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“You can’t pull me up how you’re positioned, and I can’t hang on much longer.” I looked over my shoulder, catching sight of the water visible because of the show lights. Lights that were now trained directly on us.
“I’ve got you. Trust me,” Jack said, his tone somehow as steady as his heartbeat had been earlier.
But my heart? Right now, it was going to thump straight from my chest.
“I can’t . . . hold. I’m sorry.”
“Oliver,” Jack gritted out. “Let go of me,” he warned.
“Why?” Oliver snapped out.
Jack looked into my eyes and said, “Because she’s about to fall, and I’m going in after her.”
CHAPTER TEN
JACK
The second Charley let go, I dove in headfirst. The water didn’t exactly cushion the fall. No, it still hurt like a motherfucker upon impact, but it was deep enough to prevent dying, so there was that.
I swam to the top and broke the surface and quickly scanned every direction, searching for Charley. There was a slight current, but thankfully, these weren’t river rapids.
The second I saw her head pop up above the water, a swell of relief hit me. The water was too murky to see through, and the rain made it even worse. Had she not resurfaced, I’d have been forced to feel my way around in the dark. And I didn’t even want to think about what else could be lurking down there.
“You good?” I swam over to her.
She turned toward my voice as I caught up with her and hooked my arm around her waist. I didn’t want her out of my reach in case something tried to bite us.
The rain was still pounding down over us, intensifying the current and we bobbed in the water for a moment as I used my free arm to keep us from going downriver or back under again. She shifted so her body was practically against me, and I may have tugged her a little tighter to me, just for safety’s sake.
“Feel like I’ve been spanked all over,” she said with a laugh, lifting her chin to catch fresh rain on her lips as the crew above shined the spotlight down over us.
And fuck if it didn’t make me smile, remembering she’d told me her love for standing in the rain back in Cape Town.
“Are you okay?” I heard Oliver yell.
“We’re fine,” I called back, finding Charley’s eyes again. Thankfully there was enough light to see her features, including the ghost of the smile still there. “Let’s get you out of here before we have company.”
“Right.” When the hem of her dress floated to the surface around her, she quickly pushed it down with her free hand.
Yeah, and that was a good reminder that this woman had no panties on. Yep, we needed to get out of there. Stat.
“Stephen said we had to make it across the river and back,” she said.
Did she really give a damn about points? Or was it because her sister did? And did I even care?
Of course I did. I’d have done whatever she wanted, or needed, to do. And there was also the fact I had to stay in the competition not only to find the bastard taking women but prevent Charley or anyone else from being his next victim.
The fact that motherfucker (yeah, I know, Mom, could be plural . . . those motherfuckers), could be watching us now, in this position, boiled my blood.
I focused back on the immediate task at hand. Getting her to safety.
We were only about ten feet away from the other side of the river now, and I wasn’t comfortable with staying in the water any longer than necessary. It wasn’t just a matter of getting out, there was also a rock wall we’d need to scale if we wanted to get to the bridge to cross back over. Although, the wall looked safe enough with numerous ledges on it.
“Let’s get you out of the water and figure out next steps,” I told her, urging her to get a move on.
I breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the edge unscathed, but then her startled scream had me hoisting her up out of the water as fast as possible. I had no clue what made her yelp, and I had no intention of taking the time to find out.
I quickly joined her. “We need more light,” I hollered up to the crew on the other side of the river. “Think something bit her.”
