Chapter 66: Out of this

Looking down, he saw May’s face pressed directly against his lap. Her soft, warm breaths hit his leg in rhythm, generating a heat that threatened to burn away his remaining sanity.

To make matters worse, under this extreme life-or-death adrenaline rush and the startling physical sensation, Mitch’s body completely bypassed his conscious control. His already tight combat pants began to strain... and because May’s face was pressed right there, the sudden pressure hit her directly.

Tears welled up in May’s eyes. "Mitch, don’t move! You’re... choking my throat!"

"I’m not moving! It’s doing that on its own!" Mitch bellowed, his voice cracking midway. "Stop talking! Every time you speak, you’re blowing warm air straight onto my crotch!"

"Even if I don’t speak, it’s still pressing into me!" May sobbed, feeling utterly wronged. "This stupid belt is pulling so tight my face is being flattened!"

From the back seat, Theo remarked in a low, measured tone: "Mitch, I didn’t realize you could remain so... energetic in a crisis like this."

"Shut up, Theo!" Mitch’s eyes turned bloodshot. "This is a normal physiological reaction! You think you can do better? Try it yourself!"

Ray yelled from the driver’s seat. "Both of you shut the hell up! Stop arguing!"

The vehicle’s tilt grew worse as more than half the chassis hung in empty air. Muffled impacts echoed from below the undercarriage, as if something massive was repeatedly slamming into the rock base.

"Quiet!" Ray roared, his eyes glinting with fierce resolve. "This isn’t the time to bicker. The rig is about to flip."

Clenching his teeth, Mitch kept his single-handed grip locked onto the mounting ring. "May, listen to me, don’t wriggle around," Mitch grunted, his voice hoarse. "My arm is about to snap. Try to push yourself up a bit."

"I can’t push!" May cried out softly.

"Then use your legs!" Mitch barked. "Wrap your legs around my waist and squeeze!"

May complied immediately, clamping her legs tight around him. But as she squeezed, Mitch’s entire frame went rigid once more. As her legs gripped upward, her center of gravity shifted downward slightly, pressing her face even harder against him...

"Mmh..." May let out a soft, stifled groan—a delicate, trembling sound that almost shattered Mitch’s last thread of self-control.

Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back against the ceiling, his lips trembling as sweat poured down his face and dripped onto May’s hair.

Ray held the steering wheel in a death grip. Staring at the bright pink harness in the mirror and then at Mitch’s crimson face, his eyes practically flashed with fire.

Noticing that the sunroof could slide forward, Ray hastily slid it open to shift weight toward the front. Keeping one hand on the wheel, he roared toward the back. "Ace, with me! Get out!"

Without a second thought, Ace yanked his door open and slid out.

Ray pulled a heavy length of rope from beneath the driver’s seat, tying one end to the front bumper and securing the other to a massive boulder nearby. Harnessing the remainder around his waist, the two stayed low, crawling carefully forward along the tilted frame.

Beneath the undercarriage, freezing wind howled like a solid wall.

Ray clicked on a high-intensity flashlight and shone it downward. The moment the beam sliced through the darkness, his hand froze.

Massive rock ledges were barely holding the rear tires, while the back half of the chassis hung completely suspended over the drop. Inside the cabin frame, Mitch hung on with one arm locked around the ring and the other around May—or rather, that glaring pink belt had bound the two together from waist to thigh like a single entity.

May’s face remained buried right between Mitch’s legs, the bright pink belt gleaming locked in place, binding their lower bodies without a millimeter of space between them.

The beam of Ray’s flashlight didn’t waver, illuminating the entire scene in stark detail. The veins at his temples throbbed twice.

Yet there was no time to lose.

"Mitch!!!"

His voice boomed through the canyon, echoing off the rock walls.

Ray slid down the rope to the underside of the vehicle and reached out to yank at the pink harness. But the moment his fingers touched the material, a pulse of light surged across its surface, buzzing sharply as it repelled his hand.

"Don’t force it open!"

"The second I moved just now, it pulled us even tighter together!" May’s voice trembled, on the verge of tears.

"Don’t you dare move!" Mitch growled through gritted teeth, sweat dripping from his jaw directly onto her hair. He was about to snap in half.

Ray crouched beneath the undercarriage, his flashlight shining directly on the tangled scene. His face was darker than pitch. Without wasting another breath, he grabbed a jagged ledge of rock and hauled himself back onto the roadway in a few fluid movements.

"Ace, keep an eye on them down here. I’m driving us out of this."

Standing on the shoulder, Ace’s usual charming smile had completely frozen over. He stared down at Mitch under the frame for three quiet seconds, his lips twitching slightly, but he said nothing.

Ray jammed heavy rocks under the front tires before sliding back into the driver’s cab. He cranked the steering wheel all the way left and slammed his boot onto the accelerator, making the engine scream.

The front wheels spun frantically over the ice before finally biting into the surface. Inch by inch, the armored transport crept forward. The rear tires slid off the rocks, and the whole heavy vehicle crashed back onto the solid road with a violent THUD.

The jolt rattled everyone inside the cabin back and forth.

May let out a soft gasp as the magnetic belt constricted a notch further, pressing her face deeper against him...

"Don’t—don’t move, don’t move!" Mitch threw his head back with his eyes shut tight, the corded muscle in his neck stretched taut.

The vehicle finally stabilized. Ray yanked the rear door open first.