Page 81 of One Night With You

She stared right at me, eyes wide, face pale. “Kingston!”

I could barely hear her over the blood pounding in my ears, as the car began to move faster into the water. It seemed that with both of our jostling, the final wheel slid over the mud, and now the car was plummeting into the lake.

“Crew! Get the glass breaker out of my truck.”

“On it!” Crew called out, as I pulled on the door handle, the car nearly fully submerged.

“I’ll get you. I love you, Claire, I’ll get you!” I was screaming the words now, hoping she could hear me. These were not going to be our last words to each other. I went around the other side, but none of the doors were opening, and then, as she slammed on the rear window with her heel, the entire car submerged.

I hadn’t even realized how cold the water was, ignoring everything about the temperature and the fact that I was hip deep in it, until I couldn’t see her anymore. I took a deep breath, and submerged myself, trying to get the doors open from this way, but they weren’t budging.

I didn’t know how much air she would have left. How much water was inside the car. This lake wasn’t deep, but it was deep enough to cover a fucking car. I threw myself at the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Claire’s pale hands were slamming against the glass, and I met her gaze, the fear there, but I wasn’t going to let her die. I pressed my feet into the muddy ground, and pushed my way up to the surface, gasping for air. Crew was already there, knee-deep in the water, and tossed me the glass-shattering tool. “Ambulance is on its way. What do you need?”

“Help me get her out.” And then I dived again and held onto the door handle. I waved the tool in the water, and Claire moved back, hopefully realizing what I needed to do. I slammed it against the window, and it shattered, water rushing into the car.

I didn’t know if I had air, I didn’t know where up was or down was, but Crew was by my side, and then Claire’s hand was in mine, and I moved. I wasn’t quite sure what happened next, as everything moved in slow motion and yet so quickly all at once. As our headsbreached the surface, I gasped for air, Claire doing the same, and although our feet could reach the ground, I didn’t let her go.

Crew was right by my side, both of us moving toward the embankment, as Claire shivered in my arms.

“You came. How are you here?”

“I didn’t want you to go without saying goodbye. And I just had a bad feeling.”

Crew coughed near us—his voice as shaky as ours. “I’m going to go get blankets from your trunk. You have them, right?”

I nodded, hoping Crew could see me, because I could only focus on her. “I love you, Claire. I’m so sorry I didn’t say it before. But I couldn’t find the words. But I love you so fucking much. I was trying to tell you today, not when everything was in jeopardy. I swear to you. I never want to live my life without you, Claire. I love you so fucking much. Please be okay.”

Tears filled her eyes, as she shivered, her lips blue. “I love you too, I can’t believe you’re here. I couldn’t get the doors open. They automatically locked, and then they wouldn’t unlock. And then whoever ran me off the road seemed to have screwed with my door, as they slammed into me, but I don’t know.”

I checked her for cuts and bruises and saw a few and cursed.

Crew was there in a moment, wrapping a blanketaround her, then tossing another one to me. “Get warm too. I don’t need everyone with hypothermia.”

“I thought I was the guy who knew how to handle things in an emergency, turns out it’s you,” I told Crew, who snorted at me, though I saw the fear there.

“Not just me. Holy hell, Claire, never do that again, okay?”

“I promise. Never again.” Her teeth were chattering then, and I held her close, all three of us sitting in the mud as it began to rain ice-cold water droplets over us, and we looked at the man-made lake, and the fact that we couldn’t see her fucking car.

“I need to get one of those little glass things for my car.” She shivered in my arms again. “Or maybe get a car first?”

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”

Crew just sat next to me, hand on my shoulder, as we sat there, our entire lives feeling as if they had slammed into us all at once, the sound of sirens echoing in the distance.

By the timewe were at the hospital, Claire was sent back, and they wouldn’t let me go with her. Even though they had said she had told them that I could go to her room, the staff needed more time with her. Wehad had to deal with the authorities, and Claire had already given a description of the car though she hadn’t really seen it.

“I still can’t believe that you just showed up,” Hudson said, pacing the hallway as we waited to see Claire.

My stomach tightened thinking about the other option. “I just had a bad feeling. And I wanted to see her.”

“It’s about damn time that you said that you love her by the way,” Hudson said.

“What?” I blinked, trying to keep up with the conversation since my mind was in the room with Claire.

“When they let me back for a second to talk to her, she mentioned that you both said the words; she was sort of rambling. I think she’s still in shock.”

I shook my head, my heart in my throat. “Of course I love her. I’m just an idiot and it took me a while to say it.”

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