Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Open your eyes, asshole!
He wasn’t gonna die, was he? He couldn’t. He was fine. He was fine! I couldn’t picture my life without him. Without his country humming in the backyard, without our food-truck Thursdays, without our dreams and plans. He had to be okay. He had to. He couldn’t fucking die.
I carefully pushed his hair back, slick and dark from the water, and…that was blood. I widened my eyes at the sight of my pale fingertips. Blood.
“He’s bleeding!” I shouted. “He’s got a head wound!”
Juarez and one of the women, Greenberg, shoved me aside and took over.
As much as I wanted to crawl back, I knew I would cause more harm than—actually, just harm. So I sat there, fucking useless, and watched them do what they were trained to do.
Wake up, baby. Please wake up.
The medical jargon went in one ear and out the other. I didn’t understand squat, which made me feel beyond helpless.
“Come on, Denver.”
Come on, come on.
I couldn’t see for the tears that welled up—and even less when someone blocked my view further. Another crew member squatted down in front of me and said something. He was speaking. What was he saying?
“…hear me, Finlay? Are you hurt? Can you take a deep breath and flex your fingers and toes?”
What the fuck?
I…yeah, sure. “Ow.” I winced as pain flared up in my hand.
Another dude came over and touched my head, maybe looking for injuries. “He might need stitches here.”
Where? Oh, my cheek. I’d felt something earlier. I touched the spot, and it was still bleeding a little.
“There we go. Get him on his side.”
I sucked in a breath and leaned sideways, and it was the best motherfucking sight ever. Jake coughing and throwing up water. No point in holding back my emotions now. Tears streamed down my face, and I squeezed through to be there for him. But I felt a brake clamping down on the flow of relief. Like, I couldn’t allow myself to breathe out just yet.
They’d stopped the bleeding and bandaged his head.
“Medevac twenty minutes out,” Dunn said.
Jake groaned and tried to push himself up, but he was ordered to lie still. I stayed quiet and just brushed my fingers over his hair while Greenberg performed a more thorough exam. They checked for more injuries and possible fractures, but Jake responded groggily that he was okay.
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” I said. “Keep checking him, please.”
Greenberg’s mouth twitched with a pinch of amusement, and I needed to see that. It brought some relief. Because that meant she wasn’t too worried, right?
She shifted higher up and pointed one of those flashlight pens in Jake’s eyes. “You were likely hit by debris when the vessel exploded. What’s the last thing you remember?”
Jake flinched and squinted, clearly bothered by the light. His eyes were bloodshot, which I was sure mine were too. I’d never encountered such thick black smoke before.
“I, uh…I think I remember everythin’.” His voice was full of gravel, yet it was music to my ears. “Juarez and I saw one of the smugglers throw a lighter on board.”
Holy fuck. They hadn’t been searched well enough, then. But Christ, everything transpired so quickly, and a Zippo lighter could be hidden anywhere.
I caught Juarez nodding in the background.
“I pushed Roe into the water,” Jake continued. He coughed. “The fuckin’ currents—we couldn’t swim away from the boat, and the life jackets pulled us up. Then…” He closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. “Yeah, okay, I think that’s it.”
I let out a breath and sniffled.
“Finlay,” I heard Dunn say.
He jerked his chin, silently telling me to come over to him. As reluctant as I was to leave Jake’s side, Dunn might have information I wanted. I had no idea what that would be, but…
I got to my feet and bit back a groan. Fucking every part of me ached, and my wet clothes were heavy from my delightful swim in the Pacific.
I coughed on the way over to Dunn. My throat was seriously hurting. It seemed for every second that ticked by, a new pain made itself known. I guessed the shock was settling.
Dunn extended his shoulder cam to me. “I don’t know if it’s ruined.”
Oh. That was the least of my concerns, though it should be okay. They all should. Well, not the two resting on the bottom of the sea with our tactical vests.
“Thanks.” I crammed the camera into a side pocket in my pants.
“Your ride back to the mainland will be here in ten minutes,” he went on. “We don’t wanna fuck around with head injuries on the cutter.”
Yeah, no, of course. I winced as a headache settled in.
“We’ll make sure your equipment comes back with the next transport, though,” he said. “Unless you wanna come back with us and meet up with Denver later.”