I shook my head. “No. He’ll take time to regroup. He’ll come eventually, though. We need to be ready.”
“Is there someone behind us?” Winter asked, breathing hard again.
I checked the rearview mirror, while Will glanced over his shoulder.
Bright headlights pierced the darkness as we left the village, climbing our tail.
“And coming up fast,” Will said.
How did she know that?
I punched the gas, charging up into the hills, the dark trees looming on both sides.
“Did they hurt you?” I asked, looking at Winter.
She shook her head. “Just scared me.”
Will took her chin, inspecting the cut on her lip. “Anderson do that?”
“I think so.”
I raced past security, not even bothering to stop as the guard popped his head up, startled. He worked for the families in this community, not the police. He’d call the association to report trouble before he’d call the cops.
I turned the wheel, taking us around the curve, but as I straightened out, the car behind us shot up right on our ass, ramming into our car.
Winter gasped, and we lurched forward, Will holding her tight as he planted his hand on the dash. I sped around another curve, but then Will shouted at me.
“No, take the shortcut!” he yelled.
I jerked the steering wheel right, remembering St. Killian’s sat across from a small river buried in the forest. There was a bridge that cut through the space between here and Michael and Rika’s, avoiding all the winding roads.
We could go faster without all the turns.
Anderson shot past, but I heard his tires screech to a halt on the other road above as we hurried toward the bridge as fast as we could.
I pressed my back into the seat, my arm locked straight on the steering wheel, and my eyes zoned in on the road and checking my mirror.
My blood raced, and if I weren’t so worried about her, I might’ve been having a little fun. Of course, I wouldn’t have run. I would’ve killed that motherfucker right there in the town square. I’d just been caught up in getting her out.
Headlights flashed through my rearview mirror and the car caught up to us again, charging behind.
It rushed up, and I tightened every muscle.
“Hold on,” I shouted.
It slammed into our ass, and liquid heat coursed down every one of my limbs as I tried to outrun them.
I looked to Winter. “We’re almost there.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but the car rammed us again, and we all lurched in our seats.
“Motherfucker!” I growled.
They slammed into us again. I took the wheel with both hands trying to keep it steady.
And again.
Winter started panting in short, shallow breaths, scared with an arm around Will’s neck and one on the dash.
They hit us again.
“Hold on,” I told them.
The bridge appeared ahead, and I charged dead ahead, racing onto it and seeing Anderson’s headlights chase us again.
The dark river loomed still and black underneath us, spreading far to the left and right as my tires bumped over the slabs of concrete underneath.
Anderson sped up, hit us again, but before I had a chance to recover, he shot around and slammed into my side.
“Goddammit!” I bellowed.
I lost the wheel, the car went spinning, and I slammed on the brakes, and then… He was there—his headlights charging right for us.
Will yelled, wrapping his arms around Winter’s head, and we crashed through the railing, the back tires falling over the side of the bridge as Anderson’s SUV tipped both right tires over the side, as well. Winter screamed as the car wobbled.
There was only a moment, my eyes locked on Winter’s face, and then both cars started to slide. I reached for her, took her hand, and pulled her into my arms, locking her in as we both went over the side, free falling into the river.
Holy fuck!
The car crashed down, my neck snapped back, and the whole world tilted on its side as my head swam.
What the hell?
I heard Winter calling me.
“Damon?” she cried, touching my face. “D…Damon, wake up. Wake up!”
I squeezed my eyes shut, lifting up my head and rotating the ache out of my neck before opening them again.
Did I get knocked out? Shit.
Winter sat on my lap, nearly nose to nose, crying but kissing me as soon as she felt me move.
I grunted, rubbing my neck as I looked over to see Will yanking on his handle and throwing his body into the door.
It took a moment to register what had just happened, but then I looked up, out the front windshield and saw what was all around us.
The fucking river. Jesus.
“You okay?” I asked Winter.
“Yeah.”
I looked around, seeing the car flooding as water poured in from the vents and under the dash, the car already half deep.
Fuck.
The river rushed over the hood as the car sank nose first, and I looked out the window, seeing no signs of life from Anderson’s car. It floated upside down, slowly sinking, as well.
Winter jumped off me, and I pulled my handle, following Will and slamming all my weight into the door. The cloudy water rushed, starting to cover the windows and pour in, and I yanked again and again and again, but the fucking door wouldn’t open.
I climbed out of my seat, trying the back doors and kicking the windows. Winter moved from door to door, feeling her way and trying the windows, pushing the buttons, while Will took the baseball bat and threw it into the glass.
“Just calm down a sec!” I yelled at him.
We were under water now. If he broke the glass, water would rush in fast, and we needed a minute.
I pushed against the back door so hard my muscles burned.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck… Think.
Goddammit.
My knees shook as I made my way back up front, sloshing through the icy water and picking up Winter who was chest deep and shivering.
I breathed over her lips, trying to warm her any way I could. “There’s like six hundred pounds of pressure on the windows and doors, right now,” I told her. “Once the pressure equalizes, we’ll open the doors.”
“When…when…” she stammered, shaking. “When does it equalize?”
The water chilled my bones. “When the car…fills up…with water.”
“If it fills up with water, we can’t breathe!” Will yelled, climbing out of his seat, his clothes and hair drenched. “We don’t want it to fill up!”
He stumbled, catching himself as his head turned right and left, manically searching for a way out.
“Damon, man…” He stood, almost hyperventilating as the water rose to our chests, slowly consuming the car. “We gotta…we gotta get out of here. I can’t… I can’t…”
He started feeling the roof and searching, looking everywhere for anything he could find, gasping in short breaths.
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. “Sa
y 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.
He wasn’t okay. He was anything but okay. Rika was right.
He was fucking spiraling.
And I doubted anyone knew the full measure of the mess in his head.
Winter brought her head up. “Close your eyes,” she said, putting her hands on his chest. “Close them for a minute. We’ve got you.”
I peered down at him, seeing his eyes closed.
“We’ve got you,” she whispered again. “We’re yours. We’re all yours. We’re not leaving.”
She put her head back down on him, holding him with one of her hands resting on my thigh.
She inhaled long, deep breaths, soothing him with her soft voice. “Damon at your back,” she said, “and me at your front. Feel us breathing. Feel it.”
I did the same, tipping my head back and closing my eyes, just concentrating on our bodies.
“In.” She drew in a breath. “And out.”
Will’s body shuttered, but he was trying.
In.
And out.
“Slow, Will,” she breathed out. “Go slow.”
Her fingers squeezed my thigh, letting me know she was here, and I rubbed her arm as we all kept our eyes closed, trying to calm the fuck down.
“Do you feel him?” she asked Will. “Feel his body behind you. And feel me.”
The shaking in Will’s body started to subside as his chest rose slower and slower, all of us concentrating on every breath and falling into sync.
“In,” she told us. “And out.”
We all blew out, our bodies melted together and moving like one unit.
In…
And out….
“Slow,” she whispered. “Slow with me.”
His arms came around her, and all of us just sat there intertwined and warm, Rika and Michael probably pacing upstairs and wondering what happened to us.
Will’s and my phones were at the bottom of the river now.
I couldn’t go upstairs, though. I didn’t want to move.
“In and out,” she chanted again.
I ran my hand around her back, finding her T-shirt already pulled up a little and Will’s hand tucked up inside it, not rubbing but clutching at her warmth.
“Whatever is after you is failing,” I told him. “You’re not fucked. You’re the strongest of us all, because you’ve survived the most.”
I failed to destroy him. Miles Anderson failed. Two-and-a-half years in prison failed.
And that bitch who treated him like garbage in high school and still rented space in his head would fail, too.
I rubbed Winter’s back, and he began caressing her with his thumb.
Her voice and the water lulled us into relaxation, everything quiet and warm and feeling so good, I just wanted more of it. We kneaded her skin slowly, but my hand started rubbing her back harder and more demanding as I chased the hunger for contact.
Kill Switch (Devil's Night #3) Page 48