Page 86 of Relentless (The Titans of Founder's Ridge 2)

She nods and stands.

“One, two, three,” we dive over the rail together. I look over at her and match my strokes to hers. The water looked pretty calm from the boat, but now that we’re in it, I can feel the current is stronger than I thought.

Claire starts to surface, but I grab her hand and shake my head. I keep her hand in mine and do a few strong dolphin kicks. As soon as we break the surface, I look around for the boat. They must not have noticed us gone yet because they’re still going in the same direction.

The water is a bit choppy, and I notice Claire struggling to breathe. I swim over right in front of her.

“Breathe in the troughs, slow breaths until you get used to the water.” It’s a lie, you don’t get used to water this cold. The pools I’ve swam in are usually between seventy-seven to eight-two degrees. This water is much colder. I can’t judge the distance from where we are to the nearest shore, but I can see it. When I notice her breathing pattern becoming steadier, I point to the shore and start swimming. I don’t mention it, but the boat we were on isn’t getting smaller on the horizon anymore; they must be circling looking for us.

If I had to guess, we’re more than a mile offshore but less than a mile and a half. Not as bad as it could be but not great with a weak swimmer. Claire keeps up with me for a while but starts lagging about fifteen minutes in. I look over our shoulder and don’t see any boats in the near vicinity, so I suggest a break.

“Ivy,” Claire drags in a deep breathe, “you aren’t even winded.”

“I’ve been training my entire life. You are doing so well for not having training.” I’m going to keep encouraging her as long as I can before I have to start pulling her along with me. “Do you think you can do another fifteen minutes? I think we only have about half an hour until we reach the shore.”

I watch the determination in her eyes as she nods. She’s digging deep for this, and I’m so here for it. “I can do it. I can do this.” She starts swimming with me matching her stroke for stroke.

I signal for another break when her strokes start slowing significantly. I tell her to float on her back for me and describe how I’m going to haul her along with me the last quarter of a mile. Luckily, she’s smaller and lighter than me so it’s not that much harder. Most of my effort comes from being on my back using only one arm. She kicks with me though, which helps with propulsion. I keep my thoughts focused on Levi and how much I love him, how we are just finally starting our lives together. His face is helping me make it through the water. When we finally reach the shore, it’s a rocky seawall alongside a road. I’m not sure if I have energy to lift myself up and over the rocks.

She pulls herself up, shivering and teeth chattering. Once she’s out of the water, she reaches down for me. Her fingers and lips are turning blue, and I’m sure I’m not far behind.

“You just dragged me across Long Island Sound, I’m not letting you drown on the side of the road bitch,” she says. “Take my fucking hand so I can pull you up.” Her grip is surprisingly strong. Once I’m out of the water, we pull ourselves up and over the wall, collapsing on the side of the road.

Neither of us has the energy to stand, and several cars pass us by without stopping. Finally, a black truck pulls over, and I think I must be going into shock and imagining things because Levi and Griff fly out of it.

“Ives,” he yells, “fuck! They’re freezing. Do you have blankets?”

That’s the last thing I remember before everything goes black again.

29

LEVI

“Grab blankets,I think they’re both hypothermic!” I yell to Lake and Nolan. Ives just passed out as soon as I grabbed her. Thank fuck for Con’s psychotic need to know where the girls are all the fucking time. If Claire hadn’t had her tracking device earrings on, we wouldn’t have found them.

“How the hell did they make over here from the middle of the Sound?” Nolan asks as he drops fleece jackets down for us. They aren’t blankets, but they’ll work.

“Carry them to the truck and pull their wet clothes off,” Lake instructs us. “Then we’ll put them in the jackets and our shirts.”

Griff picks up Claire, carries her over to the truck, and starts pulling her clothes off. What remains of their clothes anyway. Neither of them have anything other than panties and their shirts on. What the fuck happened to them? Why are they half-dressed?

My mind is spinning through every terrible scenario as I strip Ivy down. Were they assaulted? I must have thought those questions out loud because Griff answers.

“They probably took their shoes and pants off to reduce drag or something. That seems like something Ivy would think of.”

Aside from cuts on Claire’s wrists and her lip, she looks fine. Ivy has a bump and bruise on her temple and a bruise on her ribs. All four of us strip our shirts off and put two on each of the girls. Then we zip the fleece jackets up around their legs.

Griff and I get in the backseat and Nolan and Lake put each of them in our laps. Lake calls Con and puts him on Bluetooth so we can all talk.

“Did you find them?” Con asks as soon as he answers.

“Yeah, we have both of them. Found them collapsed on the side of the highway along the sound,” Lake says as he does a U-turn. “How’s Lilith?”

“She’s in recovery. She lost a kidney and a lot of blood but is okay otherwise. How are Claire and Ivy?”

“Both are passed out and probably hypothermic. I’ll bring them to the hospital you’re at though. I don’t think either of them is critical.” Lake lowers his voice, “Do you have the guy Lilith knocked out?”

“Yes,” Con growls, “our guys took him to the compound upstate.”

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