Page 133 of Ever With Me

“Pops!” Maddie turned toward him.Please be okay.

“Tell me what happened,” Brooks demanded again.

“Stalker,” Maddie managed, then pointed at the woman, still swimming away. She’d need to get out of the water soon—it had to be freezing cold. “Came at me with a knife.”

Pops had gone ashen, and he clutched his chest, taking one stumbling step forward. Brooks caught him by the arm.

No.

“Pops!” Maddie grabbed his arm. “What is it? Are you okay?”

Distress crossed his features. “Heart attack.”

“Call an ambulance,” Maddie said to Brooks. “And the cops.”

He took out his cell phone immediately, turning away from them to talk.

Shit. Keep it together, Maddie. How in the hell is this happening? How did that woman find us here?

The sight of Brian Pearson coming over the hill nearly undid her.

Thank God, thank God, thank God.

“Can you walk?” she asked Pops. No way they could carry him.

He nodded shakily.

“Grab Audrey,” Maddie ordered Brooks. She didn’t wait for him as she started off the dock toward Brian.

Brian stopped. “What happened?”

“Pops is having a heart attack. We need to get to the hospital.” The sound of her own voice was strangely distant, as though her mind and body were disconnected somehow.

Keep going, Maddie. Keep going.

Pops’s face looked more ashen, his footsteps unsteady.

Brian hurried to his other side. “All right, buddy. It’s all right. We’re gonna get you taken care of.”

Please don’t die, please don’t.

Please, God, help me!

“Ambulance is on its way.” Brooks came up beside her. Audrey had stopped screaming, but her eyes were wide, her cheek plastered into Brooks’s shoulder. “What happened to his arm?” He nodded at the line of blood.

“The woman pulled a knife on me.”

“What now?” Brian looked aghast.

“Motherfucker.” Brooks’s jaw clenched, his eyes lit with fury.

And guilt.

Guilt she shared.

She’d been horny and stupid and hadn’t listened to him.

Left herself exposed, not paying attention to her surroundings. Tears stung her eyes.

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