Page 62 of Summer Ride

“You’ll pay,” he said, when he rolled on top of her, gaining control once more.

Blood dripped from the cuts on his forehead, eye, nose, and lips. It fell down on her, mixing with the rain drops, falling into her mouth until she gagged and spat at him.

“You can’t have me,” she said firmly, trying to buck him off her while he smiled down at her.

“This time, no one will keep us apart.” He laughed.

She was pinned under his weight, plastered against the cement floor of the pool deck. Rain fell over them both as he hovered above her. He leaned close to her face.

“Tag.” He smiled and she noticed that one of his teeth was now missing. “You’re—”

One minute Axel was above her in the darkness, the next minute, two bodies landed in the deep end of the pool a couple feet away from where she lay.

She sat up and screamed.

“Carter!” she cried when she spotted two dark blobs at the bottom of the pool.

It was too dark and too difficult to see because the rain was turning the surface of the water hazy.

“Carter!” she screamed again, watching the two figures, who appeared to be locked onto one another in a fight.

Moments passed before, finally, one of the figures headed towards the surface, towards her.

She braced, ready for another fight, and then relaxed when Carter pulled himself out of the water and rushed over to her. He held her tight.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She felt his entire body shaking and closed her eyes as she nodded.

“Is he?” she said, looking at the dark blob at the bottom of the pool.

Carter looked over and waited just a moment as the blob sank to the bottom. Then he picked her up and carried her back out of the rain, under the house and deck. “Stay put. I’m going to call the police.” He sat her in a chair.

She held her wrist and watched the surface of the pool while Carter went back to the car to retrieve his cell phone.

Her eyes were glued to the raindrops hitting the water. From where she sat on a bench, she couldn’t see the dark figure at the bottom. The hypnotic sound of water hitting water almost had her in a daze.

She held her breath, afraid that at any moment Axel would surface and they’d have to fight once more for their lives.

Instead, Carter returned to her side and waited in silent shock until they both heard the sirens and saw the flashing lights of the police.

When the two cruisers parked behind their car, only then did she relax and fully comprehend that Axel was finally gone for good.

She sagged against Carter, holding her right wrist firmly against her chest.

“She’s pregnant,” Carter said as the first officer approached them.

The police took one look at her and called to see how far the ambulance was.

Her left hand went over her belly, and she worried instantly that the baby had been injured.

“You’re okay,” he said, kneeling in front of her “We’re okay.”

While they waited for the ambulance, Carter quickly explained what had happened.

She watched as one of the officers walked over and shone his flashlight into the deep end of the pool. When asked to, Carter disappeared upstairs and suddenly the floodlights came on, lighting up the entire backyard. She purposely avoided looking at the pool as two officers used the pool nets to fish Axel’s body out of the water.

Even though everything was numb, she knew that her right wrist was broken and held it very still until the ambulance came.