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“Take your time. Don’t overexert yourself,” Colt instructed.
Too late.My body was already feeling weak. The only reason we were staying above water was the strength in my legs.
I got us to the edge of the pool and a small bit of relief hit me. It was short-lived, though. We didn’t have time to waste.
Using the pool deck, I pulled us to the shallow end. Once Colt was able to stand in the water, I got to work helping him remove the tape around his eyes. I tried to be gentle, but he still hissed when the tape pulled on his hair.
I let out a whimper at the sight of his aquamarine eyes. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against mine. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”
No. We aren’t.
I gave him and myself three seconds to comfort each other before pulling away. “We need to get out of here.”
I had to go underwater and use my teeth to rip the tape from around his ankles. The last thing bound were his wrists. They were handcuffed. “I don’t have the keys,” I said in a panic.
Colt shifted in the water, moving his cuffed hands under his butt and legs until he had his hands in front of him. “This is fine for now. Let’s get out of here,” he said, nodding toward the closest pool ladder.
I climbed out first and turned to help him. Water fell from us and our soaked clothes, drenching the pool deck.
Colt grabbed me just above my elbow, his eyes wide as they locked on to where the sheriff had shot me. “You’re hurt.”
I finally looked at the wound. Blood was spilling down my arm from a long, narrow gash across my upper arm. “It’s not something we can worry about right now.” I grabbed one of his wrists above where he was cuffed and pulled on him as I walked quickly toward the door.
“I heard gunshots when I was in the water. Did he shoot you?” Colt asked as he kept up with me.
I let go of him to open the door into the main room of the gym. “I was stupid and hesitated pulling the trigger. I barely had time to get out of the way.” I was lucky to be alive. If I hadn’t jumped out of the way when I had, the shot would have killed me.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, babe. Shooting someone isn’t something you should not hesitate doing.”
I didn’t respond to that. This wasn’t the time or place to argue.
As we walked into the main room of the gym, I froze after a few steps.
“What’s the matter?” Colt whispered behind me.
I brought my gun out in front of me before continuing on. “The music is off.”
The front desk was where the music was controlled, and I doubted the sheriff had decided to turn it off before he left.
I let go of Colt’s wrist so I could hold my gun with two hands. “Stay behind me.”
He did so quietly as we walked through the gym.
“What are you guys doing here?” a voice asked when we were passing the front desk, heading for the exit.
Colt and I spun around. Gun pointed at the source, I was surprised to see that it was Derek coming up behind us. He was out of his Desert Stone uniform, dressed in jeans and a forest-green T-shirt that made the red in his hair stand out. His eyes widened and he froze next to the front desk. He put his hands up slowly. “What the hell?”
“What are you doing here?” Colt asked.
“I was driving home. I saw that all the lights were on and a truck was speeding out of the parking lot. Keelan’s Jeep is out front. So I stopped by to see if everything was all right,” he explained quickly.
It had probably been the sheriff speeding away in the truck. I lowered my gun. “You shouldn’t have come here.”
The moment I said that, someone stepped out from the hall that led to the offices behind the front desk.
My heart stopped beating. My lungs stopped working. Time even seemed to pause as my eyes drifted to the left and met coal depths that had haunted my nightmares and reality for years. He was wearing a black Desert Stone hoodie with the hood over his head. The corner of his pale mouth lifted in a terrifying smirk as he pulled a chef’s knife—the same knife he had killed my family with—from the pouch pocket of the hoodie.
“No!” I screamed at the same time Colt yelled, “Derek! Watch out!”
