Page 29 of Miles

“Damn her.” I didn’t hesitate to run for the water, then dive and swim as hard as I could.

My legs pumped for all they were worth and my lungs were fairly ready to burst each time I came up for air.

She was still there, closer now, floating on her back.

“Savannah!” I gasped, hoping against hope that she would come to her senses before the current pulled her much farther out.

I could feel it tugging at me as I continued my swim, arms, and legs working in tandem, my heart close to exploding from the exertion. Or the panic. But I was getting closer. I was almost at her side.

“Leave me alone!” she cried as I approached, waving her good arm as though that could keep me away. “Please! Don’t make me! Don’t!”

“Don’t make you?” I gasped, treading water. “Don’t make you what? Come on, we have to get back.”

“No! I won’t go back to him. You can’t make me! Please, just let me die. Let me die, Miles. It’ll be easier this way.”

I had never in my life heard a more heartbroken plea, or one which tore at me so.

“Savannah, nobody will make you go back to anyone. I promise you that.” I took hold of her waist, pulling her body closer to mine.

She trembled, muscles jumping.

“I swear to you on my life, Savannah Davison. I will not ever make you go back to him—not I, nor any of my kin. I swear it.”

“You swear?”

“I do. And I will not let you end yourself this way, or any way. You will not die, and you will not come to any harm while I’m with you. But you need to let me stay with you. You cannot leave me the way you just did. Don’t ever do this again.”

Her wide, deep, tear-swollen eyes searched my face for some sign of truth. She must have found it, because she nodded before winding her good arm around my neck.

I swam us back to shore, ignoring the wheelchair in favor of carrying her back inside.

The soaked dress clung to her as tight as she clung to me. As we clung to each other.

She rested her head on my shoulder. “I need your help,” she whispered, sounding for all the world like a lost little girl.

“I know you do. And you’ll get it,” I promised, even as I was unsure how I’d follow through.

---