Page 2 of Reaper and Ruin

I ignored the voice in my head that whispered if he drowned, it wouldn’t just be Violet’s grief I’d be dealing with.

It would be my own too.

For all X pissed me off and drove me mad, I apparently loved the idiot.

Or at least liked him enough to not want to see him dead. “X!”

“Whip!”

I closed my eyes for the briefest of seconds, because X’s gasping voice had never sounded so good. He was nearby, and I squinted through the darkness, Levi at my side doing the same.

“There!” I caught sight of X’s flailing hand before he sank under the waves. Not waiting for Levi, I swam with sure, strong strokes, gaze fixed on the spot I’d last seen X, mentally praying for his head to pop back up and assure me I was on the right track.

The waves came from all directions, whipped up by the wind and the rain. The dark storm clouds blocked most of the moonlight, making it impossible to see much, but I held my breath, waiting and silently urging for him to pop back up. “X!”

All that surfaced were his fingers.

But it was enough.

I desperately dove for him, plunging beneath the water, frantically feeling around, my heart pounding when I couldn’t get a grip on anything but the freezing water. The seconds ticked by, a roar in my head, each one screaming he’d been under too long, and that if he died, it would be on me.

My hand hit something solid, and on instinct more than thought, my fingers clenched around it.

His head broke the surface, and he gasped for air. “Took you long enough!”

I blinked, kicking hard to keep both of us afloat. “What?”

I was fully sure I was hallucinating. Hell, maybe I’d swallowed too much seawater and it was me who was drowning.

“Took you long enough!” He grasped at me, yanking me in closer with his panicked, clawing fingers. He pushed me beneath the swirling water, trying to keep himself afloat.

I kicked away from him, enough that I could get up and get another breath while still keeping my grip on his arm. I broke the surface only for him to shove me beneath the water again in his panic.

When I got back up, I spluttered, heaving in water-laced breaths. “X! You idiot! You’re drowning me! Just chill the fuck out!”

But he thrashed about in the water, dragging me under, over and over again. He held on to my shoulders like I was his damn island while I fought uselessly to keep us both afloat.

“I am a land-dwelling creature, Whip! I am not made for the sea!”

We were both going to be made for a watery fucking grave if he didn’t stop drowning me.

“I’m Rose, not Jack! Let me on the door!”

I took in another mouthful of water and mentally planned all the ways I would kill him and hisTitanicreferences once I saved him.

“Levi!” I bellowed the next time I managed to get my head above water.

As if I’d summoned him from the depths of Hell, Levi appeared out of the darkness. “X! Stop! You’re not fucking drowning anymore, you’re killing him!”

He wasn’t wrong. I was struggling. My energy rapidly depleted in the cold water. I coughed and spluttered, trying to untangle myself from X’s grip.

If I didn’t get away from him, Levi was going to be saving us both.

But X couldn’t stop. He flailed and fought to keep hold of me, his survival instinct outweighing everything else. He gulped air wide-eyed, like he’d never see the sky again.

I went under once more, my curses turning to silence beneath the water.

Fuck this.