Page 84 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

Chapter 27

Laura

I remembered the crash of the water as my body impacted with its surface. I felt myself getting carried away, floating in suspension. But if this was drowning, then it wasn’t peaceful. I remembered the panicked surge of my lungs as I went for air, then a slow, slipping away, as my frozen limbs failed to move. I’d never been much of a good swimmer, like Kyle. But after a time, the darkness seemed to fold around me, and eventually, it was as if I was fading away, my whole body succumbing to the weight of the water.

But then I felt arms around me, pressure. And before I knew it, I was rising, soaking from the water, almost unconscious. For a while, I slipped into sleep, or fainted: I don’t remember which. At one point, I came too and realized I was being carried. I fell asleep, but all I could see behind my eyes as I bumped and rocked through the darkness was the look of horror on Lucien’s face as he’d seen me fall.

Then, slowly in the darkness, a thudding heartbeat. I opened my eyes and shut them immediately, dazed by a bright, red light. I opened them again, this time slowly.

I was curled up on a couch in a tiny room. In front of me, a fire crackled, the flames dancing above a neat pile of logs. I tried to raise my arms but could hardly move them. It was like I was struggling to lift them, and I wondered if I was dreaming, that the bright, hot fire, bare wooden walls, and rugged stone hearth were just my imagination, and really I was at the bottom of the river. But as my hands flailed, they felt soft, and soon I realized that I was wrapped in a warm blanket.

I lifted my head and looked around the room a little more as my vision swam. Where was I? Suddenly, another thundercrack deafened me overhead, and I realized that the rain was battering the outside walls of the cabin.

I stood up, steadying myself on the couch as I did. My head ached and I could feel my cheeks burning, as if I was coming down with a fever. I looked up, and as the lightning flashed before me, I saw the massive, dark shadow standing in the doorway.

“Lucien!”

“Are you okay?” he growled.

“I…I think so. What…happened?”

“I dragged you out of the river is what happened.”

“Where are we?”

“No idea. It’s not abandoned, though. I thought if I could carry you across the woods, we’d end up by the rail depot. Luckily, I found this place.”

“You…carried me?” I remembered the files, the basement. My worst fears about Lucien. For a little while back there on the trail, I’d even wondered if he’d taken me off the path for a reason, to silence me.

But now it all seemed so ridiculous, as Lucien took hold of my arms and placed me back down onto the couch.

After I’d been staring into the fire for a while, he came back with a steaming mug of tea and a bowl of ramen noodles, the kind that come in instant packets.

“Where did you get this?” I asked him, as I ate greedily. The noodles were the same kind my mom had made for us as kids.

“It was in the cupboards. Like I said, this place can’t be abandoned. Even if it doesn’t seem like it’s had much love over the years.”

“Well, thanks,” I said. “And thank you, mystery occupant.”

“Believe me,” he grinned. “I’m not looking forward to explaining to the owner how we managed to get ourselves into this mess.”

His eyes looked full of concern, and as I sipped a deep draught of the steaming mug in an attempt to warm myself up, I stared at him.

“What’s the matter?”

But before I knew it, Lucien had clasped his arms around me. I could hear his soft, deep breathing as he placed his head up against mine and felt the warmth of his face on my chilled skin.

“I thought I’d lost you for a second back there,” he said, breathing heavily.

“Hey,” I said, cradling his face with one of my hands. “I’m fine, okay?”

“You’re shivering,”

“Come here then.”

*

That night, we held each other in the cabin’s bed, hearing the rain die away outside. The thunder retreated back across the valley until we could barely hear it.