Storm Watch(44)

She hadn’t yet held her new niece or nephew.

And she’d never let herself say I love you to a man. She’d never wanted to, but now, while being unceremoniously tossed around without will or way, she realized how sad that was, that she’d never opened her heart, not even with the one person to tempt her to do so.

Jason.

God, she’d been an annoying pain in the ass. Damn, the water was cold. Something rushed by her and she reached out for it, but it slipped through her fingers. Dammit. “Jason!” she tried again, but the water carried her voice away, choking her.

She struggled wildly to stop her momentum, to stand up, anything, but she discovered something right then, something a little horrifying. She was good in an emergency, but only if it was someone else’s emergency.

Then, through her battle with the water, she thought she heard her name.

Jason. He had to be close by, and she struggled anew, nearly getting upright in the churning, rushing flood, which was good, because her lungs couldn’t take another second.

A powerful hand clamped over her wrist and tugged, and finally, she got her head above water. Gulping hungrily for air, she gasped and coughed as she opened her eyes. Jason had her in one hand and the raft in another. He was letting the current whip them along through the worst of the rushing water, past the entire intersection, where it slowed. There, he swam them to the side, pushing her and the raft ahead of him. The moment she grabbed on to a bus bench, the water swirling up to the seat, she dragged in more precious air, feeling nothing short of sheer awe at what had just happened.

“Two-two,” Jason said, and pulled himself up beside her, breathing as raggedly as she.

With a half laugh, she turned to him, arms open, and he swam right into them. “It’s okay,” he murmured, stroking a hand down her back. “I’ve got you—”

“I know.” She tipped her head up, a relieved, grateful smile on her lips, which abruptly faded at the look on his face. He was pale, his eyes dark and haunted. “Jase—”

“You’re shaking,” he said, and tightened his grip.

“No,” she realized. “That’s you.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” He simply tightened his grip and buried his face into the crook of her neck, the muscles in his arms banded around her quivering.

“Jason—”

“Give me a minute.”

He hugged her, then ran his hands down her body, making sure she wasn’t hurt, but she grabbed them, wrapped her fingers around his and pressed them to her chest. His eyes were stark and bleak and broke her heart. They were full with grief and memories and horror, and she knew he’d been transported back to when he’d lost Matt. “Jason, look at me. I’m okay.”

“Yeah. I know.” He nodded and tried to pull away, but she grabbed his face and put hers right in his. “Jase.”

He nodded again, then shook his head and closed his eyes. “I thought—When I couldn’t see you, for a minute I thought you—”

“I didn’t.” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him in so tight she couldn’t breathe. But that was okay, he wasn’t breathing, either. He was holding his breath, gripping her hard, and she ran her hands up and down his back, trying to soothe, to bring him out of it. “I remembered something back there. I forgot to feed my goldfish yesterday.”

He lifted his head, his eyes clearer now, possibly even shining with humor. “You’re something, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told.”

His eyes never left hers. “I meant it as a compliment.”

Her entire heart softened. “Jase—”

“Yeah, I know. We have to go.” He held the raft steady for her to get in.

She looked at it. That hadn’t been what she’d been about to say, but because she wasn’t exactly sure what she’d intended to come out of her mouth, and because Cece was still out there, she did the only thing she could—she got into the raft.



JASON KEPT CAREFUL control of their progress, not interested in another Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Hell, no, not when his heart was threatening to burst right out of his chest. He was concentrating on speed and direction and the fact that Lizzy was shivering wildly, when his cell phone rang, startling the hell out of him.

“I thought it wasn’t working,” Lizzy said through her chattering teeth.

“Me, too. Hello?”

“Did you just go floating down Third?” Dustin asked incredulously.

“Yeah.” Jason whipped around, left then right, searching for his brother. “Where the hell are you?”

“Pull over.”