Page 24 of Persuaded

She spun around and stared at him for a beat. “I don’t do ‘no,’” she said, then set her jaw and took another step further out. “I’m gonna jump one wave. Crap, I can’t feel my toes!”

She staggered under the impact of the next wave even though the water only reached her knees, obviously alcohol impaired.

The wave after that rolled in stronger; it swept up around her thighs, knocking her back a step and soaking the bottom of her heavy coat.

Joshua’s stomach twisted anxiously as he retreated up the beach away from the frothing water.

“This is stupid,” he muttered and saw an answering grimace on Finn’s face. “Liz, you’re too deep!”

“He’s right,” Lexa yelled. “You’ve won the dare, come back in!”

“No, fuck it, I’m doing this!” Liz shouted back, laughing and struggling to hold her coat out of the water as the next wave bowled toward her. “On three... One, two—”

With a triumphant yell, she jumped...

But something went wrong. She stumbled as she landed, her sodden coat dragging in the water. Windmilling her arms, she lurched backwards but couldn’t find her balance and with a shriek she went down. Under. The next wave rolled right over the place where she’d been standing.

Joshua’s heart pounded hard, his whole body freezing in panic. For a terrible, endless moment everyone stood staring, waiting for her to get up.

But she didn’t.

She didn’t get up.

And then Finn yelled “Liz!” and bolted into the water, falling to his knees as he reached her.

Ali screamed, Lexa cursed, and Joshua pushed past them both to reach Finn.

The cold water hit like a punch, stealing his breath as it swirled up around his knees.

Finn had dragged Liz’s head out of the water, dark blood blooming across her face, but they had to get her onto the beach.

“Finn.” Joshua shook his shoulder. “Come on, move.”

Finn nodded, dazed, and between them they dragged Liz up onto the sand. Finn put his hand to her mouth. “She’s breathing,” he said, voice shaky. “Thank fuck.” Finn started peeling her sopping coat off and Joshua unzipped his jacket, handing it to Finn to wrap around her.

“We need an ambulance.” Joshua’s teeth clattered together. “Someone call an ambulance.”

Finn pulled out his phone and cursed. “No signal.” He jerked to his feet, looked up at Sean’s house. “I’ll go—”

“Wait!” Joshua grabbed his arm. “Lexa,” he said, “you can get a signal at the bottom of Sandy Lane. It’s closer. You know the way in the dark?”

She bolted along the beach, yelling, “I got it!”

“Oh God, it’s my fault,” Ali sobbed. “It’s all my fault.”

Joshua put an arm around her. “It’s not,” he said, his gaze fixed on Finn who knelt in the wet sand holding Liz close. His arms were wrapped around Joshua’s jacket, Liz’s head lolling against his chest.

Hardly the time for envy, but it intruded anyway. Stupidly, selfishly Joshua saw the devastation on Finn’s face and wished it was for him. It never would be, though, and he made himself think of Matt, asleep in Sean’s house, to quell his unworthy thoughts.

“Ali,” he said. “Can you get back to Sean’s on your own? Tell him what happened and to bring blankets.”

She nodded and wiped her eyes, gaze lingering on Finn. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, but Finn didn’t even look up.

Joshua squeezed her arm. “Go on. Fetch Sean.”

Once she was heading back to the house, Joshua crouched down next to Finn. “Any change?”

Finn shook his head. “God, Josh ...” He sounded broken, looked up at last with horrified eyes. “How am I gonna tell her kid?”

“She’ll be okay.” He swallowed his own distress, focused on Finn’s. “The ambulance will be here soon—it’ll come right onto the beach. It’s what they do in the summer, if a surfer gets hurt.”

“It’s my fault,” Finn said, as if he hadn’t heard a word. “She was trying to— Fuck .”

Impress me , were the words he didn’t say. Joshua didn’t fill in the blanks. “Listen to me—it’s not your fault.” He resisted the urge to reach out, to offer physical comfort. His wasn’t the touch Finn wanted.

It felt like they were alone on that beach forever, Finn cradling Liz close, his eyes shut and face pained, and Joshua crouching beside him shivering so hard his bones rattled.

But at last he saw lights coming from Sandy Lane, a blue bar on the roof of a four-by-four flashing as the headlights threw everything into dancing shadows.

“They’re here,” he said, touching Finn’s shoulder to rouse him.

Then he heard a shout from behind them and Sean and Ali came running across the sand. Sean had blankets in his arms.

“Oh my God, Finn!” He looked stricken when he saw Liz, but by then the paramedics were spilling out of the ambulance and taking control. Lexa was with them.

Someone pulled Joshua to his feet and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders. “You’re freezing, man,” Sean said, keeping a hand on Joshua’s arm.

He just nodded because his teeth were chattering so hard, and watched the paramedics wrap Liz in foil blankets and check her eyes and head, calling out words he didn’t understand.

Once they got her onto a backboard, Finn followed as they lifted her into the ambulance.

“Can I go with her?” he said, voice shivery with cold.

“Are you family, sir?”

“I—”

“He’s her boyfriend,” Ali called out.

Lexa added, “They’re practically engaged.”

“Okay.” The paramedic eyed Finn, wrapped a foil blanket around him too and said, “In you get, Romeo.” She glanced at Sean. “We’re taking her to St. Theresa’s.”

“Thank you,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Finn—we’ll be right behind you.”

From the back of the ambulance, Finn nodded but said nothing. For an instant his gaze lingered on Joshua, and then the doors shut and the ambulance crawled its way back along the beach.

“Shit,” Sean breathed into the night.

* * *

Chaos broke out once they reached Sean’s house.

Ali crumpled into tears, blaming herself, while Dee tried to console her even as she swore them all off alcohol forever—much to Lexa’s distress.

Sean and Tejana were mortified that this had happened at their party, and everyone wanted to go to the hospital.

But Joshua was the only one sober enough to drive, even if he couldn’t stop shaking, and they couldn’t all fit into his car—plus, Matt was asleep upstairs.

The dilemma was resolved when Finn called.

Joshua could only hear one end of the conversation, but it was clear that Liz was stable, but not conscious, and that Finn needed to come home and change his wet clothes.

Sean said, “I can’t, man, I’m way over the limit.” He looked at Joshua. “Yeah, he’s still here. Hang on, I’ll ask.”

“Of course,” Joshua said, before Sean could speak. “I’ll get him.” He felt an inappropriate pulse of pleasure that Finn had asked him for the favor. But his shoes were sodden, his jeans soaked right up past the knees. “I’ll just stop home and change first, if that’s okay?”

Sean relayed the message and then said, “Finn wants you to take my car. He says the roads are slick”—he rolled his eyes—“and you have crappy tires.”

There was a fifty-fifty chance Joshua’s car wouldn’t start anyway, and this was no time for false pride. He took Sean’s keys.

An hour later, he was pulling into the snowy parking lot of St. Theresa’s and gingerly parking Sean’s expensive car. He crunched over the snow to the sliding doors that swooshed open and welcomed him in with a blast of warm, clinical air.

On Christmas night, the small ER was almost empty and he spotted Finn immediately, sitting with elbows on knees and a foil blanket scrunched up on the chair next to him.

Under the harsh fluorescent light, Finn’s face showed every one of the years that stood between them.

He was pale beneath his tan, fine lines creasing the corners of his eyes and his knuckles blanched where his fingers clenched together.

The doors slid shut and Finn looked up. Across the empty room their eyes met and Finn lurched to his feet like a puppet having its strings jerked. “Hey,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Thanks for coming to get me.”

“Of course. How’s Liz? Any news?”

Finn shook his head. “It’s a subdural... I can’t remember the name. She hit her head—must have been a rock under the water—and there’s swelling on the brain. They’re gonna have to—” His voice cracked and he stopped talking.

“I’m sorry.” Torn between wanting to go to him and wanting to look away so he couldn’t see how much Finn cared for someone else, Joshua did neither. “But she’s in the right place.”

Finn nodded and kept his eyes fixed on the floor.

“Are you...?” Joshua glanced around, but there were no staff. “Are you ready to go? I can wait, if you need to stay.”

“No, I’m good. Her folks are with her and they’ll only let family back there.” Finn cleared his throat. “Better get it over with, anyway.”

What that meant, Joshua wasn’t sure—the drive home together? “I brought Sean’s car,” he said, in case Finn was worrying about his crappy tires in the snow. “But the roads aren’t so bad.”

A confusing flicker of a smile touched Finn’s lips as they headed for the door. “Surprised your rust bucket even runs in this weather,” he said. “You should drive one of your old man’s cars.”

“They aren’t his cars anymore,” Joshua pointed out, shivering as they stepped into the cold.

He still hadn’t fully warmed up from his dip in the sea.

“Besides, I haven’t taken a penny from him since he threw me out and I don’t plan on starting.

” Finn fixed him with a steady look, but said nothing, and Joshua nodded towards the far side of the parking lot. “We’re over there.”

They drove back in silence. Finn stared out the passenger window and Joshua spared him a couple of looks, but didn’t try to make him speak. Whatever they might have to say to each other, this wasn’t the time.