Page 102 of Beauty and the Bayou

This boat was one of their bigger ones and did have two seats, so he could put her back there with him and maybe distract her from the storm with a new view.Sometimes two of the guys would take it out together, one driving and one on the mic, talking to the tour through their headsets.He hadn’t needed to do that today since all of these people had been out on the swamp tours before.Except for Juliet, of course, but he figured she didn’t particularly want a play-by-play of what they were doing.She’d been concentrating on just holding on tight.

“Okay.”Stella was looking a little nervous, but she managed a smile.Her tennis shoes also slipped on the wet floor, but she held on and made it to the shorter single seat that sat in front of Sawyer’s at the back of the boat.

He got Stella strapped into the higher seat and was just turning back when he heard, “Cooper!”

He swung around to see Juliet come up out of her seat and lunge for the side of the boat.

Cooper was reaching over the side of the boat for something floating in the water.Juliet grabbed for the little boy, catching him by the back of the life jacket.Instinctively, Sawyer jumped over the seat in front of him and charged toward her.

He reached out just as she skidded on the wet deck, sliding forward.

He could admit he had visions of grabbing the back of her pants the way he had on the dock the first day, saving her just in the nick of time.

Unfortunately, he’d completely underestimated how much adrenaline was pumping and how slippery the deck really was.He slid and, rather than grabbing her and pulling her back, he crashed into her, sending Cooper over the edge, and Juliet and himself over the railing and into the bayou.

10

They landedwith a splash and a scream.Sawyer’s head dipped below the surface for a moment.The water wasn’t cold and Sawyer felt his feet brush the bottom almost immediately, but his brain didn’t care that the bayou was only about six feet deep here.He could barely touch.It wasn’t as if he could really plant his feet firmly.Frankly, his instinct was to panic.He’d been in this water thousands of times in his life.But not since Tommy.He didn’t think about all of the times it had been fine.All he thought or felt was that this was dangerous, and that Juliet and Cooper were in here.More specifically, that Juliet and Cooper were indanger.

There were shouts from the boat and he could hear Cooper crying for his dad.The rain was coming down harder now, giving everything a gray haze, but he spotted Juliet and Cooper right away.His heart hammered painfully against his chest, and his mind raced as he realized they were too far away to reach.Somehow Cooper had gotten further out from the boat than Sawyer and Juliet and she’d had to swim to him.Probably because Cooper was smaller and lighter than the two of them and the force of Sawyer plowing into them had sent him flying.Hell, it had probably sent Juliet out several feet, too.The woman who had almost drowned as a little girl.

“Daddy!”Cooper cried.“Daddy!”

“It’s okay, Coop.”

Sawyer heard Gabe trying to reassure his son.“It’s okay, Sawyer’s got you.”

But Sawyer didn’t fucking have him.Cooper was holding onto a woman who was too short to touch the bottom out here, who had only one good leg and arm to use to swim because the other side was weaker from her stroke.Not to mention that she had to be petrified right now.Oh, and there was a big old alligator swimming around out here.

Sure, Hank would likely get the hell away from all the splashing and screaming.Then again, Sawyer was one of the people in the water and he brought Hank chicken.It wouldn’t be crazy to think that Hank might swim over for a closer look in the hopes of another snack.

Sawyer looked around, blood roaring in his ears.He didn’t want to kill an alligator or lose a limb to one in front of a boatload of little kids, but he fucking would put himself between the animal and Juliet and Cooper if he had to.If he saw the thing.It wasn’t as if alligators weren’t masters at sneaking up on prey.

Dammit.

Sawyer tried to calm down.Hank wasn’t going to be a problem and they were only a few feet from the boat.He knew those things were true.He dragged in a deep breath.

But then his eyes landed on a dark shape a few feet away.It was nearly black, and the odds were nearly a million to one that it was a log.A simple fallen tree.There were hundreds out here.Dark objects just under the surface of the water were very, very likely just logs.

But what if it’s not?

The thought went through his mind unbidden.Tommy had maybe seen the shark that attacked him that day.He’d maybe thought it was a log, too.

Sawyer’s mouth went dry and he felt like he was going to be sick.

“What if there’s a lightning strike?”Cooper called to Gabe.“I’m a sittin’ duck!”

That was it.In a few powerful strokes, Sawyer was beside them.He grabbed Juliet’s arm, but she pulled away.

“Dammit!Juliet!”

“I need my arm to stay above water!”she shouted at him.“Cooper will pull me down on this side!”

“Let me have him,” Sawyer said, reaching for the boy.

But Cooper shook his head and squeezed Juliet’s neck tighter.“I can’t let go!”

“Let me pull you to the boat,” Sawyer told her, reaching for her again.

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