Page 81 of Pirate

Shadows bathed them, but there was just barely enough light for Pirate to see how pale Scar looked. Scar’s sapphire eyes met his, like blue lights on a Christmas tree. There was something in them, something Pirate couldn’t discern.

When Pirate went to touch Scar’s wrist, he saw Scar shift. Sophia slowly began to rise up towards Pirate. Their frantic eyes met. She was clinging onto Scar’s hand with all her might. There was no doubt that, if she let go, she would surely die.

Like a bodybuilder doing an arm curl, Scar lifted Sophia up to Pirate’s outstretched hand. Noises came from behind him, but Pirate didn’t dare look. Shouts of shock and yells for assistance only served as distractions. As soon as Sophia was lifted up enough, Pirate grabbed her wrist.

It was difficult to get her to let go of Scar’s arm. As if she’d glued herself to him in fear. Pirate couldn’t blame her in the slightest. From what he’d seen of their fall, Scar had not only caught her, but also caught himself on the edge of the bridge. It was an unprecedented feat.

“I’ve got you, baby!” he shouted over the rain. “Let go!”

Finger by finger, Sophia finally released Scar. The man seemed to sag once he lost her weight. It was then that Pirate realized it wasn’t just rain splattered on her face—but blood too. Scar had been shot! In the fear of their pending free fall, somehow that fact had skipped his mind. It was too dark to see on the black material of his shirt, but Pirate estimated the bullet had entered in the proximity of his chest.

Pirate lifted Sophia up, the metal of the guardrail biting into the palm of his left hand. Hands were suddenly there.

The club had arrived. Pirate subconsciously took note of Bulldog, Steel, Lucky, Ghost, and his brother standing on the other side of the rail. They easily took Sophia’s weight from him and lifted her to safety on the surface of the bridge.

As soon as his hand was free, Pirate looked back down and saw to his horror that Scar’s eyes were starting to roll back in his head. His hand was slipping. In a frantic haste, Pirate made a desperate grab for Scar’s wrist.

He caught the other man just as his fingertips left the edge of the bridge. Unbalanced and rainwater treacherously making everything slick, Pirate fell forward under the pull of Scar’s dead weight. His front landed on the thin edge of the bridge. His right arm dangled down with his hand clasped firmly around Scar’s wrist. Pirate was just barely able to keep his grip on the guardrail. Hands grabbed for him. He could feel them on the back of his shirt.

The momentum of the fall smacked Scar’s front against the bridge girder. The man seemed to jerk back into consciousness. But he wasn’t all there. Even in the dim lighting, Pirate could see how bad off Scar was. No doubt, he was losing a lot of blood.

Pirate started to slide over the edge. His grip on the guardrail slipping and his shirt tearing against the strain of the hands trying to keep him where he was. His bicep burned under Scar’s weight, the rain making his hold on Scar’s wrist weak at best.

Sapphire eyes met his. Determination brightened them. Gritting his teeth, Scar swung his other arm up to take hold of Pirate’s wrist. Relief filled Pirate at the reprieve. Scar was going to help him pull him back up to the surface.

But then Scar’s fingers of his left hand dug between Pirate’s fingers and Scar’s right wrist.

“What are you doing!” Pirate shouted even as his chest lost another inch and he hung over open air. The hands holding his shirt were losing the grip, but Pirate refused to let go.

Even as he saw consciousness leave Scar one more time, somehow Scar was still able to break Pirate’s hold on his wrist. In what felt like hours but was only two devastatingly long seconds, Pirate watched, horrified, as Scar’s body floated silentlydown on the wind until he struck the ridged, rushing cold water below and disappeared.

CHAPTER 14

One heartbeat.

Two heartbeats.

It was like someone had turned off the speakers in his ears. All he could hear was thethump…thump…thump…of his own heart inside his chest. The falling rain, the rushing water, the cries of despair, the shouts of confusion… He heard none of it.

Thump…

Thump…

Thump…

Then with a roar of sudden intensity, the switch was flipped and the speakers came blasting on and he heard it all. Hands lifted him. Pirate fought them as if he could undo what just happened so long as he stayed there. Right there.

Sounds of shouted orders, loud horns of fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars, the continued onslaught of the downpour… It didn’t matter that he could now hear it. None of it was making any sense to him. Nothing was making sense to him.

It kept replaying over and over in his head again.

Running, the gunshot, the fall, getting Sophia up, and then Scar…thatlookin his eyes…and then the splash of river water…Over and over again like someone was inside his head rewinding a video tape. Running, the gunshot, the fall, getting Sophia up, and then Scar…thatlookin his eyes…and then the splash of river water…

Pirate was dragged back over the guardrail. It took him a moment to realize that Steel had a tight grip on the front of his shirt and had his face right up to Pirate’s. He was shaking Pirate like a rag doll.

“Snap out of it, Marine!”

Time was playing tricks on him again. How long had it been since he’d let go of Scar’s hand? An hour, maybe two? Why had it taken so long for everyone to arrive? Pirate had been alone on the bridge. He was one man with one and a half legs. How could they have left him alone?

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