Chapter 43 Callum
FORTY-THREE
Callum
I wanted to speed down the road. Let this primal sense of fear drive me. Zandra was in danger, and my heart knew it.
But I forced myself to drive slowly instead, scanning the dark landscape for any sign of Winnie’s car.
My body was on overdrive, though. Desperate for any hint of what had happened. Anything that would lead me to Zandra.
I was almost to the bridge over the creek when I saw it. A glint of reflectors as my headlights hit them. A car was pulled over to the side of the road, far enough onto the dirt shoulder that I hadn’t seen it before.
I pulled in behind it, and it took me only a moment to identify the make and model. That was Winnie’s car.
Leaving my truck still running and the headlights on, I leaped out and ran to the front of the car. Nobody was inside. No sign of damage. Below me, the rushing of the creek created a constant low hum of noise.
Then a scream rose to cut through the sound of the water. My gaze caught on movement below.
Someone was down there in the creek.
My boots slipped and skidded on damp grass as I hurried down the slope. The moonlit scene solidified, though I still didn’t understand what I was seeing. It looked like Winnie was down there in the water, struggling with something. Someone.
Terror seized me as I realized Zandra was down there too, and an even deeper sense of horror swept over me. Winnie was holding her under the surface while Zandra’s arms flailed, her face briefly appearing before it went under again.
Icy water soaked my boots and jeans as I splashed into the current. “Winnie,” I shouted. “Stop!” She didn’t even turn as I barreled toward her, about to knock her aside.
But before I could, Zandra’s gasping form surged out of the water again and shoved Winnie back.
She was completely drenched. The moonlight made her bared teeth look stark white.
Winnie stumbled a few steps, falling waist-deep into the rushing creek.
As she struggled to stand, Zandra grabbed for her.
Her fist pulled back, the scene so vivid as I watched, it could’ve been in slow motion.
Zandra’s fist connected with Winnie’s cheek. The blond woman spun and toppled. Her head bounced against an exposed rock. She slumped there, lower half in the water and the rest of her limp against the rocks.
I scooped Zandra’s shaking form into my arms and carried her to the bank. “C-C-Callum?” Her teeth were chattering.
“It’s me. I’ve got you.”
We reached the grass, and I sat down with her, holding her in my lap.
Her arms squeezed around my shoulders, and she put her head against my neck.
Her whole body was quaking, and she was breathing so hard I worried she would hyperventilate.
I had to warm her up. My hands rubbed at her wet skin. Pushed her hair back from her face.
“I need to go get a blanket for you. I’ve still got the one in my truck.”
“No.” She clung to me. “Winnie.”
I couldn’t begin to fathom what had occurred between Winnie and Zandra to lead to what I saw in the creek, but right now, explanations didn’t matter. “You can tell me everything later.”
“No.” She managed to sit up. “Help her. Can’t let her die. P-please.”
I stared into Zandra’s dark eyes for another split second. Then I nodded. “You have to wait here.”
My brain got firing enough to make me pull my phone from my pocket. Lucky it hadn’t gotten wet, but I’d hardly been thinking about that.
I handed the phone to her. “Call 9-1-1 if you can. If not, don’t worry. I’m going to get her.”
My instincts screamed at me to stay with Zandra and make sure she was okay, but instead I found myself wading back into the water, fighting the pull of the current to get to Winnie.
She was exactly where she’d fallen a couple of minutes ago.
Rolling her over, I got a grip on her and picked her up.
She was out cold, and a gash of red crossed the bridge of her nose, dripping blood over her damp face.
Once I had her on the bank, I laid Winnie out and checked her vitals. “She’s breathing.”
Zandra crawled over to us. “Police coming. Winnie—”
“She’ll live.” That was all the effort I could spend on her at the moment.
I had to get my girl dry and warm and back in my arms, where she belonged.
Zandra was still trembling as I carried her up the slope to the truck.
In the backseat, I grabbed the blanket and started rubbing it over her, trying to dry her the best I could.
The water had been icy, but we were still far from winter.
I wasn’t too worried about her core temperature.
About everything else though? Fuck yes, I was worried.
Especially when tears streaked down Zandra’s face like a dam had just broken.
“She pushed Jessa. She was there. Winnie killed her.”
“Winnie killed Jessa?”
Zandra nodded, those tears continuing to fall. I wrapped her in my embrace. The high-pitched wail of sirens was getting closer.
“I…figured it out. She attacked me. Tried to…”
So Zandra had somehow discovered the truth. And Winnie had tried to kill her for it. I kissed her damp hair above the cocoon of the blanket. “But you wanted me to make sure she was out of the water.”
“Couldn’t let her die. Not like this.”
Some might’ve called it poetic justice if Winnie had died in the same way Jessa had all those years ago. Though I still couldn’t make any sense of why Winnie had done what she did.
But what I could understand was my Sunflower. My grumpy, scowly Zandra couldn’t bear to see anyone else, even her worst enemy, die like her best friend had.
“More hot cocoa?” I lifted the thermos.
“How about more rum?”
I grinned. “Happy to oblige.” Zandra held out her mug, and I poured more liquor into it, then did the same to mine.
It had been a long-ass twenty-four hours, but we were finally relaxing, just us. Even had a small fire going in a portable gas fire pit that Connor had picked up from somewhere and stuck in our backyard.
No field of sunflowers this time, because being home was what Zandra needed. And it certainly suited me just fine.
After the police had rolled up last night, Winnie and Zandra had both been taken to the hospital.
Thankfully, Zandra was completely fine. No more than a few scratches.
Last I heard, Winnie was being treated for a concussion and had been placed under arrest. At the very least, for the assault on Zandra.
We’d barely slept last night, between interviews with the police, then sitting up with our friends and family, who rallied around us just like the night of the fire.
We’d ended up over at Ashford and Emma’s place, drinking coffee and just being together.
Zandra’s parents had not appreciated the change of venue, since we’d gathered at their place last time.
But they were just going to have to get used to it.
The Alvarezes and the O’Neals were going to be one big, happy family if I had anything to say about it.
If Zandra had wanted to go back to her parents’ house again, I would’ve been on board, of course. But things had been getting a little suffocating there.
She and I had wound up falling asleep in Ashford’s guestroom, sleeping half the day, then waking up to chocolate chip pancakes, Maisie’s giggling, and Stella’s antics. I’d been so fucking relieved to see Zandra smile while she played a silly board game with my niece.
And now, we were finally back home. Darius and Connor had been seeing to Chloe, who’d raced over to rub against Zandra’s legs the moment we got back. We had both cleaned up, changed into our comfiest clothes—Zandra in my SRFD sweatshirt—and then came out here to the patio.
The smooth flames of the fire shimmered, and for a little while, Zandra and I were quiet, just sipping spiked cocoa and cuddling beneath the wool blanket. We’d pulled two lawn chairs right up against one another.
“Oh, hey,” I said softly. “I didn’t have the chance to tell you yet. Connor got himself a new girlfriend, apparently, and he’s moving out.”
Z turned her pretty face toward me, though her head was still resting on the spot where my shoulder met my bicep. “How do you feel about that?”
I rubbed strands of her silky hair between my fingers.
“Pretty good. If he’s happy, I’m happy. There was a time when I didn’t want anything about my life to change, but I’m embracing it now.
He didn’t have to be all mysterious about it, though.
Keeping her a secret, like he was afraid we’d scare her off. ”
“I guess sometimes it’s hard to trust even the people we’re closest to.” Zandra’s dark eyes got a faraway look. And I knew she was thinking about Jessa and her secrets.
I’d heard all of it by now. How Jessa had been keeping the secret about Winnie cheating on Leo.
How Winnie had sneaked away from the bonfire party and gone to the creek to confront her boyfriend’s older sister.
She’d confessed to pushing Jessa, then hiding and watching as Jessa died in Zandra’s arms.
I’d kept things from my family too. Keeping a secret could feel like holding a live grenade with the pin pulled. Like if you made a false move and let it go, it would destroy everything.
Yet in reality, the opposite was true.
“You know you can talk to me, right?” I asked. “You can tell me anything, and I have no intention of keeping anything from you. Not anymore.”
“I know.” But a shudder ran through her.
I held her closer beneath the blanket. Even with all the police interviews and updating our loved ones, Z and I hadn’t had the chance until now to talk openly about last night.
Not just the bare facts, but the ugly details of how it all felt.
The stuff that could keep a person up at night.
The flames guttered and swayed.