dream.
Out of habit, I counted the heads of the children. I’d been doing it randomly throughout the entire day.
Six.
I frowned and came to a stop, butter knife in one hand, and a handful of M&M’s that I was probably going to regret later in the other.
There should only be five heads in the pool…
That’s when I saw the sixth head bob up, then sink slowly back down.
There was no splashing.
There was no flailing.
There was no sound at all.
Just a slow sinking, a bob back up, and then a sinking again.
Like a bobber on a lake in the middle of a calm day.
Sink. Up. Sink. Up.
That’s when it hit me.
Like a battering ram straight to the chest.
I ran across the yard, through the rose bushes, over the wall that separated the pool from the back yard, and all but dove into the pool in my need to get to the child that most assuredly wasn’t supposed to be in the pool.
I caught the boy up around the body, kicking lightly to keep myself and him afloat, and started to pound him on the back.
He coughed and spewed water, eventually throwing up on me.
“Oh no! Jordan!” I heard one of the kids say. “Is he okay?”
The baby’s name was apparently Jordan. The rest of the kids in the pool finally noticed that something was going on.
“Jordan! Oh my God! Why are you in the pool without your floatie?” I heard the frantic niece of Hunt say.
I wasn’t sure of her name. I couldn’t remember them.
None of them had introduced themselves to me, and I could only guess at who they were at this point.
“You okay, buddy?” I said softly, ignoring the vomit that was down my chest and looking the child in his eyes.
They were wide and terrified.
And he threw himself toward me, wrapping his arms so tight around my neck that at first I was surprised by the power of a two-year-old’s grip.
“Give him to me!” I heard screamed.
I made my way toward the edge of the pool, surprised when I saw that Hunt was in the pool next to me.
He was just standing there, waist deep, staring at me. His eyes were wide and terrified, and he looked like he couldn’t quite decide whether or not to come to me or not.
I swallowed hard and looked away, my gaze going to the sister of Hunt’s, the mother of the little boy.
She gestured with one impatient hand for me to give the boy to her, and I could do nothing less.
She snatched him from me the moment that I got close enough, and then he was halfway across the pool’s sidewalk as they all converged on him.
Hunt hadn’t moved out of the pool, and neither had I.
I started to cry then, and he pulled me into his arms. Vomit and all.
“Can we eat now?” Fred asked from his spot on the chair where he’d planted himself at some point.
Hell, he was so focused on his phone that I wondered if he even realized how fucking scary the last two minutes had been.
“I hate them,” he grumbled as he pressed his forehead against mine. “I hate them. I hate them. I hate them.”
“I hate them, too,” I told him. “I think it’s time to go now.”
He growled. “Do you have clothes to change into in your purse?”
He’d suggested I get them, so of course I had some. I did listen to instructions very well.
“Yes.”
He let me go, and I sank a little bit, some of the vomit floating off of me and into the pool around me.
The pool that the children were still swimming in without a care in their little worlds.
Must be nice.
Because I was seriously shaken to my core.
Hunt tugged at my hand and I reluctantly pulled myself from the pool.
My brand new shoes were gone, and my legs looked like I’d traipsed through thorns…
Which, now that I thought about it, I’d actually done.
“Lovely,” I said as I looked down at all the blood that was coating those scratches.
CHAPTER 10
I find myself using the word ‘shitshow’ significantly more than I used to.
-Hunt to Wyett
HUNT
My heart was still thundering.
I’d been watching for Wyett to come back out and trying to ignore my sister’s talking about how ‘unsuitable’ she was for me when I’d seen her gaze go to the pool as she came out the door.
Her face went from annoyed to confused to horror-stricken in the span of a few seconds.
The moment that she started running, I pushed all three of