Page 158 of Sunkissed Colorado

“No.” She managed to sit up. “Help her. Can’t let her die. P-please.”

I stared into Zandra’s dark eyes for another split second. Then I nodded. “You have to wait here.”

My brain got firing enough to make me pull my phone from my pocket. Lucky it hadn’t gotten wet, but I’d hardly been thinking about that.

I handed the phone to her. “Call 9-1-1 if you can. If not, don’t worry. I’m going to get her.”

My instincts screamed at me to stay with Zandra and make sure she was okay, but instead I found myself wading back into the water, fighting the pull of the current to get to Winnie. She was exactly where she’d fallen a couple of minutes ago. Rolling her over, I got a grip on her and picked her up. She was out cold, and a gash of red crossed the bridge of her nose, dripping blood over her damp face.

Once I had her on the bank, I laid Winnie out and checked her vitals. “She’s breathing.”

Zandra crawled over to us. “Police coming. Winnie?—”

“She’ll live.” That was all the effort I could spend on her at the moment.

I had to get my girl dry and warm and back in my arms, where she belonged.

Zandra was still trembling as I carried her up the slope to the truck. In the backseat, I grabbed the blanket and started rubbing it over her, trying to dry her the best I could. The water had been icy, but we were still far from winter. I wasn’t too worried about her core temperature. About everything else though? Fuck yes, I was worried.

Especially when tears streaked down Zandra’s face like a dam had just broken.

“She pushed Jessa. She was there. Winnie killed her.”

“Winnie killed Jessa?”

Zandra nodded, those tears continuing to fall. I wrapped her in my embrace. The high-pitched wail of sirens was getting closer.

“I…figured it out. She attacked me. Tried to…”

So Zandra had somehow discovered the truth. And Winnie had tried to kill her for it. I kissed her damp hair above the cocoon of the blanket. “But you wanted me to make sure she was out of the water.”

“Couldn’t let her die. Not like this.”

Some might’ve called it poetic justice if Winnie had died in the same way Jessa had all those years ago. Though I still couldn’t make any sense of why Winnie had done what she did.

But what Icouldunderstand was my Sunflower. My grumpy, scowly Zandra couldn’t bear to see anyone else, even her worst enemy, die like her best friend had.

“More hot cocoa?” I lifted the thermos.

“How about more rum?”

I grinned. “Happy to oblige.” Zandra held out her mug, and I poured more liquor into it, then did the same to mine.

It had been a long-ass twenty-four hours, but we were finally relaxing, just us. Even had a small fire going in a portable gas fire pit that Connor had picked up from somewhere and stuck in our backyard.

No field of sunflowers this time, because being home was what Zandra needed. And it certainly suited me just fine.

After the police had rolled up last night, Winnie and Zandra had both been taken to the hospital. Thankfully, Zandra was completely fine. No more than a few scratches. Last I heard, Winnie was being treated for a concussion and had been placed under arrest. At the very least, for the assault on Zandra.

We’d barely slept last night, between interviews with thepolice, then sitting up with our friends and family, who rallied around us just like the night of the fire.

We’d ended up over at Ashford and Emma’s place, drinking coffee and just being together. Zandra’s parents had not appreciated the change of venue, since we’d gathered at their place last time. But they were just going to have to get used to it. The Alvarezes and the O’Neals were going to be one big, happy family if I had anything to say about it.

If Zandra had wanted to go back to her parents’ house again, I would’ve been on board, of course. But things had been getting a little suffocating there.

She and I had wound up falling asleep in Ashford’s guestroom, sleeping half the day, then waking up to chocolate chip pancakes, Maisie’s giggling, and Stella’s antics. I’d been so fucking relieved to see Zandra smile while she played a silly board game with my niece.

And now, we were finally back home. Darius and Connor had been seeing to Chloe, who’d raced over to rub against Zandra’s legs the moment we got back. We had both cleaned up, changed into our comfiest clothes—Zandra in my SRFD sweatshirt—and then came out here to the patio.