Crash and Burn (1)

once a king, always a king

**SO. I shotgunned like four beers last night. And got drunk enough to convince myself to write this and post this because I love you guys so much. I woke up with a hangover, but you guys made it amazing to wake up to so many great comments and messages.

SHOUTOUTS TO THE AWESOME PUN THREAD ON THE LAST CHAPTER TOO. YOU ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE. 😘😘

♚ ♛

"CLIMB THE SCAFFOLDING."

What?

He pulled his hand away from my lips quickly and then nearly shoved me towards the end of the construction fixture. "Now."

"What? Soren, why-"

"Don't fucking argue with me right now, Lacey."

Something in his strained hush sent me scrambling to the poles of the scaffolding. Could I even climb it? To the top?

With a grunt, I hoisted myself up onto the metal poles and then tried to find my balance. Soren was on the sidewalk underneath me, his arms outstretched. "I swear to god, if you fall..."

Grinding my teeth at the exasperation in his tone, I pushed up to the green wood that blanketing the entire section of the sidewalk. "Ah!" I hissed when Soren pushed at my foot.

"Faster, Lace."

His words echoed as I reached out for the surface on top, my fingers fumbling along the grooves of the metal grates. "Soren!" I called when I finally pushed my torso up and nearly dragged myself forward. "Come on."

"Stay up there. I'm serious. Okay?" He said and then he was gone, darting out of view.

What? Why?

"Soren!" I called, panic clawing up my throat.

"Shut up, Lacey!" He hissed from somewhere below me.

Crossing my arms, I looked out across the street to see the long track of the subway lining the horizon. It tumbled through the neighborhood and I couldn't hear anything below.

Why did he do this to me?

Breathe.

Huffing angrily, I pushed to the edge of the scaffolding, poking my head out to the side to see if I could catch a glimpse of Soren.

I couldn't. I dropped my head out further, and my hair cascaded down past the green wood. "Shit." I hissed, reeling it back in.

Breathe.

My knees scraped along the metal when I pushed myself back again and I winced in pain.

Breathe.

Another train rolled by. The scaffolding shook slightly as it passed through and came to a stop.

Breathe.

I couldn't hear him. Was he right underneath the scaffolding?

Did he leave?

With my back against the brick wall, I kept waiting for some frantic Spanish to fill the air. Or for him to lazily slur that nickname from below. But it didn't happen. I didn't hear anything except for the constant hum of the trains as they passed by and the small chatter from the people that I could see across the street.

Breathe.

My eyes scanned the crowd swiftly, searching for a flip of his hair or the dash of his dark sweatshirt, but I didn't see anything.