by Nashoda Rose
“Let me see, Luke.”
“No,” Luke said abruptly while he scanned it quickly. “We need to leave.”
“I have another exam.”
“And you can take a make-up.” He passed the phone back to Dillon who was looking from me to Luke. I snatched his phone before he put it away and peered at the words.
And there it was in big bold letters. ‘TWIN SISTER OF TEAR ASUNDER’S, REAM DEDRICK, STRIPPED IN A CLUB RECENTLY SHUT DOWN FOR UNDERAGE PROSTITUTION.’
Oh, God.
It was as if a cold wave crashed into me and I was being dragged across the bottom, the sand scratching my skin as I struggled to breathe. But I wasn’t struggling. I froze and let the ocean of emotions take me and do what they wanted.
“Haven.” A hand latched onto my arm, but I barely noticed as I stared at the screen. “We need to leave. Now.” I wanted to throw up. How? Who knew that?
Oh, God, Ream was going to be dragged through the mud along with me. And Vincent . . . I knew he’d accepted my past, but to have it publicised was another matter. This was what I’d dreaded, what I’d tried to protect them from.
I had to find my numbness. I needed that back.
“Haven. Move it,” Luke ordered and it was then I noticed he was tugging on my arm. Dillon grabbed his phone from me.
Kevin reached for Luke but before he touched him Luke spun around. It took nothing more than a look and Kevin let him go. “Listen, ummm . . . well, you should know . . .”
“Spit it the fuck out before I rip it from your throat,” Luke shouted. A few students passing-by gasped and darted away.
“This hot chick was asking about Haven.”
Luke’s entire body stiffened and if he wasn’t already scary, he was now and Kevin paled. “What? When?”
“She came up to me coming out of sociology.” He looked at me. “Crisis was . . . well, that was when he came to class.” And kissed me outside of the class. “She waited until I left the building then asked me when our exam was scheduled for.” Probably because Roman had been with us.
“And you didn’t think that was odd?” Luke barely had control over his tone.
Kevin glanced at me. “Well, she said she was an old friend and had a surprise for you after the exam.”
“Jesus Christ. Stupid.” Luke grabbed my arm. “Next time some strange chick asks about a friend of yours, use your brains and not your cock.”
Luke ushered me out of the building and into what was this crazy girl’s surprise—a fray of reporters. “Fuck.” He moved his arm to go around my shoulders and pushed through the horde of people shoving microphones in my face while cameras flashed.
How did this happen? Who would do this? Why? Luke kept me close, his hand on my head, keeping it hidden from the camera as we ran to where he always left the car. Kite was there, and as soon as Luke pressed the unlock button, Kite opened the door and while Luke ran around to the front, Kite shielded me from the reporters as I jumped in then dove in after me.
“How the hell did they know where you were?” Luke shouted as he took off. I noticed he didn’t go too fast to draw attention to us, but he wasn’t following the speed limit either.
“Jolie sent all of us the article ten minutes ago. I tried calling, but your phones were off.”
“In her exam,” Luke stated.
“Crisis, Roman and Vic are meeting us at the condo.”
“No. Call them back. We head to the farm.”
Kite got on the phone and I sat looking out the window as Luke navigated traffic toward the highway.
I glanced up and met Luke’s eyes in the rear-view mirror; they were hard and unflinching.
“Tammy doesn’t fit any of this,” he said. “How did she find the story on you? No one knows you’re Ream’s sister except your friends and us.” And my friends didn’t know anything about the club. “Even if she did get that out of Kevin. Tammy may have seen you with Crisis and this is escalating, but the story about you stripping . . . that doesn’t add up. Not a chance she can know about that.”
Kite held out his phone to me. “Crisis.”
I took it and noticed my hand trembled. Shit.
“Baby? You okay?”
I loved hearing his voice. It was like being handed a warm wool blanket to curl up with in front of a crackling fire. “Oh, God, I’m sorry—” I was cut off by Luke’s shout.
“What the hell?” Luke slammed on the brakes and the tires squealed just before a loud bang as a large truck plowed into the side of the car, sending us spinning out of control.
“Haven!” I heard Crisis shout as I screamed, dropping the phone.
VIOLENTLY ROLLING AGAIN and again, my head whipped from side to side making the seatbelt cut into my shoulder and waist. All I heard was metal being crushed under the impact until finally the car stopped rolling.
I moaned, my hand going to my temple where I touched the warm blood. My body felt as if it had been hit with a baseball bat and my neck muscles were strained from the whiplash.
Kite. Luke.
I opened my eyes and it took a second before I was able to focus and saw Kite with his head hanging forward, blood trailing down his forehead over his silver piercing then into his eye.
“Kite,” I shouted.
His belt held him in place, but his eyes were closed. I heard a tire still spinning as it rumbled around and around and a loud swoosh like—
Water.
I looked out the window next to me. Water rushed by us, splashing the side windows that weren’t yet submerged.
Oh, my God. We were in the Don River. I couldn’t swim.
I didn’t know how deep it was, but water leaked in through the cracked rear window that was completely submerged. We were at an angle, the front of the car above water, but I didn’t know for how long.
I unsnapped my seatbelt after several tries then crawled through bent wreckage toward Kite.
Fuck. “Kite,” I yelled, grabbing his arms that hung limply over his head. “Kite, we have to get out of here.” Blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth and there was more on the side of his head.
“Oh, God, Kite. Kite.” I shook his shoulders. “Damn it.” I leveraged myself against the seat then kicked at the side window that was half-above water level. That was our way out. If I could get us on top of the car maybe we’d have a chance until help came.
I kicked and kicked at it, but it was like kicking a cement wall. Nothing. Shit. Shit.
There was no way I’d be able to open the doors with the water.
The only way was to pull Kite between the front seats, through the front crumpled windshield and onto the hood of the car. But if I kicked out the rest of the windshield, the spray of water might flood us. And even if I could get us all out, I couldn’t swim to shore. I couldn’t save any of us.
“Luke.” His airbag had deployed and was covering half of him. “Luke.” I crawled to him and put my hand on his throat. A pulse. I pushed the air bag out of the way and undid his seatbelt. His body slumped forward onto the steering wheel.
“Damn it, Luke. I need your help.” I smacked his face and it wasn’t gentle. “We have to get out. Wake up.” He moaned and I saw his eyes move behind his lids.
A low moan again, but this time, it was the car as it started to slide. The river was going to push us downstream. The car had to be stuck on something; that was why we weren’t completely submerged.
Every crackle and sound of metal crinkling made my heart jump, knowing that any second, we could all drown in a flooded car. I looked back at Kite. He was on his side on the backseat, a fountain of muddy water leaking at a fast rate through the back window onto his face. .
“No.” I scrambled back to him and pulled him forward between the seats so his head rested on my thighs. “Come on, damn it.” I put my arms beneath his shoulders and started pulling him to the front. The roof was caved in, making the process more difficult, but I slid back inch by inch, the water sloshing all around us.
I hear
d a loud cracking sound and water that had been splashing up onto the hood of the car now filtered in through the front windshield faster. I pulled harder on Kite. It wasn’t good enough.
Water hit my face as I managed to get his shoulders past the two front seats. I spit and shook my head, trying to see through the constant spray.
“What happ . . .” Luke’s eyes flicked open.
“Luke.” I was crouched on the seat with Kite’s upper body at an angle laying on my lap, my arm around his chest as I used my other hand to pull us closer to the front.
“Shit.” He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, water sprinkling from his wet hair. “Where the fuck?” I saw the moment all of it came flooding back to him and he reacted. He pushed the airbag out of the way, and did a quick assessment of the car and the situation.
“Car is perched on a rock. Only reason the front isn’t under water. The moment we let the water in, it will throw the weight off and we’re going under.”
I nodded, knowing what that meant. We had seconds.
“We get onto the hood of the car and jump clear of it. I got Kite. Don’t stop. You hear me. Swim to shore. We’ll be right behind you.”
I heard sirens in the distance, but it would take them too long to get down the ravine to reach us. Luke heard them, too, as he raised his head, and our eyes met. We both knew we didn’t have time to wait for a rescue. We got out ourselves, or died trying.
“I can’t swim.”
He paused a second then nodded. “Okay.” He looked down at himself then undid his belt and yanked it through the loops. “Hold onto this. You climb out first, I’ll follow then grab Kite. Don’t let go of the belt. Ready?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I had to be. We had no choice and I wasn’t dying in a filthy river. I wasn’t dying, period. None of us were.
I slipped out from under Kite and Luke wrapped the opposite end of the belt around his hand. “On three,” Luke said and braced his foot against the windshield. I glanced at Kite then lifted so my feet reached the front windshield.
Luke gave an abrupt nod. “Two. Three.”
We both kicked and the windshield crumpled. I felt the car’s weight shifting as the spray of water rushed in and began to pool at the back of the car.
I climbed out onto the hood, having to let go of the belt for a second as it wasn’t long enough. I turned around on my stomach and grabbed the belt again.
Luke climbed out then reached back inside for Kite. I did the same and we both pulled Kite onto the hood with us.
The car began to slide down the rock.
“Whatever you do, don’t let go of the belt.”
The car creaked and groaned, the sound a screeching as metal scraped rock. We crawled off the side of the car into the freezing cold water and the pressure of the river tried to pull me away from Luke and I started to sink.
Just before my head went beneath the surface, I saw the car slide the rest of the way off the rock then disappear beneath the surface.
I flailed my arms as I slipped into the darkness of the water. My grasp on the belt was slipping as I tried to keep from going under. My hand hit something and I let go of the belt to make a grab for it, thinking it was Luke’s shirt, but whatever it was sank with me.
I realized it wasn’t Luke, it was my bag. Fingers latched onto my arm and with a hard yank, I was pulled like a slingshot to the surface, the strap of my bag around the crook of my arm.
“I told you. Don’t let go of the fuckin’ belt,” Luke shouted. “Hold onto my neck.”
I did.
Then on his side and using one arm, he swam us to shore.
There were shouts and sirens, and people traversing down the ravine toward us. A fireman lifted me out and another went for Kite. Luke got out himself then made the few steps toward me. The fireman took his coat off and placed it over the top of my shoulders as I sat on the back of my heels shivering and breathing hard.
“Kite.” I tried to get up but the fireman put his hand on my shoulder.
“Miss. You need to stay still. Paramedics are on their way.”
Luke brushed my soaking wet hair back from my face and looked at the graze on my temple. After his gentle assessment, his eyes hardened. “Next time, I tell you to do something, you need to do it. No matter what.”
I met his eyes unflinching, but I couldn’t stop my bottom lip from quivering from the cold.
He stared at me for a minute, but it was so intense that it felt like two days. I didn’t falter as I stared back. Then I saw it . . . the softness and concern. He’d been worried when I let go of the belt. The river could’ve swept me away and I’d have drowned.
“Okay.”
He nodded then we both went to Kite, who was being lifted onto a stretcher.
As I stood shivering beside Luke, Kite unconscious with paramedics around him, I realized Crisis was right; we were family and we looked out for one another. I’d never had anyone since I was sixteen, but now I’d do anything for them.
And right then, I knew who I was.
I SAT IN the waiting room in a hospital gown, my bag at my feet, a bandage on my temple, and my head pounding as I waited for news about Kite. I hated it here. I hated hospitals, but I wasn’t scared. I was more concerned about Kite.
The ambulance had taken him from the scene of the crash and despite telling them I was fine, just cold, they insisted I go in an ambulance, too. And Luke refused to leave my side, so he went with me.
A nurse cleaned me up and once I was out of my wet clothes, the shivering stopped. Luke waited outside my door for me, but the second the nurse left, he came into my room and I was grateful for that. I didn’t ever want to be alone in a hospital again.
“Kite?”
“Don’t know anything yet. Taking him for an MRI. Still unconscious.”
I swallowed and nodded, but everything in me was shutting down. I felt the compartments slamming shut one by one. “Crisis? Did you tell him? My brother?”
“On their way.”
I stood. I hated these rooms. It was where Olaf had found me. I’d been all alone in a room just like this and so out of it, I could do nothing about it. Now I had Luke and still my gun. It may not have bullets, but it was my protection. “Can we stay in the waiting room?”
Luke walked to the door and opened it. “Will piss off the nurses.” He shrugged. “But yeah, fine with me.”
Two uniformed cops were in the waiting room. “Go sit. I need to talk to them.”
I didn’t sit; instead, I walked over to the window and parted the curtain. I was still reeling from what happened. The truck hit us out of nowhere. I didn’t even see it coming and, suddenly, everything was out of control.
I looked over at Luke who shook hands with the cops like they were friends. He talked to them while they took notes and a few times, they glanced over at me. I stared back out the window, the sun sinking fast behind the buildings.
Luke came up beside me and I glanced at him, still in soaking wet clothes, yet it was as if he didn’t even notice. They’d given him a towel when he refused to leave me and his hair was almost dry now. He’d taken off his jacket and was in a black dress shirt.
He didn’t look at me as he spoke. “You kept your shit together. I’m standing here because you did. Kite’s alive because you did.” He gave a nod. I knew it was his way of saying thank you.
“The accident. Was it an accident?”
“Don’t know that yet.”
“But you saw it.” I placed my hands on the window sill.
“Yeah, I saw it before it hit.” He tagged my arm. “Go sit. You look like crap.”
He wasn’t going to tell me and I knew he was right. I had to look like hell, because I felt like hell, but I couldn’t sit right now. Every breath hurt from where the seatbelt dug into my chest, but it was nothing compared to what Kite was going through.
Luke hesitated a second while he contemplated something, and my guess was whether to make me sit down. He decided against it
as he walked to the nurses’ station and used their phone.
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against the cool glass window. That was when I felt him. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know he was here. It was a magnetic feeling in my body knowing his eyes were on me.
My heart raced, blood rushed through my veins and my skin heated. I wanted to keep the cold all around me so it hurt less, but I couldn’t. Not with him.
I straightened and opened my tear-filled eyes.
Then I turned and he was a few feet away from me, that worried crease accentuated between his eyes. “Jesus, babe.” His voice caught on the word babe as he reached for me, then wrapped his heat and strength around me. He kissed the top of my head, lips lingering longer than usual as if he needed to reinforce that I was there. That he was holding me.
And damn it, the ice melted and I sagged against him, letting the tears fall.
It was several minutes before he pulled back, his eyes taking in the bandage on my temple and my hospital gown. “Fuck.” He wiped the tears away with the pad of his thumb. “Never been so scared in my life.”
“I’m doing that a lot to you.”
He huffed and pulled me in close again so my cheek was pressed against his chest. “I heard you scream . . . fuck. We didn’t know what happened. Where you were . . . we stopped the car and kept calling all your cells until Luke finally called Roman from the hospital.”
“Kite . . . he hit his head pretty badly. The doctor says there’s swelling.”
“Yeah. I heard.” He cupped my chin then leaned forward and kissed me. Lowering his voice, he said, “I nearly lost you.” His voice broke and he held me tighter. It hurt like hell, but I didn’t complain. Not as long as it was his arms around me.
Ream, Kat, Emily and Logan arrived ten minutes later. My brother strode in like a furious bull, but the second he saw me, it was like all the tension disintegrated and his shoulders sagged as he rushed toward me. It was the first time he wasn’t cautious about touching me as he dragged me from Crisis and pulled me into a hug.
“Fuck. I got the call from Luke . . . if anything happened to you again . . .” His voice trailed off like he couldn’t even say the words.