Electrically Charged

Chapter 3: Dark, Cramped Spaces

Well this was great. Just great. Cecily was stuck in a four by eight crawl space with this damn boy. There was no room to move. None. He was on his hands and knees and so was she, and they were right next to each other. 

"Okay," he said quietly, almost like a whisper. "I am going to need you to hold a couple tools in place so I can unscrew bolts and unplug wires. 

Cecily nodded. "What's my first assignment?" she whispered back. 

"Can you hold this here," William showed her where to hold the tool. "You have to keep it steady okay? I will try to be gentle."

She raised an eyebrow at him and rolled her eyes. "You don't have to worry about being gentle. I can handle it," she whispered at him. 

She positioned the tool and locked it into place. He clamped the wrench onto the top part of the bolt.

"Ready?" he whisper asked her.

Cecily almost giggled. She felt it bubble up and had shoved it back down. "Why are we whispering?" she hissed at him. 

He gave her a look, "Because it's dark and quiet up here."

She made an 'ohhhh' face at him and nodded her head sarcastically. He shot her a glare before beginning to turn the bolt. She braced against his movements and held the back of the bolt steady as William unscrewed the front part. 

Damn this girl was strong. William was really cranking on the bolt to get it loose and she hadn't budged an inch. She just sat there bracing against his force. She seemed to be watching him in interest. Finally the bolt loosened and he unscrewed it. She moved her tool to the second bolt and the process began again. 

Cecily. Her name rang in his head as they worked. He had tried to pry her name out of his dad, but Henry had refused to tell him. Fortunately his dad seemed to have forgotten as he had called out to William that she was about to come up the ladder. Now William knew her name. The question was, did she know his? He didn't even know why it concerned him, but it did. He wanted her to know who he was. 

Finally they were able to get the cover of the electrical circuit off. Now the real fun began. A whole length of wire needed to be replaced. He sorted through the various cables until he found what he was looking for. He worked it out from its place in the wall and plugged in the new wire he had carried up with him. The wire had to threaded out through a hole in the other end of the crawl space. He was going to need Cecily to hold the wire in place while he threaded in through the wall panels and out the hole. He beckoned Cecily over and told her what he needed her to do. It was simple really. He then began to work the wire towards the other end of the crawl space. As he neared the end a terrible, horrible idea popped into his brain. As he pulled the wire out the end of the crawl space he knew he shouldn't do it. He knew it was a terrible idea. And yet, he did it anyway. 

One second Cecily was watching William thread the wire through the wall and the next he was spasming. His whole body shook and writhed with electrical currents. Cecily was moving toward him at record speeds. She yanked him towards her, pulling him far away from any of the wires in the wall. Her heart was slamming against her chest and she saw him stop moving. Oh my God. Was he dead? Panic and dread washed through her. Immediately she dropped her ear to his chest while her fingers found their way to his carotid artery. She went still, listening and feeling. A steady thump thump sounded from under her ear and she felt the pulse against her fingers. He was alive. She looked to his face to see if he was awake and was met with those sapphire blue eyes. She breathed with relief and he burst out laughing. 

Yep. The bastard started laughing. Cecily realized all too quickly what had just happened. He had faked it. Holy mother of everything, she was going to kill him. She was going to rip his head off and feed it to her dogs. She clenched her jaw and anger filled her body. He was so going to get it. 

Her first punch was directed at his solar plexus. It wasn't hard enough to cause serious damage but it was going to hurt like hell. Then Cecily went for his stomach, back up to his ribs and chest, to his shoulder. She didn't hold back. She really punched him, hard. And she knew he felt it because he let out a pained yelp every time her fists connected with his body. She almost punched him in the face, but caught herself. 

"You damn piece of shit," she yelled at him. "Don't you ever, ever do that again!  To anyone, ever. You understand me William Hollenbeck?"

His heart skipped a beat. She knew his name. Not just his last name, but his first name too. And it sounded real good coming out of her mouth. Even though she was yelling at him. He shouldn't have done it. He knew he shouldn't have done it. But he had done it anyway. He knew he was going to be in trouble when that look of rage swept over her face. Damn the girl could punch. Everything was going to be black and blue and very painful tomorrow morning. But it had been worth it. Feeling her head on his chest and her fingers pressing to his neck, it had stopped him from breathing. If she hadn't of made such a ridiculously relieved face when she looked at him he doubted he would have breathed. But now it hurt to breathe and his ribs screamed at him in anger from her vicious blows. 

She glared at him and dropped out of the ceiling onto the ladder. He watched her head disappear from sight. He pushed himself into a sitting position and groaned. Everything hurt. Moving was painful.  He sat in the darkness for a couple minutes just thinking and letting his heart rate return to normal. Slowly he checked that the wire was where it should be and then inched down the ladder. His father was waiting at the bottom with crossed arms. 

"Do I even want to ask what you did?" Henry asked.

William sighed. "Nothing you haven't done, it just didn't go as well for me as it did for you."

Henry raised an eyebrow and then understanding sunk in. He bent over laughing. Will closed his eyes and made himself breathe. Somehow pulling that trick had got his father a girlfriend who turned into his wife. William had received bruised ribs and the girl he was interested in had stomped off without a word. This was going great. William shook his head and walked past his dad. 

"I'm going to go wait in the truck," William told his father. 

His dad nodded and turned back to cleanup. The project would be done by tomorrow evening. William shuffled towards the front door. As he walked past the bathroom door he noticed that it had a large mirror in it. He stepped in to take a look at how bad the bruising was going to be. Slowly he pulled off his shirt. Color was already gathering around his ribs and chest and his stomach wasn't too far behind. Those bruises were going to last a while. His ribs might even be bone bruised. He wouldn't be surprised. Not bothering to put his shirt back on he walked down the hallway to the front door. He watched his feet take steps forward and looked at his ribs as they moved. And then he ran right into someone. He didn't even have to look up to know who it was. But he did anyway. The fire that burned in her eyes was too intense to ignore. They met his before looking out the window and then flickering up and down his naked chest. A smile tugged at his lips as he caught her checking him out, but he knew better than to say anything. Her eyes returned to his, she glared and then spun on her heels and walked off. 

Crazy ass horse girls.