Page 56 of Out of Sight

Still, I held on. With full breaths entering and exiting my lungs I could think again. The branch I held was thin, but solid. If it could support my weight long enough, I could use it to pull myself onto the bigger limb and from there make it to shore.

I heaved with all my strength, somehow managing to pull my weak and sopping wet body completely out of the water and onto the tree limb. I stopped to breathe for a moment, beginning the slow process of scooting along the tree until the water below me disappeared. I dropped down, landing with a splat in the mud and making an utter mess as I slipped and slid up the embankment and back into the forest.

I could feel my arms screaming from the hell I put them through, but it was a newly familiar burn: the kind I got from an intense workout. I didn’t worry about it, knowing it wasnothing a little time and rest wouldn’t fix. I could really use a protein shake about now.

“And that’s why we usually stretch first,”I could practically hear Will’s voice coaching me, could almost feel his hands massaging feeling back into my arms.

Why did he bother with it all? Why spend all that time with me and flirt with me and teach me to be stronger when he… When he was the one who…

I couldn’t finish the thought. I just squared my shoulders, ignored the pain, and got moving again. I had to make it out of the woods alive and I’d never get the motivation to keep going if I wallowed in everything I could have had, but now needed to live without.

I remembered the river twisted around a bend for a while as I struggled with the current, so if I made my way in a certain general direction I might lead back to the campsite, and with it the car.

Jim was shot when he paused to hand me the keys. He knew he probably wouldn’t make it out, but he wanted to make sure I did. I wouldn’t survive in the woods forever on my own and I’d need a car to make it back to civilization. I just had to follow my intuition and trust that I was going in the right direction…even if being with Will in the first place proved that I didn’t have a good sense of judgment to begin with.

“I’m in this for the long haul,”he told me.“I’m all in.”

And I believed him when he said it.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.”

Was I that gullible? First I thought Carlo and Angelo Morelli were harmless, and then this mess with Will… I kept my paceup, my stride more determined the longer I walked. My stomach growled.

“Let me take care of you.”

I pulled one of the granola bars out of my pocket, swallowing it down as quickly as I could. He was right. Having extra supplies around was always a good thing. Jim must’ve bought them from some typical PNW hippie food store because the label said it was biodegradable. I shrugged, dropping the wrapper in the bushes and mud. Let it become one with the earth again. Less trash in my pockets.

Will was a survivalist. He could run for miles and miles, knew when to steal coats and cars to keep us safe and hidden, thought to pack my pockets full of food…Mypockets, not his own, and he helped me with my shoes before he even thought to grab his own. Was that because he knew he wasn’t really in any danger?

I remembered the way he positioned himself in front of me in the tent—but the attack came from behind me anyway. It seemed protective, but Will didn’t ever seem afraid of Antonio and his ever-present pistol. Was it because he knew he wouldn’t get shot?

“You know me better than that.”

I really thought I did. Will certainly knew me down to my core. He knew which buttons to press, which to leave alone. Which ones to manipulate me into trusting him?

“Claire, I wouldn’t hurt you.”

Every piece of evidence pointed to Will. He worked for the Morellis. He wore the watch. He kept missing getting seriously hurt despite explosions, airport close calls, and bookstore gun-chases. And Antonio admitted it! Will was on their side thewhole time! Antonio didn’t even show up to help finish the job until after Will got his rocks off.

It all added up, and all made sense in a horrible, heartbreaking way. Was he really hired to kill me like Jim said?

“I’m in love with you.”

Even though it wasn’t rational, I still believed Will.

“Oh, motherfuckingshit, I love you Claire. I love you. I love you. I love you. Oh God, I love you so much.”

But if he loved me, I had to believe that he wouldn’t hurt me, that he wouldn’t hurt Jim. But he did. I was hurt and Jim was dead.

Oh, Jim.

Forgetting about myself for a minute, I wondered how he could betray Jim like that?

“I assume you’ll take that water shaken, not stirred?”

“You’ll just have to settle for my grumpy ass and Will’s bootylicious one instead.”

“Claire. Honey. We don’t have time for this now. Marshal Marshall will make a note and you can kick my ass later.”

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