Page 50 of Light My Fire

She looked his way.

A shot rang out, butnot at Stevie.

It hit the boulder—a fraction from Tucker.What—?

He jerked, the rapids ripping him from his hold, yanking him under. He slammed into a downed tree, came up gasping, blinded, choking.

The river spun him, and he hit another slab of rock, the air whooshing out of him, his vision blurring.

“Tucker!”

His name carried deep in the roar of the river, but he couldn’t get a fix on it.

His boots turned to cement, the river clinging to them, dragging him down. Water crested over his head. His lungs burned as he kicked hard.

Surfaced, the spray in his face.

A hand grabbed his wrist. Held with a vice grip. He grabbed hold of his rescuer, fought his way to stay above water.

Skye was just barely balanced on a boulder, one hand gripping a downed tree that had fallen over the rapids. “Don’t let go!” she yelled, dragging him toward her. His feet hit something solid, and he cupped them into a crevice under the water. Clawed for the boulder.

Tucker hooked his fingers into a groove in the face of the rock and pulled himself in, breathing hard. Skye had his arm, gripped her hand under his shoulder, and yanked.

He cleared the water, just enough to find purchase. To scrabble up the rock, coughing out water, gasping in breaths.

Skye grabbed his belt, urged him farther onto solid rock. Then, she collapsed next to him, breathing hard.

“You okay?”

He lifted his head, nodded, then crawled to safety and searched upriver.

The bridge, with all its drama, was empty.

“Where’d they go?” He looked at Skye. Her hollow, horrified expression banded his gut.

“I don’t know—I don’t—”

He crouched there, shivering, the wind chilling his body. And heard his own stupid voice in the hollow of his chest.And that day…that day when no one shows up? It’s not today. Because I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.

Oh…no. No,no!

“Tucker, c’mon! We need to get out of the river!” Skye had him by the shirt, was pulling him across the boulder to the shore, gripping the tree for balance.

He shook all the way through to his core as he worked his way across the tumble of rocks to the granite shoreline. Skye was already scaling the gorge wall.

She reached the top, lay down, and held out her hand to him.

He ignored it, climbing up beside her, sitting hard on the cliff’s edge. He scanned the opposite shore.

Stevie.

He rolled over to his hands and knees, feeling ill.

“Tucker, what are you doing here?” Skye said.

He raised his head. “What am I—I’mrescuingyou.”

“You’re nearly getting me killed is what you’re doing.”

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