Too Big Taboo Bundle(23)

Eli looked down, then looked at me, then returned his gaze to the  surface of the lake. "Too risky," he said. "There must be some other way  out of here."



I watched as one police car after the other drove up and parked.  Officers were stepping out of their vehicles. Even in the shadows I  could see their guns were drawn as the officers made their way to the  door.



"You're the expert," I said. "But you better think fast."



"Fuck," Eli muttered again. Fear had significantly reduced his  vocabulary. He tried the window latch, and it opened easily. All it took  was a single jump, and then we'd be plummeting to possible escape.  Eli's face was full of doubt.



"I swore I would never step foot in this lake again," he said. "I can't lose you, too. I could never forgive myself."



"Eli," I said, grabbing his shoulders. "You mom's death was not your  fault. There was nothing else you could have done. But if you let us get  captured in this room because you were too afraid to jump-well, then  you would be to blame. We have no other choice."



Eli looked down once more. I had no idea what he was going to do.



"Take my hand," he said.



We clasped hands. His touch seemed to give me strength. My adrenaline  was pumping so hard it overpowered my fear. When the helicopter had  circled behind the house, blocking the pilot's view of us, we climbed  onto the window sill. Eli shut the window behind us so the police  wouldn't immediately know to look for us in the water.                       
       
           


///
       



The air was surprisingly cool, and gusts of wind nearly knocked me off  balance. My toe slipped on the dusty sill and I nearly stumbled, but Eli  caught me. I looked down and felt dizzy from the heights.



I glanced at Eli and saw that his chest was heaving. He was taking deep breaths.



"You jump as far as you can, you hear?" he said. "Okay. Jump!"



I shoved off the window sill with all my might. Eli's grip was so tight  it hurt my hand. He leaped farther than I did, so he pulled me with him.  The fall took longer than I was expecting, and I had several seconds to  contemplate my own death surrounded by the beautiful green mountains  edging the lake.



Then we hit the water with a whoosh! and we sank deeper and deeper into  the icy abyss. My body hit the surface with such force it knocked the  breath out of me, and I swallowed water. I don't know how far down I  sank, but it was enough to pop my ears and make me panic. I was losing  oxygen fast. Finally my own buoyancy began to lift me toward the light,  and I bobbed above the surface in time to gasp for air.



Eli held me as we floated in the freezing water. We looked up as the  helicopter slowly circled back around. The police officers were  apparently too far away to have heard our splash.



Eli's teeth were chattering in the cold. "I couldn't save her," he said.



Not this again. I grabbed Eli by the shoulders and tried to shake him  out of his stupor. "Eli!" I said. "Now is not the time! We have to swim  or we're going to get ourselves caught. Then we'll both be in prison. I  love you, Eli, but you have got to snap out of it. Grieve later."



"I love you, too," he said. "You're right. I'm sorry."



"Don't be sorry," I said. "Just swim."





7.



The sun had fallen behind the peaks of the mountains, which cast cragged  shadows across the lake. The water was so cold as Eli and I swam away  from the chateau. With any luck, the police had not yet found our car,  and we might even be able to drive to safety. It was difficult and slow  to swim because the lake water was moving swiftly only a few feet below  the placid surface. I glanced at Eli and could barely make out his  features amid the shadows. Even in the darkness I could tell he was  incredibly focused on swimming, blocking out any other thoughts. By  narrowing his thoughts to our immediate escape he was able to push down  the sad memories this lake conjured for him.



We could see and hear the cops swarming the chateau on the lake's edge.  Occasionally the helicopter would swoop overhead, shining its spotlights  on the lake, and we'd inhale deeply and duck underwater for a few  seconds.



Eventually we put enough distance between us and them that I was able to  relax a bit and let my mind wander. I couldn't help but smile when I  remembered the way Eli had ruthlessly fucked my mouth, and I couldn't  wait to experience what that cock could do when he turned his savage  attention to other places. But one thing amazed me. I thought Eli would  have been even more furious that I killed Mama. He hadn't even asked me  how I did it, or what I did with her body. If you were locked up for a  crime you didn't commit, wouldn't you want to know how the crime  actually happened?



Tired and lost in thought, I failed to notice that Eli had begun to pull  away from me. He was several yards ahead and gaining distance. The  undercurrent was strong here. I kept trying to go forward, but it kept  pulling me back. Pulling me down. It wasn't strong enough to really  notice at first, but it was there nonetheless, a nearly imperceptible  force. My body seemed to not want to float, and the current was slowly  sucking me lower, making it increasingly wearisome to keep my head above  water. Needing a break, I took a gulp of air and let my body rest. It  was such sweet relief to not have to fight that current, to just drift  with it for a moment. The way I figured, as soon as I needed a breath I  would simply kick and swim back up.



I looked above my head, toward the surface. Beyond the water, the sky  was a different shade of the same black night. My body was deeper than I  had realized and I was out of breath. I swept my arms and kicked my  feet, but I didn't move. If anything, I had sunk a little lower. I  thrashed and kicked then panicked and accidentally took in water. I  coughed, emptying my lungs of oxygen and filling them with even more  cold water. A helicopter spotlight briefly shone over me, illuminating  the lake surface, and I saw just how swiftly I was sinking. I tried to  scream but only gurgled.



Moments before losing consciousness, drifting down to my eternal grave, I  felt his hand on my wrist. His grip hurt. It was too tight. Why was Eli  bothering me?                       
       
           


///
       



And then everything went black.





8.



The next thing I knew, my chest was throbbing and I was spewing water  and gasping for breath. I opened my eyes and saw Eli kneeling over me, a  distraught look on his face. At first I thought we were lying in bed  and I couldn't understand why my bed consisted of wet pebbles. And then I  realized I was lying on the edge of the lake. Eli had saved me.



Eli sighed with relief when my breathing steadied. "Thank God," he said. "I thought I lost you. Are you okay?"



I did my best to nod my head.



"We can't stay here," he said. "We're too exposed and we have to get back to the forest, back to the car. Can you walk?"



I could see the urgency in his eyes and hear it in his tone, but all I  wanted to do was lie there and sleep. I was so tired. But I had to do  this for Eli. I tried to push myself up onto my elbows, then collapsed  on the pebbles as my heavy eyelids closed.



"I'm sorry, little girl," Eli said. "This is no time for a nap."



He scooped me up and held me like a baby, with my face on his shoulder  and my body cradled in one arm, and he darted across the rocky beach, to  a steeper bank leading up to the driveway. It was covered in tall reeds  that brushed and tickled as he pushed through them, parting the weeds  with our wet bodies. I scarcely noticed, I was so out of it.



Eli stopped at the edge of the reeds bordering the road, watching and  listening for the presence of danger, then sprinted across the road and  into the brush on the other side. Before long we were back to Maurice's  SUV, and Eli had placed me in the passenger seat. He was about to crank  the engine and make a getaway when we saw headlights approaching in the  distance. Two police cars were leaving. Maybe it was the end of their  shift.



"We'll have to wait here for a while until those cops clear out," Eli  said. "It's okay for now. They won't be able to see us through the  brush."



I put my hand in Eli's. My hand seemed so tiny compared to his. He gently curled his fingers around mine and held me.



"You saved my life," I said.



"Just paying you back for saving mine." Eli smiled faintly.



"But you wouldn't have even needed saving if I hadn't  …  if you hadn't been in prison," I said.