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Archer is lifted out of the water and splayed on the bottom of the boat.
“I can—”
“Move away!” the guard barks at me before I can offer to do CPR.
I know how!
I scramble to the side on all fours to give room to the guard, barely noticing the other one helping Kai, who falls into the boat, breathing heavily, then crawls toward Archer.
Archer’s body is etched with cuts and bruises, so much worse than when he was at Carnage during that fight with Kai.
And blood. There’s more blood seeping out of the wound below his ribs, the cloth I tied gone.
The guard starts chest compressions, then leans in and gives him mouth-to-mouth.
Archer chokes and spits out water.
“Archer!” I crawl closer to him, lift his head and help him to half-sit up as the guard blurts something into the radio, the engine roars, and we shoot out of the cave into the open sea.
I kneel before Archer. “You’re alright. You’ll be fine. Just stay with me,” I murmur. “Shirt!” I shout to the guys. “Someone give me a shirt!”
Kai pulls his over his head and tosses it to me, wet.
“A dry one!” I bark.
A security guy strips his, and I tear it with my teeth and make a bandage around Archer’s torso, then use the rest to tuck under it and create more pressure on the wound, pressing on it with my hand.
“You are doing great, baby. So great. Stay with me, yeah?”
We ride like we are in a powerboat race. The boat zips around the east and south sides of Zion.
“Archer?” I cup his face with my free hand.
“Yes, kitten?”
He responds!
“I love you, baby.”
But he’s quiet, his eyes drooping.
“Baby, please, talk to me.”
He doesn’t.
“Archer, just listen to my voice and stay with me.”
He’s not responding.
“Please, baby. Don’t do this to me. I need you.”
His eyes are closed, and I don’t know if that’s because he’s hurting or lost consciousness. A lump in my throat makes it hard to talk, but I lean over and stroke his face as if he can hear.
“There are so many things I never told you, baby,” I murmur.
The guards and Kai can probably hear me, but I don’t care. Everything suddenly seems alive—the roaring of the boat engine, the rain slashing at my face, the waves crashing at the hull, the bumps as we cut the waves, the wind ripping my hair across my face—everything but my beautiful man.
There’s nothing I can do but tell Archer everything I’ve always wanted to but was too afraid.
