Chapter 47
Chapter Forty-Seven
Josie
King’s fists clench harder. I can’t read his face from this distance, but there’s no way he believes this bullshit.
For starters, they look nothing alike. Then there’s the whole fact that he acts nothing like the rest of the Carter siblings.
They’re amazing people, and Blayne sucks fat, hairy balls.
I really hope King doesn’t fall for this shit.
Splashing sounds reach me from far away, and I look toward the shore.
Aven and Bennett are charging into the water, pushing the boat in front of them.
Jim rushes into the water to stop them, suit and all.
He said he wouldn’t stand in the way. King told me that.
But he’s standing. He’s trying to save his brother.
Tears fill my eyes, but before they can fall, thunder pounds in the distance, and the first drops of rain patter onto my cheeks.
I said I’d never lose him in the rain again.
“Looks like we’re running out of time, and you don’t look convinced,” Blayne bellows at King, “so I’ll make it quick.
My mother was in a car accident a few years ago.
Afterward, she told anyone who would listen that her memory had been erased and that I was the result of a government experiment.
They locked her up, and she died of complications from the car accident six months later. ”
I look up at him. “How the fuck is that King’s fault?”
Blayne strikes me, and I rock sideways and fall into the water. My arms grip the dock at the last second, and I hold myself above the waterline. Large, wet splinters dig into my fingertips, but I don’t let go. I can’t.
“Hang on, Josie,” Ice Pick says. He leans forward to grip my hands, but Blayne gives him a kick and sends him into the water.
“No!” I scream.
My hands nearly release the dock to reach for him, but I can’t help him. I want to, but I can’t. I’d just drag both of us down even faster.
“King, please save him!” I scream, but he can’t hear me over the sound of the wind picking up.
I glance behind me, but I don’t see him on the floating platform anymore. I’m too low in the water to see over the platform, so I don’t know if Aven and Bennett are on their way to finish him off or if Jim’s still holding them at bay.
Ice Pick surfaces to my right. He treads water the best he can with an anchor trying to pull him down. There must be an underwater current, because something is guiding him away from the dock instead of bringing him closer. He bobs underwater again.
Searing pain shoots through my hands, and I realize Blayne is stomping on my fingers as I turn my attention back to him. He grossly underestimates my determination to not only live but to outlive his stupid ass.
My poor fingers are no match for those gnarly toes, though, and I have to let go. Heaven help any woman who gets under the covers with those bear claws. I’m pretty sure I almost lost a finger.
My legs kick beneath me, and I reach for the dock, but I’m already sinking. It’s futile to fight against what’s happening. I try to make my arms and legs do what I’ve seen others do, but I get nowhere. No closer to the surface. No closer to air.
Another splash breaks the water to my left, and through the sparkling sunlight, I make out Blayne bobbing back to the surface as he fights the anchor around his leg. The water is too murky to see Ice Pick. Or any sort of salvation.
I didn’t have time to get a good breath before falling in, and my lungs burn already. I blow out bubbles to release carbon dioxide. Though I may be drowning, I’m determined to do it as slowly as possible.
Just when I’m certain I won’t be saved, a powerful arm cinches around my waist and hauls me upward. I stay limp in King’s hold as his muscled legs kick us toward the surface. The moment we break into sunlight, I gulp air and reach for the platform.
“Hold tight, my beauty,” King says as he pushes me up and out of the water.
I land with a splat, my chest heaving. Driving rain pelts my skin as I drag my body to the edge of the dock and search for King. He’s reached out for Blayne and snagged him by the shirt. He swims toward the platform and holds it for support as he grips the drowned rat and refuses to release him.
“You will never hurt her again.” King pushes him beneath the water. “You are not my son.”
Blayne claws his way to the surface again. King adjusts his powerful arm on the dock, giving himself more leverage. His other hand lashes out and grips Blayne’s hair.
“My children were raised better than that.”
With gritted teeth and a furrowed brow, he beats Blayne’s head against the dock until he’s dazed. Blayne barely clings to the edge of the platform—and his consciousness—but fighting like this isn’t wise. Not when King still has to save Ice Pick.
The situation is far more desperate now, and I sob when I see how far he’s floated from us.
He’s tired. He can’t keep this up much longer, but neither can King.
He’s a powerful man, but he’s just saved one incompetent swimmer, then fought his alleged son in the water.
Now he’s expected to drag a very large man back to this dock?
I reach forward and hold his forearm. It’s wrong of me to want him to stay, but I don’t see how he’ll survive the swim. He’s exhausted.
He pushes himself out of the water enough to kiss me. I close my eyes as his lips press to mine. It’s so brief, and I need more, and there’s no time. I hate that I waited so long.
“Josie, you’ll have to fend off Blayne.” He swipes rain from his face, and I only hope he confuses my tears for more of the same. “Protect this dock. I have to go for Ice Pick. I’ll be back for you.”
I don’t see how that’s possible.
But I don’t see how anyone could stop him from trying, so I release his arm.
Bennett and Aven appear in my periphery as King pushes off the dock and heads toward the place where a man once swam. I no longer see any sign of Ice Pick. I only see two very angry men headed King’s way, and one of them is holding an axe.
I turn back toward King to warn him, but I don’t see him anymore. He must be underwater, searching for Ice Pick. He doesn’t even know what’s coming. Very slowly, but still.
While my attention is on that mess, I’ve stopped paying attention to Blayne. When his hand wraps around my wrist and pulls me into the cold depths again, I’m still too winded and weak to stop him. I can only do my best to grab the ledge as I go over.
Gripping the boards, I kick toward Blayne, and my foot connects, but it’s like fighting in a nightmare. Instead of feeling like I’m underwater, I actually am. There isn’t enough force there. Even if I had my full strength behind me, the water prevents me from doing any damage.
Blayne goes hand over hand, pulling himself closer to me. Blood drips from a gash in his forehead and falls into his eyes.
“He can’t save everyone. He’ll kill himself trying,” Blayne says. “I’ve already won. My brothers will take him down if this lake doesn’t drown him first. Now I just have to kill you.”
We fight over the ledge, but Blayne is so much stronger than me, even in his weakened state. My grip slips from the platform.
I fucking hate water. I’m never going near so much as a swimming pool after this.
I kick my legs as hard as I can, and I’m amazed that I stay put.
I’m not rising, but I’m not going down, either.
Then my head manages to break the surface, and I get a gulp of air.
I’ve flailed too far from the platform to grab it, so I just keep kicking.
Blayne sees me and starts toward me, but he’s too tired.
He pushes back for the dock and holds on again.
Fucking pussy. He can’t even come and kill me like a real man.
A loud buzzing noise reaches my ears, but I can’t look around to see where it’s coming from. I’m going under again.
My legs kick, but I’m too tired. Desperate, my hand reaches for the surface. A dark shadow passes over me, and fingertips find mine. I’m hauled out of the water before I cave and suck in a breath of liquid.
Gasping and lungs burning like hellfire, I’m heaved upward and onto the back of a jet ski. Maudlin Rose smiles as Grim yells back at me.
“Hold on tight, little crab!”
“Hold on to what, exactly?”
They’re both very naked.
Grim rolls his eyes. “Her breasts, naturally. Their relaxed nature makes them excellent handholds.”
Oh, fuck it.
I lean forward and hold on to Rose. He’s right. Her sagging breasts are very easy to grip, even if it’s painfully uncomfortable for me on a mental level. Rose pats my hands, letting me know this is okay, and then she leans forward and holds on to Grim. He starts the engine.
“No!” Blayne screams. “She can’t live!”
He makes a desperate dive for the jet ski, and Grim plows over the top of his head as we take off. I don’t look behind me to see if he’s dead. I only peer at the fading chaos as I search for King. Bennett and Aven have reached the last spot I saw him, but he isn’t at the surface.
Neither is Ice Pick.
“Go back!” I scream. “We have to help him! They’ll kill him if we don’t!”
Grim shakes his head. “I am returning you to the house. Jim’s orders.”
I peer behind me a final time. Aven leans over the edge of the boat, his axe raised in the air. He’s shrinking as we speed away, but the motion is unmistakable.
Rose must sense my urge to let go and accept defeat. She releases one arm from Grim and bands her arm around her chest, holding my hands in place. Too weak to fight anymore, I collapse against her back and close my eyes.