but as they stood there studying one another, she couldn’t keep her thoughts from returning to his question.
Nope. She wasn’t going to go there anymore. “Come on. Let’s go sit down. It’s going to be a long night.” Ella dropped his hand and moved past him to where she’d been seated before. She didn’t check to see if he would follow her. He couldn’t do anything with that hand now anyway. Something told her he’d be there by her side soon enough.
