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Didn’t question my actions.
Didn’t even know how the hell the next two minutes went.
I was on some sort of weird autopilot that I couldn’t quite comprehend.
One second I was watching her spiral, faster and faster toward the ground, and the next I was cutting myself free of the parachute and barreling after her.
The next however many seconds—hell, minutes—were a blur.
Somehow, some way, I caught her up in my arms.
Despite her adamant denials that the parachute wouldn’t hold our combined weight, I held onto her anyway.
I held onto her so tightly that I was probably hurting her—even if she couldn’t tell.
I yanked the parachute, knowing we were way too close to the fucking ground for it to do anything for us, and held on.
I’ll never forget the next moments.
“I’m so sorry for everything, Quinn,” I heard Shayne sob despite the howling wind that was rushing past us. “You were the best thing that ever happened to me, and I wasted so many years without you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Tears were leaking out of my eyes, too.
It had to be the worst feeling in the world, watching the ground come up at me faster and faster.
A roll of haybales at the end of the runway meant to catch any stray planes caught my eye, and I steered us as best as I could toward them. Luckily there were a lot.
When impact was imminent, I curled her deeper into my body, and last words that came out of my mouth before we hit the ground were, “Just an hour is enough when it comes to you, Shayne. I love you.”
I didn’t know if she heard it or not.
Hell, I didn’t even know if I’d actually gotten the words out.
What I did know was that hitting the ground hurt.
It hurt bad.
And the way I twisted so that I would take most of the impact, in a last-ditch effort to save her in some way, felt an awful lot like I wasn’t going to come back from it.
When I came to, the first thing I saw was the chopper blades.
“Don’t fuckin’ move them, goddammit!” I heard Hollis yell.
I moved myself, twisting so that I was more fully on my back, and groaned.
My whole body… hurt.
There was no other word for it.
One huge, throbbing hurt.
But I was alive.
“Holy fuck,” I heard one of my brothers say. “They’re both alive.”
“I’m alive,” Shayne said. “But I can’t breathe.”
Shock had me twisting and all but sitting up as I stared at Shayne.
