“Chantel!” he called more frantic than before.
This time, she turned her head toward him just as he reached her. She smiled, and he felt the weight lift from his heart as she moved to raise herself. That was when she faltered slightly.
The expression on her face shifted, turning to one of confusion. “Phillipe?” she asked.
Moving quickly, he made it to her side and reached out to grip her shoulder, trying to help her get upright. He watched asshe seemed to be pulling on her foot, straining to move it. She attempted to place her other foot on the bottom to stand up, but she failed. The water sloshed around her. As her foot was swept up, she was thrown on her back again.
What the hell is going on?He felt his heart start to pound in time with the speed of the now rapidly falling rain.
“Phillipe?” she called again.
This time, he could tell she was starting to panic.
Not knowing what to do, he moved around to where her head was resting above the water and reached out to grip it with his hands.
“I’m right here,” he tried to reassure her as he looked around them. He was feeling anything but calm.
“My foot… The boulder. I don’t understand what happened.”
He looked down where her arms were lying beside her. One leg was floating, and the other was now fully submerged in the moving water.
“Stuck,” he told her, not believing the words coming out of his mouth. “You’re stuck.”
Feeling the rain hitting him on the back of his neck, he was shocked when she opened her mouth and smiled.
“It’s raining.”
He knew that she didn’t understand yet. She hadn’t put it all together the way he had, but as she lay there, letting the rain hit her face, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything.
“Can you float here for a minute, Beauty? I want to see if I can get your leg free,” he whispered, hoping he sounded a hell of a lot calmer than he felt.
“Yes,” she responded. Almost as though it was an afterthought, she added, “I can’t touch the bottom anymore.”
He tried to control his shaking voice. “I know. Let me check out your leg, okay?”
“Okay.”
Moving to where her leg was being pulled under the water, he told himself it was as simple as getting down there and getting her free. As he looked back to where her head lay half in the water with the rain falling down around her, he closed his eyes and sent up a prayer, hoping that he would be able to fix whatever he found beneath the surface.
When he opened his eyes, he took a deep breath and dove under the water. With the clouds covering the sun and the rain hitting the surface, seeing what he was looking for was a difficult fucking task. Finally, he zeroed in on the problem.
Her foot and dress were wedged between not one but two boulders under the surface.Fuck. This is not fucking good. Swimming over to it, he grabbed the material and yanked it hard, feeling her also try to pull at it from above. The fucker wouldn’t budge.Jesus.
Feeling his breath leaving him, he pushed himself from the bottom back up to the surface. When his head broke free, he took a gasping gulp of air and watched as she craned her head toward him.
“Still stuck?” she asked softly.
Moving quickly up to the side of her head, he tried to calm his breathing as the rain beat down on them. He stroked her hair, pushing the hopeless words from his mouth. “Yes, you’re still stuck.”
“It’s raining harder, Phillipe.”
This time, he knew that she’d realized what was going on.
“Yeah, it fucking is.” His voice cracked on the admission. He took a moment and reminded himself that panicking would not do either of them any good. “I’m going to try again in just a second. We’ll get you free. Don’t worry,” he said, trying to convince her as well as himself.
Chantel nodded, but he could tell she was starting to wonder.
“The water… It’s getting faster.”
