“I won’t,” Trent said. “Call someone to be there with you, April.”
I thought my life had been changed in a good way, but if they didn’t pull Beau out of that water alive, they might as well bury me with him. After what I’d seen, I wouldn’t ever be the same again.
I had to call Natalie. She was three hours away, but she needed to get here. My shaking fingers hovered over her name, knowing within seconds her life was going to be changed as well.
“Hey, April! How are you?” Her cheerful voice was my undoing, and I began sobbing loudly again, not able to make any coherent words come from my mouth. “April? What’s wrong? What happened? April!”
The paramedic took the phone from me and began talking to Natalie. “I’m here with April. My name is Lilly St. John. I’m a paramedic.” She paused, and I heard Natalie’s loud voice. “I’m sorry, ma’am, I can’t tell you any medical information over the phone.”
Lilly handed me back the phone. “She wants you.”
“Nat, I need you. Please hurry.”
“What the hell happened, April?” I could hear her calling to the other members of Jaded Regret. There was shuffling and muffled voices.
“He . . . jumped, Nat.” My throat clogged.
“He jumped? Jumped from what?”
I held my chest, my heart feeling like it was ripping from its walls. “The bridge.”
“He jumped off a bridge?”
“I-I don’t know what made him do it. We had a great day. He has to survive, Nat. I can’t . . .”
“I know. We’re on our way. You need to let me know when they find him. Okay? We need you to keep us up to date.” A sob ripped from her throat.
Lilly’s sympathetic eyes found mine. “They’re the best in the state. They’ll find him.”
“They have to,” I whispered.
“Is he your boyfriend?”
Visions of Beau sliding inside me, his large brown eyes watching me as we took each other over the edge filled my mind. He had to be okay. I didn’t care what I had to do to make things better for him. Whatever he had to go through, I’d be there with him. I couldn’t lose him. I nodded, and she wrapped her arm around my shoulders. I leaned into her and sobbed.
It seemed like hours, but was probably only minutes, when I heard shouts from the pier. I stood up, my legs carrying me as fast as I could go to where they were. Before I could register what was happening, Lilly and her partner flew past me with the gurney and equipment. They’d found him?
By the time I reached them, they were pulling Beau’s lifeless body out of the water. His eyes were closed like he was in a peaceful slumber. Water poured out of his clothes as they rolled him onto the concrete.
Lilly took over, her partner throwing things out of their medical bag to prepare to shock him. She listened and felt for a pulse. I watched as they cut his clothes off him and dried his chest with a towel. “No pulse or breathing sounds. Starting compressions and CPR.”
I watched, frozen, as she pressed her small hands over his heart, counting as she tried to pump life back into him. She then leaned down and tipped his chin back, using a bag to blow air into his lungs. She leaned down and listened, shaking her head as she began compressions again. My eyes scanned his lifeless body—the way his eyes were closed like the night I’d watched him sleep. His hair had droplets of water clinging to it. His beautiful body was still and quiet. His fingers weren’t playing the drums or holding my hand.
Her partner, needing no instruction, took out a small defibrillator and began charging it up. Moving in sync without any words, Lilly took the paddles and shocked Beau’s heart with them. I watched his body jolt as they shocked him and then settled back onto the concrete, still unmoving.
“Beau.” I dropped to my knees again, my body convulsing with sobs. I wanted to press the warmth of my body against his to wake him up. “Come on, Beau. For me. Please wake up.”
Lilly glanced over at me, her eyes sad as she had her partner adjust the strength of the machine. I knew what her was meant to convey. If he didn’t respond with this, there wasn’t much hope for him.
She shocked him again, the sight of his body jumping with the strength of the machine making me weak in the knees. I’d never been much of a prayer, but I found myself begging and pleading to a higher power for the second time in as many minutes to save Beau’s life. I heard a strangling sound and then watched, immobile, as they turned Beau’s body to the side. Water poured out of his mouth, and he continued to sputter for a moment before his body stilled again. He was alive.