Page 88 of Guarding Bristol

He flung out a hand just as the body came back into view.His fist managed to catch fabric but his grip was weak, his muscles sapped by the cold.Kicking hard, he managed to move closer and hook an arm around Nico’s chest.He flipped around, hauling Nico over onto his back and put him in a rescue hold.“Nico!”

Nico’s head lolled on his shoulder, eyes closed, mouth partly open.

TJ didn’t know if he was dead.But he wouldn’t let go.His legs churned, desperately fighting to keep their heads above water.He caught sight of theSea Siren.It was moving farther away from them, a plume of smoke rising from her stern.

Bristol!No!She was tied up and helpless, alone, and the boat was on fire.

His insides turned to ice, anguish slicing him like a blade.He was too fucking far away.She would never hear him yelling over the storm.And he would never be able to swim back to the boat to help her.

He sucked in a breath to scream her name.A wave hit him from the side, catching him mid-inhalation.It dragged him under.

His throat clamped shut.Lungs burning from lack of air.

He lost his grip on Nico.Kicked violently, fighting his way to the surface.

His head broke through.He coughed.Thrashed in the water, his body desperately trying to clear the water from his lungs.

Some air finally got through.He sucked it in greedily.Something bumped his shoulder.

He grabbed hold of it.A leg.

Managed to snag Nico before they were separated again.Cast a desperate look toward shore.

It was getting farther away by the minute.

He flung his head around, stared at the column of smoke rising fromSea Siren.

Bristol!The scream burned in his aching throat.

More waves battered him.Tossing him and Nico around, pounding them with relentless fury.

He couldn’t keep this up much longer.His legs were already slowing, refusing to obey him.

In desperation he flattened out on his back, clinging to Nico as they drifted with the waves.He shook all over, gasping in shallow breaths.He squinted up at the ominous gray sky, the raindrops pelting his face.

Bristol...

His mind raced but his body was beginning to fail him.His numb limbs were uncoordinated, weak.

He blinked at a red flash in the sky above him.Before he could focus on it, a wave slammed over his head and enveloped him in darkness.

****

“Goddammit, comeon,” Bristol snarled.

She loaded another flare, was just getting ready to fire it when another helicopter suddenly appeared out of the clouds to her right.

She caught her breath.Held it.Oh, God, please...

She loaded another cartridge, aimed the gun away from the helicopter, and fired.This one didn’t seem to go as high.

But the helicopter had to have seen her, because it dipped low and headed straight for her.Staying huddled in place, she raised an arm to wave up at it while it circled above her.Eventually it dropped down to hover directly over her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and curled into herself as the powerful wind from the rotors pounded down on her, coating her in freezing sea spray.When she cracked her eyes open to risk a peek, the side door was open and someone in a uniform and helmet was coming down toward her on a cable.

Bristol scrambled to her knees, keeping hold of the railing.Whoever it was swung back and forth with the combined force of the rotors and the gusting wind.Slowly, slowly, he descended toward the shifting deck.

His feet touched down.He signaled the crew in the helicopter, unclipped from the cable and signaled again.The cable began to retract, and he turned toward her.

---