The Long Game (Seattle Sentinels #1)

Chapter Four

Nine Years Before—Lake House

Tucker

"I’m going to check on Luca. I’m freaking starving!" Lexi says as she swims to the dock and begins to climb the submerged metal staircase attached to it.

I nod, still floating quietly nearby with a Coors in one hand.

My vision catches on the sight of Lexi Benson emerging out of the water in her white string bikini and glistening soft curves. It happens in slow motion as my breath catches and my fingers itch to find out where those tan lines end.

I slam my eyes shut, trying to shake the image of what Lexi might look like naked in my hands.

She’s Luca Benson’s baby sister and a girl I've known most of my life. She’s off limits.

A loud thud comes from the dock. My eyes glance quickly back towards Lexi.

My heart slams in my chest as I watch her fall limp into the deep green water.

"Lexi!" I yell out to her, throwing my beer bottle and dive for her.

There’s blood on the stairs where she hit. I start panicking, and my mind shuts off except for the need to get to her.

My muscles are screaming as I fight through the water, each second feeling like an eternity.

Don't let it be too late.

The thought pounds through my head with each desperate stroke, until I reach her, pulling her limp body into my arms, her back to my front, tilting her head up and out of the water.

"Luca! Luca!" I yell as I attempt to hold her to me—stabilizing her as best I can.

My lungs burned but I can't slow down—not with Lexi's life on the line.

Breathe, Tucker.

I coach myself as I work to get my footing on the stairs.

"Shit!" I curse out loud.

The stairs are slippery and I’m frantic to get her out of the water. I damn near slip as I struggle to get us both out of the water with the staircase handle covered in sunblock and suntan oils. No wonder she slipped.

I manage us both out of the water and lay her on her back. She looks so pale against the damp wood of the dock. Panic sets in, making it harder for my mind to make all the right moves.

"Lexi?" I call out again, but she still hasn’t said a word.

"Luca!" I yell for him again.

My fingers glide over her face as I survey the damage. The gash is more noticeable now.

Stitches. She’s going to need stitches.

"Lexi! Lexi! Say something!" quickly scanning for any other injury.

I tap her face a couple of times but she’s still unresponsive.

Check for a pulse.

My fingers move across the softness of her neck, and I press two fingers against her main artery.

There’s a pulse. Thank God!

"What the fuck? What happened?!" Luca yells faintly from the lake house deck. I hear him running towards us when I don’t answer quickly enough.

I glance over my shoulder and yell at him. "Get the keys! Get the fucking keys, Luca!" I demand.

Luca turns back around like we’re running drills and speeds back to the house.

"Can you hear me, Lex?"

She doesn’t respond. A tinge of blue is starting to color her perfect full pink lips. Lips I now wished I had kissed before this.

Would I ever get the chance now?

I can’t think like that.

"Lexi, wake up! Don’t do this to me," I plead.

A sob-like sound breaks through my voice with the last word. It doesn’t sound like me.

Reign it in, Tucker. You have to make the right decisions to save her life.

I position myself to start CPR.

As I lean in to begin compressions, she starts coughing. I flip her to her side. She’s not spitting up very much water. It means I got to her fast enough.

She’s going to be okay—she has to be okay.

I can't live with any other outcome.

I pick up Lexi and cradle her again, trying to settle her back into the safety of my chest. The sensation of having her head against my heart sends lightning bolts through my body. A feeling I’ve never felt before from a single innocent touch. And certainly not from Luca’s sixteen-year-old sister. But things have changed at a rapid pace over the last week or two of this lake house trip.

I’ve noticed Lexi in a way I never had before. Or maybe in a way I never allowed myself since the Benson's are like family to me.

I see Luca sprinting full speed towards us as I head straight for the driveway from the beach.

"Pull the truck around!" I yell at him. He starts running for my truck.

"You’re going to be okay, Lexi. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. Just stay with me. I can’t lose you now."

She moans into my shoulder and her eyes flicker open for a brief second and then close.

"My head," she groans.

Relief settles when I hear her voice. It’s the first indicator that maybe we’re going to walk away from this.

As a football player, I’ve seen enough concussions to know what I need to do—keep her talking.

Luca speeds up to the closest spot he can get to us on the gravel driveway. He screeches to a stop, throwing my white four-seater Tacoma in park. He jumps out of the truck, rushing to help me open the door.

"What happened out there?" he says in a rush, his eyes wide with fear.

"She was getting out. She hit her head on the stairs," I tell him quickly as I slide into the back seat.

He helps me in, making a quick sweep on Lexi himself. As soon as he has us stowed in the back, he slams the door and launches himself back into the driver side.

The truck's speedometer creeps up past 90 as Luca races to the hospital, tires squealing against asphalt. I cradled Lexi's head, watching her chest rise and fall with each shallow breath, terrified of what the future holds if we don't get her to a doctor soon enough. Blood soaks through a clean practice jersey I had in the back of my truck as I press the fabric against her wound.

Every bump in the road sends a jolt of panic through me—what if the movement makes her injury worse? What if we don't make it in time? The fifteen-minute drive to the hospital felt like hours as I whisper desperate pleas for her to hold on. Luca and I have gotten ourselves in some scrapes over the years. But this one? This is so much worse.

"Lex, what hurts?" I ask.

She moans softly in pain as if she's not completely awake.

"Lexi, talk to me," I instruct. "You have to keep talking to me. You can’t fall asleep. I know you’re tired, but you have to stay awake, okay?" I plead with her.

"My head hurts." She winces as she finally answers me.

She tries to reach for the gash but my hand and the jersey block her connection.

"Just your head?" I ask in an attempt to keep the conversation going.

"Is she awake?" Luca asks, straining to see Lexi through the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, she’s awake — says her head hurts."

"Lexi, stay awake. You can’t fall asleep, sis."

I can hear the concern in his voice. He's worried though he's trying to keep it together since he needs to get us there in one piece.

"We’re almost there, Lex. Just a little longer," he says.

"Stay with me. Open your eyes, baby. Look at me," I beg her.

I just called her baby. Fuck. The worst of it…it felt natural. I’ve never called a girl "baby" in my whole life.

"I’m so tired…" she trails off.

I force her to keep talking. After what feels like hours, we pull up to the entrance of the ER. Luca jumps out of the truck, with a towel in his hand, as I kick the door on my side. He is coming to the other side to grab her out, but I can’t let her go. I pull her body into my arms and he tosses a towel over her, and then helps guide me as we make our way out of the car. Lexi is more alert now, but her words are slightly slurred.

A nurse comes out with a wheelchair, but I wave the nurse off. She’s staying in my arms until the minute the doctor tells me I can’t hold her — not a second before.

Luca gives me a warning look about dismissing the nurse but I'm already halfway to the ER with Luca and the nurse trying to keep up with me.

"She hit her head on the dock at our lake house," Luca informs the nurse behind me.

"We need to get her on a gurney and secure her neck," the nurse instructs as soon as we get through the automatic sliding glass doors of the Emergency Room.

The nurse attempts to direct me to the gurney waiting against the entry wall. I ignore her again, heading straight towards triage. I bet I know the back of the ER better than she does.

"Tucker," Luca's warning tone tells me that I'm running out of his patients.

But I won’t be stopped, not until I have her in an exam room and there’s a doctor hovering over her.

"She needs help, and she needs it now," is all I can say in response.

The nurse runs to keep up with my urgent long strides as she tries to look at Lexi’s head wound.

"I’m so cold," Lexi whispers against my chest.

Luca hears her. "It’s ok, Lex. We’re going to warm you up soon."

The ER is freezing in comparison to the 97-degree weather outside. Being fresh out of the lake, our wet bathing suits are turning to ice.

The towel Luca laid over us isn't enough to keep her warm, but it's as best as we can manage in her tiny bikini. She begins to shiver in my arms so I pull her chest tight against me to cover her with my body. Her nipples are hard as they press into my chest but I’m too wound up to appreciate it.

My arms tightened instinctively around her. The sterile hospital with its white walls brings me little relief, but I knew she needs help beyond what I can give her. The thought makes me feel helpless, useless, as medical staff swarms around us like buzzing bees. Their voices echo in my ears but I can barely make out the words over the pounding of my own heart.

Get her help!

Protect her!

I have one priority right now.

They take us straight back to a room. The nurse instructs me to sit her on the exam table. I’m reluctant but Luca is going to step in soon if I keep defying their help.

I gently place her down as the nurse immediately steps in front of me, quickly assessing if Lexi's head injury and her neck.

Another nurse comes in and wraps a warmed blanket around Lexi. It brings me a little more ease to see color coming back to her lips. The doctor walks in soon after.

A charge nurse comes in with a computer on wheels.

"Who’s family here?" she asks.

We both raise our hands.

Luca raises an eyebrow at me and looks over at her. "I’m her brother," he informs her.

"Ok, I need to ask you a few questions to get her in the system."

She starts asking Luca about information for Lexi’s chart. All the usual stuff; name, date of birth. Everything I know, too, but I’m not technically family.

They start asking questions about what happened. Luca refers to me for questioning. I give them the full play by play, or at least how I remember it. I try hard to keep my emotions in check and not seem like a lovesick puppy, who just watched his whole heart drop into the lake, unconscious.

The doctor finishes his assessment and turns to us.

"I don’t think we’re looking at a concussion. Just a bad hit to the head. She will need stitches — quite a few of them. She was lucky you were close by when she fell. This could have ended differently." He looks at me and then Luca. "We’re going to take her back for a CT scan, just to be sure before we release her. It might be a bit. Why don’t you boys go down to the cafeteria…call your parents. Let them know what’s going on." He puts a hand on Luca’s shoulder. "We’ll have someone come find you there once we’ve run our tests."

"Like fucking hell we’re going to leave her alone after what just happened," I protest and gesture to Lexi. My adrenaline is still pumping through my body, and I could punch him in the face for even suggesting we leave.

Lexi stares at me in confusion after my outburst but she’s still a little out of it. I’m not sure how much she’s processing.

Luca grabs my arm, yanking me back.

"Thanks, Doc. We’ll wait in the cafeteria." He looks over at Lexi. "We’ll just be downstairs, Lex, if you need us. I’m going to call mom."

Luca puts his hand on my chest and pushes me backwards out of the exam room.

Lexi and I lock eyes on one another as Lucas pushes me out of the door.

Leaving her doesn’t feel right. I want to be with her. But I’ve been overruled.

Luca has two inches of height on me, but size-wise, he wouldn’t be able to move me unless I agreed to move. I don’t fight him. I’m also not ready to turn my back on her. Not until I have to. They start helping her into the wheelchair as we exit the room, and Luca reaches down to grab the towel that used to be wrapped around Lexi and I when we first entered the hospital.

God how I wish she were still wrapped around me so I could hear her breathing — feel her heart beating against mine. She was safe in my arms; she was warm in my arms. This hospital is too fucking cold. I clench my fists.

Weeks after the accident on the dock, nightmares about Lexi started entering my subconscious.

Every time it’s the same dream. I don’t get to Lexi fast enough. She inhales too much water. I pull her onto the dock and lay her flat on her back while I attempt CPR and compressions, but CPR fails. In my dream, Luca isn’t there to help me — no one is.

After I finally give up lifesaving attempts, it’s just her lifeless body and me, silent on the dock.

It ends the same way each time; I can’t change the outcome. God knows I’ve tried like hell to change the ending. I pull her back into my arms, holding her tight against my chest as I kiss her head where it connected with the staircase.

I pull us back to the edge of the dock while she’s cradled protectively in my arms. Even though in my dream she’s already dead, she whispers something to me. I nod and say something back, but in the dream I never hear what we say to each other.

After our words are exchanged, I sink back into the lake with her in my arms, and neither of us surface again.

The scar along her hairline and my nightmares are the only thing left of that horrifying day.

I’ve never told Luca or Lexi about the nightmares. I’ve never told anyone about them.