Wrecked (2 page)

SWIMMING

I panicked when my head went
beneath the surface and I opened my mouth to scream. In an instant, my lungs
inhaled a mixture of water and algae, making me choke and sputter. The cold
soaked through my heavy winter clothes immediately, piercing me to my core. I
struggled to surface but my jacket was suddenly ten times heavier. I felt
myself sinking.

A dreadful
thought tore through my mind.

This is
it. It’s all over.

I was
going to drown. I was going to die. Aunt Caroline was going to think I ended up
taking the same path as Dad. Killing myself. She had lost her sister-in-law,
then her brother, and now her niece.

But I
didn’t choose this! I didn’t want this. It was an accident caused by a stupid
cat.

And then a
silly thought flashed.

I can’t
die like this, in a lake full of piss-eating algae. The embarrassment would be
too much.

Fighting
against the weight of my clothes, I furiously kicked my legs, forcing myself
upward. My head bumped into a hard ceiling—a large piece of ice had floated
above me. I reached out with half-frozen fingers, desperately trying to find
where the ice ended. Or a hole. Anything.

I felt
nothing. Everything was solid. I flailed my arms in a frenzy, frightened
because I couldn’t hold my breath much longer. Suddenly, my hand burst through
to the surface and I felt the cold air against my fingertips. Frantically
thrashing my legs, I torpedoed my body toward the hole. Finally, I broke
through to the crisp air.

I never
thought I could feel so much relief in my life. I panted for air, sucking it in
like it was my last breath. I had made it. I had survived. I had a near-death
experience and was going to appreciate life so much more after this moment. I
silently thanked the powers-that-be for a second chance.

I wiped
the water from my eyes and my relief turned into despair.

The bridge
was nowhere in sight.

As I
violently roiled the water around me, I tried looking for the shore but I
couldn’t find it.
Where the hell was it?
My teeth chattered violently
and my limbs were turning into frozen icebergs, numbness overtaking my muscles.
Suddenly, a sharp sting knifed through my stomach, and I clutched my abs in
pain.
Perfect time for a cramp!
Unable to move, for a brief instant I
was left with the thought of sending a letter to Kellogg’s telling them the
Frosted Flakes I ate this morning turned out to be the death of me. Then my
legs gave out. I stopped treading water. I stopped floating and started
sinking.

I was
going to die.

“What the
fuck?!” someone shouted.

“Help!” I
screamed instinctively with the last of my breath. “HEL—” My head submerged
beneath the freezing surface.

Water
blurred my vision, making me lose my orientation. Distantly, I heard a splash
then I felt something grasp my shoulders. I struggled against it thinking it
was going to push me further into the depths.

Someone
was shouting at the surface but the voice was faint beneath the water. “Stop
fighting me dammit! Or we’ll both die out here!”

Strong
arms wrapped beneath my armpits raised me above the water.

I tried to
tilt my head to see who the voice was coming from, but a wet mass of my own
hair covered my face. Powerful arms and legs stroked the water around us
propelling us toward the side of the lake.

Before
long, we collapsed onto the bank.

“What the
hell were you thinking?” cried a deep male voice, breathless.

On hands
and knees, I tried to respond but ended up coughing water onto the gravel. My
clothes were completely drenched and my muscles were coiling into tight balls.
It was actually colder now that we were out of the lake.

God this
was so embarrassing. I could see it on the campus paper now:
Sophomore goes
for a swim in Lake Peepee in the middle of winter.

My savior
took several deep breaths before dragging himself to sit on a large rock beside
me.

When I had
finished coughing, I brushed the hair out of my face and looked up at him. He had
short, dark hair matted with water and a sharp, sculpted nose set between two
dark grey eyes. His brows were furrowed in concern. His strong jaw was covered
in a rough layer of stubble that framed his full, shapely lips. He was so
gorgeous, my breath hitched in my throat. Had I died and gone to heaven?

Steam rose
from his body as if his outrageous hotness physically manifested and clashed
with the frigid air. His gray sweatshirt was soaked, and it clung tightly to
his chest, enough to see the outline of the wide shoulders and thick muscles
underneath. I rubbed my eyes, figuring the contaminated water I swallowed was
making me hallucinate. No way this was real. I looked again and realized it
wasn’t an illusion.

Wow
.

A hint of
a tattoo peeked out the side of his sweatshirt collar along his neck. I
squinted but couldn’t make out what it was because it extended further down
beneath his drenched clothing. It made me wonder what other tattoos he could be
hiding. Finishing my assessment of his dazzling figure, my conclusion consisted
of two words: Padded and tatted.

My face
was becoming warm despite the cold, and my heart started beating faster. As an
attempt to calm myself, I wracked my brain to pick a better-looking savior from
any of the thousands of students I’d seen before on campus. But I couldn’t pick
anyone. Who could rival him?

“What was
that?” he shouted again but softer this time. His voice was rough and
husky—though laced with concern.

As if
almost drowning in Lake Peepee wasn’t embarrassing enough already, I had to be
fished out by the hottest guy I’d seen in ages—maybe ever. If he hadn’t jumped
in to save me, I might’ve been a goner.

My teeth
chattered. “I-I-It’s the cat’s fault.”

He stared
into the distance then furrowed his brows. “What are you talking about? What
cat? There’s nothing there.”

I followed
his gaze and spotted the bridge. The stupid black cat was still there watching
us but it was motionless, blending in with the dark foliage behind it. It had
an impassive expression as if it was smugly saying, “What a bunch of idiots.”

“It’s
right there.” I pointed desperately with a wet finger. “Can’t you see it?”

He
squinted. “I don’t see anything. There’s nothing there.”

God.
This guy might have a stunning face and a great body but his eyesight is
terrible.

Groaning
in frustration, I shook my finger at the cat. “Look again. It’s right next to
that bush.” As soon as I finished my sentence, the cat hopped into the bush and
disappeared along with any evidence proving that I wasn’t a crazy person who saw
imaginary cats.
That little bastard
.

“You’re
crazy. You know that?” he yelled. “Crazy.” Those accusatory gray eyes pierced
deep into mine, sending an unwelcome flutter through my belly.

“I’m not
crazy,” I cried. “I know what I saw. I swear it was right there. And don’t call
me crazy.”

He shook
his head. “You almost got us both killed, flailing around like some kind of
idiot. That was probably the least helpful thing you could’ve done. Did you
want
us to die?”

A wave of
embarrassment and annoyance washed over me as I threw my hands up. “I was
drowning, dude. What did you expect?”

Tattoos
and Muscles sucked in a deep breath, his chest rising. The intensity in his
eyes seemed to dissipate. “Do you know how dangerous it is to be out here
alone? Do you know how cold the water is?” he asked, as if I was a
two-year-old.

Yeah,
we were both in it, remember? God, this guy’s an idiot. All brawn, no brain.

It took
too much effort to be a smartass though and my sides hurt too much. “Yes I know
how cold the water is,” I said, controlling the urge to be snarky toward the
man who just saved my life. “I didn’t mean to go in. I fell.”

“No one’s
around at this time, students haven’t arrived yet, the ground is slippery.
You’ve gotta be some kind of special to be fooling around here by yourself. Ya
know if I hadn’t been jogging past at that moment . . .” Mid-sentence, he
narrowed his eyes at me, a startling look of realization crossing his face.
“Wait. Was that . . . was that . . . Were you trying to commit suicide? Are you
depressed or something?”

“No! I
just—” I thought about mentioning the cat again, but decided that was a lost
cause. “I just lost my balance, that’s all . . .”

He studied
me a bit longer, as if considering if I was lying to him or not. I didn’t have
the energy to pretend I was okay, so he would just have to take my word for it.
“What were you doing on the bridge?”

Oh, you
know. Just hanging out, playing with the fish, reading my dad’s suicide note.
The usual.

“I was
enjoying the view.” As I got to my feet, my wet clothes dripped onto the icy
gravel. Tattoos and Muscles—T&M—eyed me up and down carefully. He was
watching me like I was going to jump back into the lake at any second. “I’m not
going to jump in again. Chill out.”

He
straightened from the rock he was sitting on and approached me. I took a step
back afraid he took offense to the unintentional pun I made about “chilling
out”. He violently rubbed his hands together then grabbed a handful of my
jacket.

“What are
you doing?”

I tried to
take another step back but he held firm. He was right in front of me and I
looked up at him, heart pounding. My eyes flickered to his lips. I was suddenly
aware of the acute fluttering effect he had on my nerves when in such close
proximity.

He twisted
the front of my jacket, wringing out a splash of water.

“We need
to get ourselves somewhere warm, before we freeze to death,” he said, his tone
softening. He continued to wring out my jacket, first the front, then the back
and sleeves. Then he went to work on himself, squeezing the icy lake water from
his sweatshirt and sweatpants.

I nodded
in agreement then took a few steps towards the direction of campus. I couldn’t
wait to get back to my room—to forget this day ever happened.

“Hey,
where are you going?” he snapped.

A gust of
wind blew across my face as I answered. “D-D-Dorm.”

“Fuck the
dorms, you’ll be frozen stiff by the time you get there. My place is just past
that trail.” He pointed to a jogging trail leading into the forest. “Let’s go
there and get you warmed up first. Get us both warmed up.”

As much as
I hated to admit it, he was right. If I wanted to go back to my room, I’d have
to walk halfway across campus. My clothes would probably become ice armor by
the time I got there.

I thought
a moment about how I knew nothing about this guy and was going over to his
place. Ordinarily I’d be cautious, but these were unusual circumstances. This
was a matter of life and death—literally. Besides, T&M didn’t seem
dangerous; he’d just saved my life. If anything he probably thought I was the
unstable one.

Deciding
to follow his suggestion, I tried to walk over to him but faltered when the
cramp returned.

He sighed,
his breath steaming up the air. He came over to me and stopped. The next thing
I knew, he was turned around and kneeling in front of me. For some reason, the
sight of him in that position made my pulse skip a beat.

“What are
you doing?” I asked.

“It’s
called a piggyback ride. C’mon, we don’t have all day.”

“I can
walk just fine,” I shot back, annoyed by his condescending tone.

“No you
can’t. Don’t be a brat, hop on before we both freeze to death.”

I opened
my mouth to protest but closed it when another gust of wind hit my face like an
icy baseball bat. Knowing he was right, I begrudgingly mounted him, feeling my
chest press against the hardness of his back as I wrapped my arms and legs
around his torso. His body exuded enormous heat—probably because he had been
running not long ago—and it permeated the layers of wet cotton separating us.
The sensation was warm and comforting making my pulse beat a steady staccato in
my ears.

I didn’t
have the will to protest, especially considering how comfortable the ride was,
so we kept each other warm as we walked through the trail.

Five
minutes later, my cramp had gone away and we arrived at a brick apartment
complex. He’d been right: his place was much closer than the dorms. It was one
of those off-campus student apartments. They weren’t officially owned by the
college, but a lot of the upperclassmen stayed in them, and they were usually
much nicer than the on-campus dorms.

After
walking up the steps to the second floor with me on his back, he set me down in
front of apartment “2E”. We went inside and he closed the door behind us. My
shivering stopped almost immediately. I was so grateful the apartment was much
warmer than outside. I released a deep breath, relieved I was no longer in
danger of freezing to death.