Page 148 of Sinners Reunion

I didn’t have time to get a good breath before falling in, and my lungs burn already. I blow out bubbles to release carbon dioxide. Though I may be drowning, I’m determined to do it as slowly as possible.

Just when I’m certain I won’t be saved, a powerful arm cinches around my waist and hauls me upward. I stay limp in King’s hold as his muscled legs kick us toward the surface. The moment we break into sunlight, I gulp air and reach for the platform.

“Hold tight, my beauty,” King says as he pushes me up and out of the water.

I land with a splat, my chest heaving. Driving rain pelts my skin as I drag my body to the edge of the dock and search for King. He’s reached out for Blayne and snagged him by the shirt. He swims toward the platform and holds it for support as he grips the drowned rat and refuses to release him.

“You will never hurt her again.” King pushes him beneath the water. “You are not my son.”

Blayne claws his way to the surface again. King adjusts his powerful arm on the dock, giving himself more leverage. His other hand lashes out and grips Blayne’s hair.

“My children were raised better than that.”

With gritted teeth and a furrowed brow, he beats Blayne’s head against the dock until he’s dazed. Blayne barely clings to the edge of the platform—and his consciousness—but fighting like this isn’t wise. Not when King still has to save Ice Pick.

The situation is far more desperate now, and I sob when I see how far he’s floated from us. He’s tired. He can’t keep this up much longer, but neither can King. He’s a powerful man, but he’s just saved one incompetent swimmer, then fought his alleged son in the water. Now he’s expected to drag a very large man back to this dock?

I reach forward and hold his forearm. It’s wrong of me to want him to stay, but I don’t see how he’ll survive the swim. He’s exhausted.

He pushes himself out of the water enough to kiss me. I close my eyes as his lips press to mine. It’s so brief, and I need more, and there’s no time. I hate that I waited so long.

“Josie, you’ll have to fend off Blayne.” He swipes rain from his face, and I only hope he confuses my tears for more of the same. “Protect this dock. I have to go for Ice Pick. I’ll be back for you.”

I don’t see how that’s possible.

But I don’t see how anyone could stop him from trying, so I release his arm.

Bennett and Aven appear in my periphery as King pushes off the dock and heads toward the place where a man once swam. I no longer see any sign of Ice Pick. I only see two very angry men headed King’s way, and one of them is holding an axe.

I turn back toward King to warn him, but I don’t see him anymore. He must be underwater, searching for Ice Pick. He doesn’t even know what’s coming. Very slowly, but still.

While my attention is on that mess, I’ve stopped paying attention to Blayne. When his hand wraps around my wrist and pulls me into the cold depths again, I’m still too winded and weak to stop him. I can only do my best to grab the ledge as I go over.

Gripping the boards, I kick toward Blayne, and my foot connects, but it’s like fighting in a nightmare. Instead of feeling like I’m underwater, I actually am. There isn’t enough force there. Even if I had my full strength behind me, the water prevents me from doing any damage.

Blayne goes hand over hand, pulling himself closer to me. Blood drips from a gash in his forehead and falls into his eyes.

“He can’t save everyone. He’ll kill himself trying,” Blayne says. “I’ve already won. My brothers will take him down if this lake doesn’t drown him first. Now I just have to kill you.”

We fight over the ledge, but Blayne is so much stronger than me, even in his weakened state. My grip slips from the platform.

I fucking hate water. I’m never going near so much as a swimming pool after this.

I kick my legs as hard as I can, and I’m amazed that I stay put. I’m not rising, but I’m not going down, either. Then my head manages to break the surface, and I get a gulp of air. I’ve flailed too far from the platform to grab it, so I just keep kicking. Blayne sees me and starts toward me, but he’s too tired. He pushes back for the dock and holds on again.

Fucking pussy. He can’t even come and kill me like a real man.

A loud buzzing noise reaches my ears, but I can’t look around to see where it’s coming from. I’m going under again.

My legs kick, but I’m too tired. Desperate, my hand reaches for the surface. A dark shadow passes over me, and fingertips find mine. I’m hauled out of the water before I cave and suck in a breath of liquid.

Gasping and lungs burning like hellfire, I’m heaved upward and onto the back of a jet ski. Maudlin Rose smiles as Grim yells back at me.

“Hold on tight, little crab!”

“Hold on to what, exactly?”

They’re both very naked.