Sloane
I’m cold. So cold. But I hold onto Griff and let myself break. I’m so out of it, so numb, I’m only dimly aware of him helping me sit up. But when he tries to get me to let go of him, I can’t.
“N-no, c-can’t…” I stammer.
“Sloane, I need to get this tape off your wrists. And check those cuts on your neck. Please, sweetheart.”
His voice sounds so strange. Like he can barely get the words out, and that startles me enough to let him guide my hands over his head. He unwinds the tape, and I wince as he reaches the last layer. My wrists are red and raw underneath, and the skin burns in stark contrast to the rest of my body.
Tugging at his tie with a grunt, he rips it from around his neck and presses it to my throat. “You’re still bleeding, but I don’t think he hit anything vital.” His voice cracks on his last word.
Hearing this strong, protective man close to losing it helps me focus, but the second I do, I feeleverything. The pain in my ribs from where Dimitri kicked me. My swollen cheek, split lip, bruised hands, and my neck. Oh, God. My neck burns.
Sirens. I hear sirens. “Marina…” I whisper. Even talking hurts. Dimitri kept the flat of the knife pressed so hard to my windpipe, I could barely breathe, and now…it’s like someone punched me in the throat.
“Search and rescue are already out on the lake,” Griff says, still trying to stop the bleeding from the deepest cut by my collarbone. “They’ll find her, Sloane. I promise.”
“She…she needs an ambulance.” My entire body trembles, the panic attack hitting me so hard and fast, I can’t warn Griff before I’m wheezing and shoving at him, desperate to dislodge this boulder that feels like it just dropped onto the center of my chest.
“Sloane! Stay with me,” he murmurs softly, his hands framing my cheeks and forcing me to look into his eyes. “Ninety-one. Ninety. Eighty-nine. Eighty-eight. Count with me, baby.”
“Eigh-eighty-s-seven,” I manage, but can’t go any further. Eighty-six is stuck, playing on a loop in my head, and as desperate as I am to force the words from my lips, I can’t.
A strong arm wraps around my back, and Griff kisses me. He’s so warm. So solid andreal. Soalive. I’m alive. Dimitri…isn’t.
“Come back now,” he whispers against my mouth before kissing me again. This time, I part for him, letting the bold strokes of his tongue ground me, even though my split lip sends electric shocks of pain all the way to my chin. I don’t care. Pain means I’m still here. Still breathing. With the man I love kissing me.
Winding my arms around his waist, I hold on tight, losing myself to his warmth. We survived. He saved me, and we survived.
When he finally pulls back to look at me, I find so much love in his gaze, it brings fresh tears to my eyes.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” he whispers.
“I’m sorry.” Through my tears, I try to explain, but I don’t even know if he can understand me as emotional as I am. “I couldn’t tell you. The camera…he was listening. I didn’t have any time to think. Marina…he showed me Marina. Threatened to kill her if I didn’t… Told me to get outside…”
“Shh, sweetheart.” Griff touches a finger to my lips. “I saw the video. Ripper pulled it from your phone. I understand. You did everything right. Turning on my glasses, staying alive.Everything.”
Footsteps thud down the dock, and I tense, grabbing onto him with a whimper.
“It’s the police.” He pulls me into his lap and holds me close as six men burst into the boathouse.
“Griffin Hargrove?” one of them asks while another checks Anton for a pulse.
“This one’s dead,” the second officer says, and I release a shuddering breath.
“Yes. I’m Griff. Sloane needs medical attention. Who has contact with Search and Rescue?” He’s all business now, though he hasn’t moved or let go of me.
“I’ll call in now. I’m Officer Keller.” The first man into the boathouse kneels next to us. “You are quite fortunate, Mr. Hargrove. Dax Holloway vouched for you. My older brother worked with him a time or two in Afghanistan. Otherwise…we would have to take you in for this…mess.”
“I’m the luckiest man in the world,” he says, reaching up to tuck one of my wet curls behind my ear. “Because I’m alive, but more importantly, so is the woman I love.”
My heart belongs this man holding me, and if there weren’t so many people around, if I weren’t still so worried about Marina, I’d tell him exactly that and so much more. But for now, all I can do is rest my head on his shoulder and whisper, “I love you.”
* * *
Twelve hours later,a doctor emerges from behind a set of swinging doors. “Ms. Sanders? Mr. Hargrove?”
“Here,” I call, my voice hoarse. We’ve been at the hospital all night waiting for news on my best friend. When Search and Rescue found her, she was unconscious, and they lost her heartbeat twice in the ambulance.
