I turned from Winter, gripping his face in my hands. “Just breathe,” I told him. “Trust me. We’re getting out of here.”
He met my eyes, starting to break down as his chin trembled. “Please, don’t…” he begged. “Please don’t leave me.”
I clenched my jaw, shame washing me all over again at what I let Trevor do to him. How I left him.
How I would never have lived with it if anything had happened to him that night.
I held the back of his neck and planted my forehead to his. “I never did,” I promised.
I turned to Winter, took her hand and wrapped it around my belt.
“You don’t let go,” I ordered.
She shook, so scared, and her eyes watering. The car whined with the weight of the water filling it as we sank into the depths of the river, and I held her up, so she could breathe as long as possible.
“Tell me you love me,” she whispered. “Say it.”
I looked down at her, fucking done with this rotten luck. We weren’t dying. I wasn’t telling her that shit like I wouldn’t have a chance to tell her later. She could fucking wait.
I held her close, nose to nose. “Someday,” I taunted, forcing a smile into my voice.
She let out a little laugh through her sob, and I wanted so badly to have her back on that motorcycle like the night I promised to show her red someday. Even when I was lying to her like I was that night, it was better than this.
She gripped my belt, my heart pounded in my chest, and Will and Winter gasped around me as we sucked up the last of the air in the car. I pushed us up, farther and farther, getting the last breaths we could as Will caught a mouthful of water, coughed and sputtered, and then we were under, and he was thrashing.
Shit.
I didn’t waste time. With Winter holding my belt, I moved to one of the rear doors and pushed, but it still wasn’t budging. I fondled the lock, making sure it wasn’t secured, and threw my weight into the door as best I could.
Winter held on, calm, but I could hear Will fighting in the water, because he didn’t get a lungful before we went under, and I didn’t know why the fucking door wasn’t opening. It was supposed to open.
Come on.
My hands shook so badly, and I was losing it. They were going to fucking die, because of me. Again.
Please.
I pushed at the door.
Please. Please, Please.
And then I pushed…
And it floated open like magic.
I went dizzy for a moment, wondering if it really just did that.
Oh, fucking yes. Thank God.
I dove out into the river, pulling Winter and reaching inside and grabbing Will.
He kicked his legs, swimming out and fighting for the surface, and I followed, taking Winter’s hand off my belt but not letting go as we swam.
We all popped up to the surface, hitting the air and coughing, sputtering, and gasping for breath. The cold water stabbed like needles in my skin, but I couldn’t feel my wound at least. One pain at a time.
We needed to get out of this water. I looked around for Anderson and his partner, but there was no one. Nothing else on the surface of the river. He was under.
He was gone.
Good fucking riddance.
“Can you swim?” I asked Winter. She’d been in the pool with Will, but it wasn’t deep.
“Yeah,” she choked out. “I’ll follow you.”
I turned on my non-injured side and did the side-stroke toward the river bank, watching her behind me to make sure she could follow my sound and movement in the water.
Will swam next to me, the current pulling us, but we made good strides, and I started to feel the ground under me. My fucking body was done.
We reached the river floor, crawling out of the water and onto the bank, breathing hard and relief washing over me as I collapsed.
“Fuck, we did it,” I breathed out.
Winter grabbed my leg, pulling herself up.
“We can’t stay here,” she said, her voice shaking. “We need to… get somewhere warm.”
I rolled over, groaning at all the aches and pains, and I needed ten-thousand things right now, but I was so fucking happy they were here and we made it. Raising my head and looking up, I saw a single light through the trees and knew…
Just fucking knew.
St. Killian’s.
Damon
Present
We stumbled toward the church, freezing and covered in dirt as Will crawled up a ravine, and I followed with Winter in tow.
Jesus, it was fucking freezing.
There was no telling if my father knew we had Michael and Winter back or if anyone was on our tail, but we had to get inside and get warm.
Our breath clouded in the air as the wet clothes molded to our skin, but I stayed charged.
We were almost there.
Will hung his head, looking ready to collapse, but it was like he was possessed, almost as if he was trying to get away from something as he crawled and scurried.
But instead of running for St. Killian’s, Will veered down what looked almost like a cave.
I peered closely through the dark, seeing an alcove in the earth under a tree. Like a tunnel.
What was that?
Following him, I stopped behind him and held Winter close as she shivered uncontrollably and watched him punch in a code.
The door opened, and we slipped inside.
Will kept going, ripping off his sweatshirt and T-shirt and dropping them along the hallway, and I pulled the door closed again, taking Winter’s hand.
I looked around, taking about two seconds to figure out these were the catacombs underneath the church. I knew there was another entrance, but it looked like Michael and Rika had installed a proper door with security.
Last time I was here, it was all rock and dirt, but I quickly noticed the polished hardwood floors, the rock walls that had been repaired and spruced up, and the sconces lining the hallway on both sides, their lanterns creating a subterranean glow.
I followed Will, all of us rushing into the massive stone shower, Will going for one showerhead and me for the other.
We turned on the rainfall spouts, getting them warm and steam billowing immediately, and then I darted over to Winter, peeling off her sweatshirt as she kicked off her shoes and socks.
I fisted my hands against the cold, ripping off my hoodie and shirt, as well.
“Fuck,” I growled low, putting her under the warm water.
Will hunched over, still shivering but even worse now as the water cascaded over him.
What was wrong with him?
I shot over to him, grabbing him under the arms. “Come on, sit down.”
He tried to rise, but his legs gave out, and he fell into me, both of us crashing down. And I just couldn’t. I gave up, my strength gone.
We sat here against the wall, Will’s back against my chest and his head lying on my collarbone as the water drenched us. My jeans stuck to my skin, but the heat seeped into my bones, and I started to feel better minute by minute.
Will shook, though, his knee bobbing up and down in short spurts.
I wrapped my arms around him, trying to help. “We’re okay,” I told him. “Just breathe.”
But he groaned like he was in pain, and I squeezed his arms, trying get the blood pumping or something. Anything. But he was ice cold and not calming down.
What the hell?
“Will, are you okay?” Winter asked.
“He’s shaking,” I told her. “Come here.”
She came down on the floor, following my voice and crawling, and I took her arm, pulling her on top of him, both of us sandwiching him.
“Get him fucking warmed up,” I told both of us.
“You’re okay,” she said, straddling him and hugging his chest.
“I almost drowned,” he choked out, his breath ragged. “Again.”
“Shhh,” I soothed him, holding him, because that was all I could do.
There was nothing that would erase what I did, only to hate myself more, because I’d done it at all.
I wasn’t sure if Winter knew what he was talking about, but she just held him, not saying anything.
“I feel like something is chasing me, man.” He wouldn’t stop shivering. “Like it’s only a matter of time.”
I cupped Winter’s face with one hand and him with the other, just holding them both.
“I can’t stop shaking,” he said. “Fuck, I’m cold.”
“It’s okay.” I held him tighter, not knowing what to do to bring him down.