Page 64 of Slay Ride

“Lean forward a bit. Help me drown this piece of shit.” He shifts his grip again, and I realize why he’s struggling. The Cattle has kicked the chains free, and now he’s using his lower body to power upward.

I lean forward, but it doesn’t do much good. The man is able to lift his nostrils above the waterline and get a breath.

“You’ll have to get off my back and help me end this,” Bennett finally says. “Swim down for that chain. I’ll wrap it around his neck and finish this a little quicker.”

“Answer the question. Are you upset that I want to keep this a secret?”

Bennett releases a guttural groan and pushes the man’s head below the surface again. “If you will just help me kill this sorry motherfucker, I will answer any question you have. Now swim!”

I slide off his back and immediately regret it. A wall of cold pushes through my body and steals my breath. In fact, taking a deep breath so that I can dive seems a near impossibility at this point. But I try. I suck in what air I can, and down I go.

The cold is almost more bearable when I’m fully submerged. Maybe that’s why so many people drown in cold water. The thought of piercing the surface and feeling that frigid air once more is almost more than I can bear once my hand wraps around the chain’s tail. But up I go, ready to deliver the weapon that will end this battle.

Careful to avoid the man’s untethered feet, I rise and push the chain into Bennett’s hand before trying to climb onto hisback again. I want his warmth, but more than that, I want to feel close to him.

Now that I know the weird attitude wasn’t part of my imagination, now that I know something is truly bothering him, the rift between us causes me more discomfort than I thought it would.

An obsession still worms its way inside me, but it no longer focuses on Maverick. Like it or not, I have a new problem on my hands.

I have a crush on Bennett.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Bennett

The entirety of my rage transfers to the chain in my hands. I wind the thick metal links around his neck, tighter and tighter, pulling until I can’t tell where the chain ends and my hands begin. Water moves over his face and distorts his gaped mouth and widening eyes.

“Is he almost dead?” Cat asks against my ear, and I hate that her warm breath makes me shiver.

“Almost,” I say.

I renew my grip on the chain and shove his body lower, ensuring he can’t rise for air again. In his death throes, he drives upward one last time before he finally goes limp. Seconds later, bubbles rise to the surface.

“He’s done. Let’s get the fuck out of here.” I release the chain, and the man stays put.

Cat grips me tighter as I turn and head for the exit. “But his mouth . . . his mouth was still moving.”

“Agonal breathing.” My feet meet with the ground, but I don’t tell her to get off my back. “The body doesn’t know when to quit.”

And neither does the heart.

I shouldn’t revel in the way her breasts press against my back. I shouldn’t want to help her overcome her fear of killing. She shouldn’t be any concern of mine, because I’m just her dirty fucking secret.

Yet I can’t turn it off.

“Can we get a check?” I yell down the lanes, but I don’t wait around to see if we came in first. With Cat still firmly attached to my back, I haul us out of the water and start for the steam huts.

“You read my mind,” Cat says against my ear, and I’m sure she felt the shiver that time. I’ll just pretend it’s from the cold.

I can’t feel my feet by the time I wrench open the heavy door and deposit Cat on a wooden bench inside the hut. Before anyone can interrupt us, I turn and lock the door.

Cat’s eyes widen as she pulls a robe from a hook and slides her arms into it. “I think these huts are supposed to be for everyone, not just us.”

“Yeah, well, there’s more than one. They can crowd into those. You wanted to talk, so let’s talk.” I rifle through the robes until I find one that will fit. Then I take a seat beside her on the bench, drop the back of my head against the cedar wall, and sigh through the intense shivering. Warmth from the stones and fire in the center of the room sends prickles of pain into my wakening limbs.

“What if people ask questions?” Cat says.

I close my eyes. “Then you answer them.”

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