The water below was coming up to meet me, and I couldn’t breathe.
White water crashed around me as I hit the river again, plunging as deep as I could go, breathing in a mouthful of it before I could stop myself.
Oh no.
13
Morgan
One second,I was watching Devin make a gut-wrenching dive into the river.
The next, Chris and Alex were both bolting for him, yelling his name, scrambling up the incline at speeds I hadn’t expected from either of them, Marta following a pace behind, even Brad looking on with what I was generously willing to call concern.
I was on my feet by the time I’d taken it all in, running after them, pushing undergrowth out of the way to get to them, stumbling and tripping my way through it. Branches scratched at me and I nearly lost my footing twice in the fifty-yard distance, but I kept going.
Aiden would never forgive me if Devin got himself killed on my watch.Iwould never have forgiven me.
But what was I going todo?
Alex was already in the water, being braced by Chris, who was clinging to a precarious-looking tree branch.
My heart leapt into my throat as I saw Devin’s ridiculous orange float vest bobbing in the water.
Without Devin in it.
No. No no no.
I rushed over to the edge of the river, but stopped dead the moment the water splashed against my feet.
I couldn’t swim.Definitelynot in water like that.
I was helpless.Useless.
All I could do was watch as Alex grabbed Devin by his shirt and hauled him out of the water, Devin soaked through, coughing and spluttering, butalive.
He was okay. Or at least, if notokay, still breathing. Still breathing was a good starting point.
As soon as they were clear of the river, Alex steadying Devin on the bank, I swooped in.
I didn’t care who was pretending what right now, all I cared about was wrapping Devin up in my arms and never letting him go.
He gasped as I picked him up, cuddling him like a sleepy toddler close to my chest, the sheer panic fading back to a dull throb of worry as I felt his chest rising and falling against me, his fingers curling into my sweater.
“You’re okay,” I promised, adjusting my grip and heading back down to where Julie and I had been talking about the various properties of crystals and which flowers were about to bloom where.
“You’re okay,” I repeated as Devin’s head flopped against my shoulder, deeper breaths calming my nerves.
Devin was silent as I set him down on the fallen log I’d been occupying moments ago, and I figured out why a second later as he gasped, and then heaved up a lungful of river water, coughing and spluttering as he spat on the ground in front of him.
Julie put a hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles and whispering nonsense as Devin sobbed, then groaned, then flopped forward with his head between his knees.
Marta dragged his kayak up and dumped it a few feet away, and Brad, who’d apparently decided to give a shit, dropped his float vest into it.
I crouched in front of him, wondering what the hell I coulddo.
He’d nearly drowned. He’d nearly drowned, and I’d beenhelpless.
“You getting back in, or what?” Brad asked.
