Page 5 of Red Queen (Red Thorns Crew 3)

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Dani

His arms were the only thing I knew. Their warmth. Their comfort. Their strength. It was the only thing I registered as I curled deeper into his body. A body I thought I’d never feel again. Tears streaked my cheeks, mingling with the droplets of water I still coughed up. I nuzzled against Max’s bare torso and wondered why in the world he’d had to shed his clothes in the first place. We were both soaked. Was he the one that came in after me?

Of course he was.

I felt the seats beneath me soaking through and through. Water dripped from the edges of my clothes onto the floorboard. I heard Rupert and Max murmuring back and forth. I

didn’t catch what they were talking about, but I also didn’t care.

I was alive.

And I wasn’t sure how Max had pulled that off.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Max pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “What was that?”

I coughed, feeling a little more water lunge up the back of my throat. I turned my head off to the side and coughed it onto the back of Rupert’s seat before I felt my cheeks flush.

“I’m sorry for ruining--your--your truck, Rupe.”

He snickered. “Don’t be silly. I’m just glad you're still alive, Bambi. You scared the hell out of me.”

Max pulled me back against him. “Me, too.”

I started coughing again as Max gripped my chin softly. He pulled my head toward his, and I watched as his eyes danced over my face. His hand fell from my chin and slid slowly down my body, but not in a sensual or a sexual way. His fingers were on a mission. I saw him nodding his head every time his fingertips pressed down into a part of me.

My ribs.

My thighs.

My kneecaps.

My chest.

“Are you sure you’re all right, gorgeous? My father didn’t hurt you at all, did he?”

I snickered, which caused me to start coughing again. How the hell did I even answer that question? ‘Yeah, I’m okay, I just almost drowned. No biggie.’ I managed to shake my head before I started coughing again.

“That cough sounds bad, Max. She needs a doctor.”

“We need to get back to my place first. I’ll call a doctor once we get there.”

“Sure a doctor doesn’t need to meet us there?”

I gasped for air. “Not. Hurt.”

Max spread out in the back of Rupert’s truck and held me against his chest. I found his heartbeat with my ear and settled into the comforting rhythm. Physically, I felt fine. I mean, my lungs felt like they’d been run through a wood chipper. My throat was still burning. I felt short of breath, like I couldn't catch it. And my head felt swimmy, for lack of a better word. Honestly? It reminded me of the time in high school when I’d had another swimmer cross into my lane by accident during a swim meet. Once she’d realized what had happened, she’d kicked out, anxious to get back into her lane before someone clocked her on it.

But not before her foot kicked out and caught me right in the chest.

The memory of inhaling that gulp of water felt a lot like this. I’d come up mid-stroke and started coughing so badly I threw up in the pool. The lifeguards dove in and pulled me up onto the side of the pool where sanctioned paramedics were already waiting for me. I had required medical care then. I remembered them wrapping me in blankets and my mother trying to bat people off as they tried cutting me out of my wet bathing suit.

I didn’t remember much else, though.

Rupert piped up. “Here. She needs a blanket.”

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