Page 56 of Rescued by the Single Dad

Nobody was going to save her.

She went under again, this time rather than air, she took a big inhale of water and her lungs burned.

Maybe this was for the best.

Maybe this would just be easier. If she died. If she gave up the fight. Clearly, these people didn’t want her to live. Otherwise, they would jump in and help her. Was this even a dream? Or was this real?

Opening her eyes, she stared up through the water at the bright white light and a peacefulness fell over her. She stopped struggling. Stopped kicking. Stopped flailing. A smile claimed her lips.

Acceptance was freeing.

It was liberating and brought her a sense of peace she couldn’t remember ever feeling.

Closing her eyes as she let the bubbles of air flow from her nostrils, the blackness closed in around her mind.

This was it.

This was the end.

Things were finally going to be easier.

Only, just as she thought she was finally leaving this cruel and unforgiving world, strong hands gripped her by the shoulders and hauled her toward the surface.

“Brooke! Brooke! Wake up.”

The hands shook her.

The cold air on her skin pulled out goosebumps, and those hands on her shoulders kept shaking her.

“Brooke!”

That was not how you performed CPR. She’d worked as a lifeguard at the pool during high school. She knew how to perform CPR and shaking someone by the shoulders was not the way to do it.

Then she levitated upward, and her chest slammed into something hard and warm.

The voice was next to her ear now. Calm, deep and reassuring. A familiar timbre that instantly brought tingles to her heart. “Brooke! You need to wake up. Please wake up.”

She gasped and her eyes flashed open.

The pool, water and sadistic crowd vanished, leaving in its wake Clint, sitting on the edge of the couch staring at her in panic, and six frightened children stood behind him.

Oh crap.

CHAPTER TEN

What in the actual fuck?

When Talia got on the walkie talkie to let Clint know Brooke was screaming in her sleep, he literally dropped the beer glass he had in his hand since he’d been just about to test a new batch—and ran up to the house.

A gentle touch didn’t work.

It took him yelling at her and shaking her almost violently to wake her up.

But her screams rattled the rafters and scared the kids out of their skin.

He’d never witnessed such a nightmare before. She kicked and thrashed her arms, and tears streamed down her cheeks as she cried out for help over and over again.

The dream had to be about drowning.

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