Page 37 of Shielding Lexi (Temptation)

Brick laughs. “Awe, filled with empty threats… just like your sister.”

My teeth grind together, and my fists clench hard, my gun still drawn and aimed toward his head. I could take my shot. We could look for something to pry the lock open. But the water is rising fast and we don’t have more than a couple of minutes to think.

“Here’s how this is going to go,” Brick says, still pacing slowly with that thin, sick grin. “You’re going to recoup me for the money this bitch and your sister cost me, for fucking up that delivery of cocaine—ten pounds worth. Do that, and I’ll be a nice guy, let Ms. Lexi here go.”

I should shoot this mother fucker right now, but the water is nearing Lexi’s nose and I don’t know where the key he’s talking about is.

“Fine, whatever you want. Brick, unlock her.”

“You think I’m dumb? Get me the money now. We’ll wait.”

Blood begins to pulse in my ears. “She’ll die before we get back. You know that.”

He laughs. “Guess you should’ve gott—”

I pull the trigger, the loud shot muffling the last of his sentence. The bullet hits his shoulder in one solid thud as I watch him go down. Hawk and Kane rush toward Lexi and start trying to pry her loose as I put two more bullets in Brick’s fucking skull. One for my sister and one for Lexi. I kick his lifeless body, then frantically leaf through his pockets, empty his boots, and dig through the sand where he’s set up camp, looking for a key, but there’s nothing.

I glance toward Lexi, she’s underwater. Kane and Hawk are under with her, but I can’t see what they’re doing. I scan the area for something to free her with, anything... but there’s nothing. There’s just shipping containers, trash, and old fire pits with singed wood and ash.

Fuck! I can’t let her die right in front of us.

My heart races as I pull Julie’s hair pin from my pocket. The one I’ve carried with me every day since she passed. It’s all I have, my last option.

Wading through the water quickly, I dive below. The only light source on the pier are lamps on top of the pillars. A strong light is affixed under the pier to guide boats to shore. The water is murky, and the waves are crashing hard against me, but my eyes are open, looking for Kane and Hawk who are both fumbling with the lock. Lexi looks unconscious.

They pull her up the post, pressing against the heavy weight of the water, dragging the chains against the wood, forcing her above water for air, taking the water in themselves as I work the lock, but she’s still not moving.

Fuck!

This has to work. This has to fucking work.

Prying the pin open, the tiny white flower on the end, snaps off and falls into the ocean right where I first found it after Julie died. The only tangible memory I had left of her now lost to the waves, just like her.

Ducking below the water, I twist and maneuver the pin into the lock, forcing it back and forth, but it’s not budging and now Kane and Hawk are running low on air. I can see it in their eyes as I continue to jimmy the lock. The weight of the chair, the chains, and the water forcing against them is too much. They can’t hang on much longer.

I press into the lock again, my lungs heavy with anxiety, burning with desperation for air. My mouth instinctively opens and I inhale a bit of water as I roll the pin harder into the lock, bouncing back up to the surface as I feel the gears roll and release.

Hawk pulls the heavy chains off Lexi’s wrist, Kane her ankles, as I grip her waist. I pull her limp body to the surface as a heavy rain begins to fall. I rip the hood off her face, but she’s not breathing and her lips are blue. I lay her on the shore, barely out of the water, as waves lap close by. I check her pulse, and tip her head back. Her heart’s not beating.

Plugging her nose, I arch her neck back and breathe into her open mouth.

“Come on, Lexi,” I groan. “Come on.”

Nothing.

Another deep breath from my lips to hers, my lungs forcing air where there is none, before I pump on her chest, hoping to bring her back to life.

Kane kneels down her side and grips her hand. “Come on, sweetheart. You can do it.”

Hawk grips Lexi’s other hand but doesn’t say anything as I continue to work air into her lungs. Moments feel like hours as I struggle over her motionless body.

Kane grips my arm as I go in for another round of compressions. “She’s gone, man,” he heaves in a panic. “It’s been too long. She can’t—”

I push him away and keep going, pressing harder, breathing longer. “Come on, Lex. It’s not your time. Stay with us. You can’t leave me—”

The smallest flinch presses her arm toward me and before I can check to see if I’m dreaming, she rolls to her side away from the water and water spills from her lips as she gasps for air.

I rub up on her back, helping her lungs expel the rest of the water trapped inside. “You’re doing good, keep coughing.”

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