Page 156 of Stand: Part One

I could hear Luther and Emmett angrily shouting my name, but I ignored them as I powered through the water. Fuck them. I would not sit back and watch my dog drown.

Camaro continued to bark and struggle against the weeds that held her back and I could see her panic turning frantic. I heard two loud splashes behind me, sure that Emmett and Luther had jumped in after me. If that was what it took to mobilize them then fine, maybe they could be of some actual use.

I reached Camaro within a few seconds of my initial dive, grabbing her collar to get her to stop twisting herself and calm down. With the water being too deep for me to touch, I struggled to keep Camaro contained while she scratched the shit out of my arms.

Quickly tugging away the floating weeds that she’d somehow tangled herself in, I struggled to hold her head above the water while simultaneously kicking to keep myself afloat. She was already starting to tire, her hind legs faltering to keep her up as her lower body started to sink.

“Mrs. Davis!” Emmett yelled at me as they both swam toward me. “What the fuck!”

“She’s stuck in the seaweeds! Get your knife out!”

Apparently, the water wasn’t as deep as I thought because as soon as those fuckers got here they were able to stand with the water stopping just at their chins while my ass was still kicking to stay afloat.

“Move,” Emmett ordered as he pulled out his knife and cut the seaweed while Luther took over my hold of Camaro to keep her from going anywhere and making it worse. As soon as the seaweed was cut, I pulled them away from her while Luther gripped the scruff of Camaro’s neck and held her lower body up as he guided her back to the dock.

“Let’s go,” Emmett said with a disgruntled sigh and pulled me to start swimming back for the dock.

Now that I was coming down from the adrenaline rush, I suddenly became aware of how cold the water really was … or maybe the chill came when I noticed Darren heading toward us from the house. Dread immediately seeped into my stomach.

Goddamnit.

When I reached the dock, I gripped the edge and pulled myself up. Water instantly sloshed everywhere and soaked the wood under my soggy, drenched shoes. Keeping my shoulders squared, I watched Camaro shake the water from her fur, spraying Luther and making me smirk. At least she was okay.

Patting my dog in relief, I started to make my way back up the dock, water dripping from my hair and clothes. I was sure I looked my absolute finest right now.

When Darren’s eyes landed on me, his gaze went cold, fury igniting his features as he stopped at the dock.

“What the hell just happened?” he asked, his voice tight with anger as he looked me up and down.

“Camaro got caught in some seaweed fetching a Frisbee. I jumped in to help her.”

His eyes narrowed, that stern jaw of his clenching with rage as he stared me down.

“Why was she in the water in the first place?”

“Because dumb-fuck McGee over there decided to throw it straight into the lake,” Luther spoke up, pointing at the guard who now stood several feet away from us with three other guards.

Darren turned to look at the guard Luther had pointed at, and the man went so stiff I thought he was going to faint. The rest of the surrounding guards said nothing as they watched, grateful they weren’t the ones catching their boss’s deadly attention.

“Is that true?” Darren asked the guard, his voice barely holding back his agitation.

The guard’s face went visibly white as he stood there completely motionless. “Well, I didn’t think?—”

One swift movement was all Darren made before a gunshot rang out through the air and the guard fell dead to the ground with a bullet wound in his forehead. I barely even flinched. I swore at least one person died around me every day.

“And the two of you let her jump in?” Darren continued, gun still in hand as he turned to address Emmett and Luther, the other guard now completely forgotten.

“Jesus Christ, Darren, it’s not like I was drowning or something. I know how to swim for fuck—” His giant hand struck out like a fucking whip, grasping the entire lower half of my face to cut me off mid-sentence, and yanking me to his chest.

“Not another word,” he warned before turning his heated gaze back to Emmett and Luther.

“We went after her as soon as she bolted,” Emmett said in their defense.

“How far away were you?” Darren asked, unbothered by my incessant struggle as I tried to pry his hand off my damn face. The thing was a fucking vise.

“About fifty feet,” Luther replied.

“From now on it’s twenty feet until I say otherwise.”