Page 35 of Better Than Revenge

My chin quivered with the cold, my teeth clicking together, making an actual sound.

“Once you get all the way in, I’ll start the countdown.” He held up his phone to show me the timer on his screen.

I lowered myself immediately with a hiss of air. The back of my legs bumped into something. “Is there a ledge in here? Is it this barrel’s intention that I actually sit for a length of time, as if this is some sort of leisure activity?”

“Yes, it’s a sitting ledge. But since your lips are purple, you will only stay in for one minute. That ledge will help you exit.”

My skin felt like it was being pierced by a thousand needles. “I can’t last one minute.”

“Forty seconds now. You can last forty.”

I shivered even harder now. “How long can you last in here?”

“I usually do three minutes. Sometimes five.” His timer said thirty seconds.

“I can’t, I can’t. I need to get out,” I said, my breath gone, the needles still stabbing my legs and chest now. I wasn’t sure my numb legs were coordinated enough in their current state to exit the barrel, but I moved to the edge.

He seemed to sense my concern and said, “I’ll help you.”

I nodded, my teeth still clacking away, my skin on fire. I stepped onto the ledge and then swung one leg over the side. He put one foot on the bottom step, and I braced my hands on his shoulders as I pulled the other leg out. I now sat on the lip of the barrel, my hands on his shoulders, staring down at the step that seemed too low to reach from this position. Who designed this thing?

“Just slide down,” he said. “I’ll help.”

“Am I going to hurt you?” I said through my shivering lips.

“You’re not going to hurt me. I have you.”

“I don’t feel had.”

He reached up, took me by the waist, and lifted me up and around until both my feet were on the patio next to the steps.

I gasped in a cold breath of air. Oh. I was had.

A cabinet of towels stood to the right of the door. He got one and tossed it to me.

“Thanks,” I said. I felt stupid for not staying in for the full minute. But it had felt impossible while I was in there.

“No problem.”

“Your turn.” I wrapped the towel around my shoulders, then nodded to the barrel. “You need to prove this five-minute claim.”

He smiled but was obviously competitive because he was shoeless and shirtless and in the barrel in less than ten seconds. “Ah,” hesaid, resting his chin on his crossed forearms, which were draped along the edge. “So relaxing.”

I pulled out my phone and made a show of turning on my timer. His breathing didn’t even sound strained as the seconds ticked away.

“You hide your pain face well,” I said as he passed the two-minute mark.

“You do not.”

“No, I don’t. My grandma says my face is always giving me away. She says it’s because I have such a pure heart that it shines out my eyes.”

Theo scoffed. “Does she know your pure heart has turned evil for the next four weeks?”

The smile that had been on my face moments before wavered.

He threw a piece of ice in my direction. “Don’t lose heart now. We both know he deserves it.”

The timer passed three minutes. “I better go.” It felt like I’d been here for hours even though it was only ten o’clock.