Free Reclaiming by Gabrielle Demonico

There’s no other way.”
    “What?” Daniella replied with apprehension. “That’ll make way too much noise, Jett.”
    “No, it won’t. Hang on.” He turned to his right and picked up a rock shaped like a small football. Next, he took off his t-shirt, placed the rock inside of it and wrapped it around the stone.
    “That’ll deaden the sound.” He said or ‘stop the sound’ or ‘kill the noise’ or whatever …
    Anyway, he said something like that.
    Daniella wasn’t sure because all of a sudden the only thing she noticed was his tanned, muscular torso in front of her. Of all the times and places to get hit with a surge of uncontrollable lust, this was not it. But there it was, chiseled slabs of man meat beckoned her touch. Soft twilight shimmered in every sinewy crevice as he moved.
    “You got it, Daniella?”
    Enslaved by lust, she’d missed a crucial bit of instruction. She shook her head and refocused.
    “Huh? What?” She replied. “No, what do I got?”
    “What?” He said. “What is wrong with you? Weren’t you listening to anything I said?”
    “Yes,” she said. “Of course I was I…”
    “Okay then, because once I break this, you need to be ready to crawl inside through the window.”
    “What?” she said as she peered into the blackness of the basement. “I’m not going in there. I can’t see anything.”
    “You have to go first. It’s the only way we can open the other window so I can get through it. It opens from the inside and I’m too big to fit through one of them and so it has to be you.”
    Daniella groaned. “Alright…”
    Moments later, Jett smashed the window and as promised, the noise amounted to little more than a dull thud. He reached through the shattered glass, pulled the latch and opened it.
    “Come on,” he said. “Get going.”
    Daniella wedged herself into the window. She felt like toothpaste might if it went back into the tube. Halfway in she thought there was no way in hell she’d manage to get all the way inside of it.
    “Jett,” she said. “I think I’m stuck.”
    “No, you’re almost inside. Take a deep breath and exhale it. That’ll do it.”
    “Hey!” She said in a loud whisper. “What are you trying to say?”
    “What? Nothing.” He said. “Just do it. Come on, you’re wasting time.”
    Daniella muttered a few choice curses at him under her breath and then did as he suggested. No sooner had she exhaled than she slipped through and fell right on top of a stack of boxes. They crunched and popped as she collided with them.
    “Shit.” She whispered as she attempted to gain her footing.
    “You okay?” Jett said.
    “Yes.” She replied. “I’m fine.”
    “Okay. See on the window, to the far right?” He said. “There’s another latch. Turn it and open the window so I can get in.”
    “Alright.”
    It was bit out of reach for her and so she balanced herself on the boxes once again to grasp it. She stood on them, turned the latch and opened the window but as she did, her feet went straight through the top of one of the boxes. She crushed something delicate-sounding inside of it.
    “Damn.” She said.
    “What happened?”
    “I don’t know. I stepped on something in this box and I think I broke whatever was in there.”
    “Are you hurt?”
    “No.”
    “Okay, I’m gonna come in now.” He said. “Straight across from where you are standing is the light switch. Go turn it on while I climb inside.”
    “Um, okay…” Daniella replied with trepidation in her voice. The basement was terribly dark and seeing even a few feet in front of her was almost impossible. As she made her way towards the opposite side of the room, she heard Jett begin to come in through the window behind her.
    “How far is it?” She asked.
    “Well, I’ll tell ya, you’re just about there.” A strange voice replied.
    The sound came from in front of her, in the direction of the light switch. Daniella froze in place, her breath clinched in her throat. For a