Chapter 40 - Reid
My teeth are actually clacking together in an irregular rhythm from the cold water sucking away any warmth the bright sun might give me.
I stay as close to Julian as I can manage, but it’s a struggle with the messed up currents that are flowing between these buildings.
We’ve managed to go what I think is five blocks and I’m flagging badly from the cold.
Julian is constantly looking back over his shoulder to make sure I’m with him and calling out encouragement for me to stay close.
I keep scanning the water, looking for anything we might be able to use as a float, but all I’ve seen is trash and a few bodies floating face down that we try to steer around.
My mind drifts to Luna as I swim. I think about her more than what’s probably healthy, but I can’t help it. If soulmates were a real thing, I would have two, Jules and Luna.
Most people see only what Julian wants them to.
An arrogant, cynical, wealthy playboy with a hardened shell.
They don’t see how he cares for me, how he always has since we were boys.
His infinite patience with my anxiety and self-esteem issues.
How he’s always checking in with me, boosting me up, shielding me from the casual cruelness my parents raised me with.
I’m not strong like my sister, Kara. She built an icy wall around herself from a young age to stand between her and them, only opening it for a select few who have earned their place in her trust. If it wasn’t for her and Jules, I probably wouldn’t have recovered when I tried to take my own life in my early teens just to escape from the people who brought me into this world.
Luna… Luna is love. Her heart is so big and open.
Even at sixteen, when we first met, Atlas’s little sister pulled me straight into it.
It was like she could see the broken boy I was and made sure every interaction with me was filled with soft kindness and care.
I was in awe of her before, had the biggest crush on her, but in the last two years, that crush has turned into something so much deeper and stronger.
Luna makes me want to fight, to live. She has no idea how I…
we feel about her. The thought of her being all alone during this gives me the strength to keep swimming, keep fighting to get back to her. I won’t stop until I know she’s safe.
Something brushes against my leg, breaking me from my thoughts, and I jerk to the side in the water.
That move has me crashing against something hard under the surface of the water and a sharp pain slashes through my thigh.
I cry out and reach down my leg. Julian spins around in the water and lunges back toward me.
I open my mouth to call out that I’m alright but before I can say anything, his eyes widen and he’s yanked underwater.
The pain in my leg forgotten, I dig hard into the water with sure strokes to reach where he went under, take a deep breath, and dive.
My eyes sting from the saltwater as I spin in all directions under the water looking for him, but he’s gone.
My heart is racing when I push back to the surface, take another gasp of air, and dive again.
I’ll find him even if it takes my last breath.