Saved By Her

by Michelle Horst

  I still can’t believe Cole is spending the night with me, never mind that we just kissed two times. There’s a very good chance that I’m at home fast asleep dreaming all of this. Wouldn’t it be a bummer if I woke up in bed realizing this is all a dream?

  He leads us back to the entrance where all the deck chairs are out around the kid’s pools. Some couples are floating in the shallow water, making out. It looks pretty wet and wild. I glance up at Cole and see him looking from them back to me. Nearing the ticket booth I stop. I don’t want to go to close to the pools.

  “I can wait here,” I say, and I hate that my voice sounds a little breathlessly.

  “What can I get you?” he asks. He takes a step closer to me. His nearness makes me forget that I’m surrounded by water and when he starts to lean down I forget that he asked me a question. The brush of his lips is soft down the side of my face. I fall back into my Cole induced coma and tilt my head to give him easy access to my mouth. A smile curve around his lips before they take mine and he kisses me in such a way that I’m not even aware of the fact that were standing in the light where everyone can see us. I’m so not being invisible.

  “Finally, Cole! Now we really have somethin’ to celebrate,” I hear Travis’ voice boom from behind us. Cole lifts his head and as he looks over his shoulder at Travis, he pulls me against his chest.

  I feel his chest shake as he chuckles. “We don’t need an audience man. I’m going to have to look into your face for the next few years. I don’t want to see you tonight.”

  I stiffen at his words. Does that mean they signed up for years? I hear Travis howling as he heads back to the deeper pools and then it’s just Cole and me again. His fingers take hold of my chin, lifting my face to his.

  “Will you come home?” I whisper, looking everywhere but at his eyes.

  “Not the first year, the trainin’ is intense. After that I should be able to come home every year.” His thumb skims my bottom lip.

  “Are you looking forward to it?” I ask. Pastor Beasley once told me you have to always do what makes you happy, and if this is what he wants then I have to be happy for him.

  “Yes,” he says. He lifts my face a little higher and then he catches my eyes, “and no. I didn’t think I stood a chance with you, Bridget. I signed up thinkin’ there wasn’t a snowballs chance in hell for me to be with you.” His eyes drift over my face. “I suppose there’s a reason for everythin’.”

  “Coke,” I blurt out when I feel tears burning in my eyes.

  “Be right back,” he says, smiling again.

  I watch him walking away, all the awe of the evening evaporating, and sadness settling in its place. For once I’m not thinking of the darkness surrounding me, or the water, but the long years of praying for the man I love stretching out ahead of me, and he doesn’t even know it.

  ~*~

  Chapter Two

  Cole~

  I hear Travis having a blast and there is a jab of sadness in my gut. I talked him into signing up, all because I couldn’t face seeing Bridget every day and not have her. Now she’s here and I get to touch her, and I have to leave. Fate sucks big time.

  I grab our cokes when I hear the girls shrieking. Wyatt must be at it again.

  “Get Bridget,” Travis yells and my body reacts at the same instant I hear her name. Turning around my eyes zero in on my cousin as he goes for her. She freezes up against the wall where I left her.

  “Wyatt, don’t touch her!” I shout, but he’s in the zone, and what sucks even more is that he’s much closer to her than I am. He grabs hold of her and unlike the other girls she doesn’t laugh or giggle. “Wyatt, she can’t swim!”

  Worry drives me forward as he lifts her up as if she weighs nothing. My cousin isn’t much shorter than me and Bridget is small, there is no way she’ll be able to get free.

  He darts away as I start to catch up and I make the decision to wait in the pool. I’ll catch her as she comes down.

  My eyes follow them up the stairs. Bridget’s tiny hands dig into Wyatt’s shoulders and my eyes shift to her face. I stop at the edge of the pool and the air rushes from my lungs when I see the look on her face. I’m going to kill my cousin! Her eyes are wide with fear, those soft green eyes I’ve loved since the first day I saw them. When Wyatt takes the last step it looks like she whispers the word, “please”.

  “He’s just having some fun. Chill,” Travis says from the pool.

  “She can’t fuckin’ swim!” I bite out and dive in as Wyatt disappears into the tube. My head breaks through the surface seconds before they come racing through the tube. Wyatt slams into the water screaming Bridget’s name and then her body hits mine.

  I focus on keeping her head above water and it takes me a second to realize she’s unconscious.

  “What the fuck did you do?” I shout as I start back towards the edging. He’s a dead man walking!

  “I’m sorry. She passed out the second we went into the tube. I tried to come out first so I could catch her,” he rambles behind me.

  “Wyatt, you’re such a dumbass!” I yell, anger pulsing through me. “You could’ve drowned her!” I look down at her. “Bridget?” She’s out cold but I say it anyway, “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

  Travis jumps out ahead of me and takes hold of Bridget, dragging her out for me, so I can get out. That’s one blessing! I can always count on my best friend to have my back.

  “Thanks,” I whisper as I kneel beside her. I check for her pulse when someone else grabs her other hand. Link Roberts, her foster brother.

  “What happened?” he asks, looking pissed.

  “Wyatt took her down the tube.”

  “Is he insane?” Link explodes. “We need to get her dry before she wakes up or she’ll freak out. She can’t be wet.” He looks around until he spots Reece. “Baby, do you have somethin’ dry for her to wear?”

  “I have,” I say. “In my truck.”

  “Let’s go.”

  I pick her up before Link can, and I rush in the direction of my truck. They can follow if they want. I was right, she weighs nothing. She’s as light as a feather. All the working out for the Marines has put Travis and me in the best shape of our lives. I could easily carry twenty of her. My truck is parked in the section marked ‘Staff Only’. It’s times like this I’m happy about the perks that comes with being a Trenton.

  “Link, open the back, please,” I say.

  Reece, who has been quiet all the way to my truck jumps up first, but I ignore her hands and jump up with Bridget in my arms.

  “I have a blanket stashed in the corner there. Throw it out so I can lay her down,” I say.

  Reece scrambles around at my feet from the one corner to the other as she quickly spreads the blanket.

  “Yo man, is she okay,” I hear Travis behind me.

  “Don’t know. She hasn’t come to yet,” I call back. Travis knows me better than anyone and without a doubt he’ll hear the worry in my voice. “Travis, grab the bag from the passenger side.”

  “Sure, bud.”

  As gently as possible, I lay Bridget down on the blanket. Even in the dark her face is too pale. Seconds later Travis throws the bag down next to me. I rummage though it for a shirt and hand it to Reece.

  “You need help holdin’ her up?”

  “Please,” she whispers, her voice thick with tears.

  I position myself at Bridget’s head and lifting her by her shoulders, I pull her up against my chest. Reece is shaking like a damn leaf next to me. At this rate Bridget is going to come to before we have her in a dry shirt.

  “How about you make sure no one sees her and I’ll get her in a dry shirt?” I say, smiling an encouraging smile.

  “Oh … okay,” she says.

  Link doesn’t move an inch next to me and I don’t know what to make of it. Reece scoots off the truck, standing watch as I take hold of Bridget’s sweater. It’s going slow, tugging the wet material off her limp body. I finally have her left arm free. As
I reach for her right arm Link moves closer.

  “She’s going to be so fuckin’ upset, Cole,” he hisses. “Maybe I should do it and you could stand watch with Reece?

  “Why would she be upset?” I ask. She’s passed out for cryin’ out loud! “You don’t even have to tell her I helped.” I continue to tug at the material, slipping her right arm through. Link’s hand clamps down on mine.

  “Don’t,” he says loudly. “She doesn’t know I know, but I don’t think she’ll be as upset with me as she will be with you.”

  “What the hell are you talkin’ about, Roberts? Let’s just get her dry before she wakes up.” He’s starting to work on my nerves.

  “Suit yourself. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Trenton,” he sneers. He yanks away, glaring at me as I pull the sweater and tank over her head, maybe a little too roughly.

  Bridget whimpers as she comes to. Her chest now only covered in a bra starts to rise and fall with rapid breaths. Link forgets about being angry with me and grabs hold of her hand, but she yanks away from him, and that’s when I see it … the scars.

  Her right arm comes up to protect her face and she throws her body forward into a fetal position. The skin stretching from her elbow, over her shoulder and down half of her back is scared. It looks like someone chewed bubblegum and then stuck it on her. It looks silky smooth in places only to be raised and bumpy in others.

  I reach out and touch her trembling back softly, not wanting to scare her more than she already is. She flinches at my touch and arches her back away from my fingers.

  “Bridget,” I whisper past the lump in my throat. Is this the reason she always avoided me? “I have a shirt for you. Let’s get it on you.” I inch closer and hold the shirt out to her. She doesn’t look at me as she reaches for it. When her fingers touch mine, she yanks back and quickly tugs the shirt on.

  “Birdie,” Reece says, stepping forward. Bridget’s head snaps up as she yanks the shirt into place. She stares at Reece and I watch as Reece cowers back. “I didn’t know. You never told me. Please don’t be-,” before Reece can finish her sentence Bridget darts forward.

  “Shit,” Link curses.

  I’m off and after her before Link can move a muscle. She sprints across the car park towards the street. I have length and training on my side and catch up with her as she reaches the main gate. She slows her pace to slip out and I grab hold of her arm, swinging her back to me.

  “Wait, Bridget,” I say.

  Breathless, she tries to yank free, her eyes jumping wildly between my chest and the street. “I’m sorry I didn’t stop Wyatt.” Maybe if I apologize for my cousin’s stupidity she’ll calm down.

  She bites her bottom lip, but it doesn’t stop the sob from escaping, and then the words come. “It’s not Wyatt! It’s me! Why do you think I tried so hard to be invisible? You saw it! Why are you still standing here?”

  “The scars?” My eyes jump to her right arm and she immediately shoves it behind her back. “Don’t hide them from me.” I reach around her body and taking hold of her arm, I pull her arm back. With every breath she takes I feel her chest push against mine. “The scars don’t make you, Bridget.” I run my fingers up her arm, again thinking how soft they are. “Besides I’m going to God only knows where. Who knows what I’m going to look like when I get back.”

  She sucks in a breath and through everything she’s been through tonight she only starts to cry now. I wish I could take back my words as the tears roll over her cheeks.

  “How can you say that?” She rasps, a pained look on her face. “How can you stand there and tell me you might get hurt?” A sob stops her from talking and she drops her forehead to my chest. “You can’t get hurt,” she whispers against me. “You have to come back, Cole. If I can’t see you driving around town … if I won’t see your face again then life will be too dark … I can’t live like that. You have to live so I have something to live for. Promise me!”

  I lift her face to mine so I can see her eyes. I raced to school every day so I could see this face. I never thought I’d hold her, much less hear her ask me to live for her. Tonight is supposed to be the happiest night of my life, but it feels like I’m saying goodbye.

  “I promise, Bridget. I’ll do everythin’ in my power to always give you a reason to live for.” I hug her body to mine hoping I’ll be able to keep my promise to her.

  ~*~