He spotted the car. It was sinking fast. His powerful strokes cut through the water, and he reached the vehicle in what felt like seconds.
Sky’s eyes were closed, and her head was back.
He pulled his pocketknife and sliced through her seat belt. The second it was off, he locked his arm around her chest, maneuvered her out of the car, and kicked toward the surface.
As soon as his head broke through, he sucked in a lungful of air and turned Sky onto her back, then he swam her to the water’s edge. It felt like it took too long, when in reality it was only a few seconds.
When he laid her on the bank, his skin chilled. She was too pale.
He placed the heel of his hand on the lower half of her breastbone, right in the center of her chest, and his other hand on top, interlocking his fingers. He started compressions.
“Come on, Sky,” he growled. “Open your eyes for me.”
He needed to see the pretty blues staring back at him. He wanted her to wake up and yell at him. Scream. Fuck,anything.
When she didn’t wake after thirty compressions, he tilted her head back. Once he’d opened her mouth, he sealed his lips over hers, pinched her nose, and blew a breath into her.
Her chest rose and she started to cough, water spluttering out of her mouth.
Yes!
Relief hit him so hard, he felt fucking weak with it. Quickly, he rolled her onto her side into a recovery position and rubbed her back.
“Easy, Peaches.”
Coughs continued to rack her body. When they finally eased, she looked up at him. “Becket?”
“Yeah, I’m here, honey. Does anything hurt?” He rubbed her arms. Fuck, she was cold. He needed to get her to an ambulance, fast.
“Everything,” she gasped, breaths shuddering.
His teeth ground together. “I’m going to pick you up, okay? Get you to help.”
“O-okay.”
Her teeth started to chatter, her skin not regaining any of its color.
Gently, he slid an arm behind her back and the other under her knees.
“You j-jumped in after me?” she whispered.
He began jogging back up to the road. “Of course I jumped in after you. You would have died otherwise.” Saying the words out loud made acid fill his mouth.
“Butyoucould have died.”
“I was a Navy SEAL. I’ve done a million missions all more dangerous than this, honey.”
At her silence, he looked down to see her frowning at him.
“You still should have—”
“Donotsay I should have left you, Peaches. I’m already barely hanging on to my calm.”
Calm? He didn’t have any fucking calm.
There was a small pause. “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I’ll always jump in after you.”
