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I cringed the minute my words hit my ears.
Of course she wasn’t fuckin’ alright!
Kelly didn’t respond, only stared with wild eyes. Blue-green eyes, like the ocean. Though the ocean wasn’t splattered in red.
“I’m Lee Bridgewater,” I tried, taking a tentative step toward her. “Vinny sent us to find you.”
She flinched when I said Vinny, the only recognition she gave. She didn’t move as I took a step closer, and I reached down, lowering her skirt to cover her, only to find a crisscross of bloody knife wounds across her stomach and chest.
“Fuckin’ hell.” I pulled my hand back, intent to find something—a blanket or a coat or a motherfuckin’ shirt—to cover her with, only to be stopped by her hands wrapping around my wrist.
“Don’t leave me.” It was just a whisper, but it fuckin’ broke my heart. She scrambled for me as I moved for her, scooping her up against my chest, hands fumbling to cover her with the torn remnants of her shirt.
“Hold on, now. I gotcha,” I murmured as I turned, ducking through the narrow doorway, back into the room with all the others. Warren had cut their binds, and at least half of them were cuddled together for warmth. “Stay with them. We’ll get this boat turned around and have paramedics there when you get back to shore.”
“And her?” he asked, head dipping toward the shaking girl in my arms.
“Bringin’ her back on the helo.” I shook my head slightly, and he dragged a hand down his face before he looked away.
With a nod, I left him there. The two of us hardly fit up the stairwell, but I wasn’t about to let her go. Not with the way she clung to me. Not with the way she shook in my arms.
Fuck.
I should have stopped this. Should have been there to prevent that bastard from touching her. If only the cameras hadn’t failed. If only the chopper had flown faster. If only…
I peered down at her when I reached the top of the stairs. Her blood-splattered face pressed into my vest. Her wild, red curls whipping around in the wind.
The wounds seeping blood into the fabric of her shirt.
“I gotcha,” I whispered against her head as I closed my eyes and said a silent apology for yet another failure. “You’ll be safe with me.”
She tightened her grip around my neck, and I pulled her shivering body closer. With one last fortifying breath, I ducked out of the doorway, squeezing the two of us through the tight space and into the open air.
The cold hit us immediately, and I would have pulled her closer if I could have. Thaylor had the chopper near the stern, and I raced that way, slowing only as I saw my men gathered near the back.
Saunders was on his knees next to a soaked Jen, pumping Vinny’s chest as Jen gave him mouth to mouth.
“The fuck happened?” I yelled, voice rising over the thud, thud, thud of the rotors.
“Parker took Jen over the side of the boat,” Saunders said as he continued chest compressions, “and Vin jumped in after her.”
“Out of the helo?” I’d told him to stay put. Told him to stay in his seat, that we’d take care of this. Of course he wouldn’t listen. And now he was fighting for his life. “Crazy mother-fucker.”
In my arms, Kelly let out a whimper that was nearly covered by the noise overhead. I shook myself out of my anger once more, then turned to my men.
“Dennis, Johns, join Maxwell on the bridge. We’re taking these three back to the hospital ASAP. Bring the boat back, we’ll have police waiting when you get there.” I turned toward the chopper only to find Warren rushing up the stairs.
Did no one know how to do what I said?
At that moment, Vinny gasped and sputtered. I pushed past the temptation to make sure he was okay, choosing instead to get Kelly aboard the chopper. Johns hopped up in front of me, taking care to hoist Kelly out of my arms and into the safety of the cabin. He placed her in a seat and buckled her in. I watched from below as he wrapped thick blankets around her. Everything hurt; my chest, my head, my fuckin’ heart.
I did this.
Because I didn’t do enough.
“Coming through!” Johns helped them load Vinny’s stretcher into the chopper, then pulled Jen in and wrapped her up, securing her in a seat next to Kelly. Warren helped me up, then jumped off, giving me a quick salute before he raced back to the bow.
The chopper pulled away, and I couldn’t watch the boat or the horizon or my friend and his girlfriend.
