Page 89 of The Engagement Party

Before Dylan could grab Mitch’s neck again, Mitch switched places. He squeezed Dylan’s shoulder and dunked his head underwater. Arms flailed and water kicked up around them, but Mitch didn’t let go. He held Dylan’s face under. Used all of his weight and momentum, got hit and doused with water but didn’t give up. Eyes bulging and muscles straining, Mitch held on. He panted through the frenzy of fighting and drowning until all the splashing stopped.

The motion of the water ratcheted down and dissolved into the usual foamy waves. Mitch still didn’t let go. He held Dylan under as the minutes ticked by and Dylan’s arms floated along the water’s surface.

“Check his pulse.” Sierra reached over to do it for Mitch but fell short.

Since Dylan had already bounced back from a hit and broken his way out of zip ties, Ruthie understood Sierra’s call for caution. Dylan played games and this could be another one. Ruthie held the gun and the poker ready just in case.

Mitch followed Sierra’s directions and shook his head. “Nothing. He’s not breathing.”

Dead. Ruthie silently repeated the word until she believed it.

The relief she expected never came. Watching Dylan’s humanity unravel until only an empty shell remained had changed her. The idea that one tragic weekend so many years ago had claimed so many victims and created so many villains chipped away at her belief in justice. The role she’d played in the recent collateral damage made her question who she really was and what she was willing to do to get what she wanted.

Mitch held on to Dylan’s unmoving body for an almost comical amount of time. No one could survive underwater that long without at least fighting for air. When Mitch pushed back, Dylan’s body floated face down, moved around by the current.

His lifeless body made Ruthie think about Emily’s last moments. Life snuffed out in a pool of nothingness. Ruthie never wanted to be near water again.

“We need to get in the boat.” Mitch’s voice dragged as Sierra pulled him closer to the dock.

More water.But he was right. Cassie and Alex’s joint destructive force still loomed.

It took Ruthie and Sierra stretching and tugging to lift Mitch’s exhausted body onto the wobbling dock. He dragged himself onto the firm surface and rolled to his back. The chill on his skin scared Ruthie. He’d been in the water too long. Long enough for his lips to turn blue. She feared sitting in the dampness as they rowed to land would endanger him further.

Before she could mention any of that, he slid again. This time boneless into the boat, nearly tipping it over. He couldn’t manipulate his cold fingers and every twist and turn made him grimace.

Sierra wrapped her body around his. She rubbed her hands over him, clearly trying to warm him. “My hero.”

His teeth made a clicking noise. “Hold that thought until we see if the boat works.”

Love.Ruthie could see it arc between Sierra and Mitch. Bone-deep respect mixed with attraction and affection. Mitch had to see it... right?

Sierra looked at Ruthie then nodded in the direction of the oars. “You’re up.”

“I was never his partner in this.” Ruthie could hear the desperation in her voice. She’d spent her whole life being underestimated and pretending not to care. She needed them to believe her this time.

Sierra’s expression didn’t give anything away. “A skeptic would say you hit him with the poker to keep him from talking.”

The anxiety that had been churning inside Ruthie nearly choked her. “I didn’t—”

“Lucky for you I’m not the skeptical type.” Sierra stared at the oars again. “Row. We have assholes to hunt down.”

Chapter Sixty-Three

Sierra

Sierra held Mitch with her front to his back and her legs and arms wrapped around him to share their body heat. She bounced around as the boat moved across the water in jerky fits. Ruthie would row then lose her hold on an oar, sending the boat careening sideways until she corrected and got them moving again.

The choppy ride made Sierra’s stomach lurch and her body crash into Mitch’s over and over, but they made progress. Sluggish and uneven, but the boat moved through the lifting fog.

The distance they needed to travel gave her too much time to think. She tried not to dwell on how close Mitch had come to dying. How close they all had come and how Cassie had depended on them to lose.

With Dylan dead most of the threats had been neutralized, but not all. Cassie and her persuasive lawyer talk waited out there, promising to bite them. Sierra vowed not to let Cassie off the hook. No matter what it took.

“Go faster,” Sierra mumbled under her breath.

Ruthie’s jaw tightened as she fumbled to pull back on the oars. “I’m trying.”

The tremble running through Mitch increased. He needed to get dry. Sierra took off the oversized shirt she wore over her T-shirt. The second she shrugged out of it the chill lifting off the water enveloped her. Her body temperature went into free fall. Coldness pricked her skin but she bit down hard, pretending the crappy weather didn’t bother her.

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