Chapter 21 #3
His hand slid to my jaw, tilting my face slightly, deepening the kiss just enough to make my pulse spike even harder. I hated myself for it; for the way something hot and traitorous twisted in my core, responding despite everything I suspected.
This was wrong. All of it was wrong. But my body didn’t seem to care. As long as Rhys’s mouth was on mine, it was easy to forget where we were and what was happening. Like if I just leaned into it hard enough, I could pretend this was normal. That he was normal.
That I was normal.
That last thought made something cold cut straight through me, sharp enough to break the moment from the inside out.
Then the toilet flushed, and water rushed through the pipes a second later.
Rhys pulled back calmly, the faint curve of his mouth still there as he stepped away, giving me room to breathe. “It’s a shame we keep getting interrupted,” he said, lifting a brow.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “It is.”
The bathroom door swung open, and Jasmine reappeared, glancing between us. “Ready to go?”
“Yup,” I said. “Let’s go finish this raft.”
“Good luck with it,” Rhys said, lips still curved in a faint smile.
By six-thirty, the raft was finally finished.
It wasn’t pretty. A rough lash-up of planks, plastic drums, stripped doors from the storage sheds, all bound together with rope and whatever else we could salvage. But it floated when we tested it in the lake, and that was all that mattered.
Once we were sure it was ready, a few of the guys carried it across the grounds in a slow, uneven procession, boots crunching over gravel and dirt. The rest of us trailed behind as we made our way up to the river that carved through the northwestern side of the camp.
No one spoke much when we finally reached the riverbank, but the excitement and anticipation was palpable. This was it. Our first real shot at getting someone out without any possible interference from the killer.
Logan stepped forward as we eased the raft into the water, testing its balance with one foot before climbing on properly. It dipped under his weight, then steadied.
“You good?” Garrett called out.
“Yeah, I’ve got it.” Logan adjusted his stance slightly, gripping the oar. Then he glanced back at us, expression tight but determined. “I’ll follow the river down. Should hit the next town in a few hours if the current holds. Then I’ll go straight to the police.”
A ripple moved through the group. Nods. Murmured agreement. Only Noura seemed uncertain.
“Are you guys sure this is a good idea?” she asked, looking around the group. “Shouldn’t we wait until morning?”
Logan shook his head. “I just want to get this done now. The sooner we get someone out of this place, the better.”
“But it’ll be dark in a couple of hours. You could totally miss the town.”
He waved a hand. “It’s fine. I’ll be able to see lights once I get close. I won’t miss it.”
“Don’t fall off before you get there,” Jesse said, attempting a grin.
“Not planning to,” Logan shot back.
“Just… be careful,” Tamsin said.
Logan gave her a short nod. Then he pushed off from the bank, and the raft drifted out, caught quickly by the current. For a second, it wobbled, turning slightly sideways, but Logan quickly corrected it with the oar.
A few people started clapping. Someone let out a shaky cheer.
“Go, Logan!” Jasmine called out.
He lifted one hand briefly in acknowledgment, already focusing ahead as the river began to carry him further out.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Twenty.
He was maybe fifteen yards away from us when the raft jerked. He adjusted his footing as the front edge snagged slightly, the whole thing tilting at an odd angle.
“Probably just reeds,” Simon muttered.
“Yeah,” Garrett said. “Or a rock.”
Logan shifted, bracing himself as he leaned forward. “Hang on,” he shouted back to us. “I think I’ve caught on something.”
He crouched carefully, one hand gripping the edge of the raft as he reached down into the water with the other to feel around.
“What’s going on?” Jesse shouted to him.
“I don’t know. It’s weird,” Logan called back. “It’s like…” He paused, fingers moving beneath the surface. “There’s something stretched across here. Some kind of netting, maybe? And… huh, looks like there’s a rope too.”
He grabbed hold of the rope and gave it a testing tug.
Next to me, Jasmine craned her neck, frowning. “What the—”
The world split open before she could finish.
The explosion hit so fast it didn’t feel real at first. Just a blinding flash and a deafening crack that knocked the air out of my lungs.
Heat slammed into us an instant later.
The raft disappeared, and Logan went with it. One second he was there, crouched over the water, and the next, there was nothing but fire, smoke, and a violent surge of spray as the river swallowed the blast.
Someone screamed.
The sound echoed, distorted, half drowned out by the ringing in my ears. Bits of debris rained down around us, splashing into the water and clattering against the rocks on the edge of the riverbank.
Where the raft had been, there was only churning current and drifting fragments.
No body.
No sign of Logan at all.
He was just… gone.