Page 52 of Corrupted Lies

If that was a lie, he didn't care so long as she believed it.

No failure here.

Getting Alannah safe was all he cared about.

“I’ll t-try.”

“You’ll do it,” he corrected, anything less was unacceptable.

“M-Maybe you sh-should g-go a-alone. I d-don’t w-want you to g-get h-hurt be-because of m-me.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Y-You c-could come b-back for m-me.”

“No. I said no, Alannah,” he added when she opened her mouth to argue some more. There was no way he was leaving her alone in the ocean while he got himself past the rocks. There was not a doubt in his mind that when he found help and came back for her, he wouldn't find her.

She was teetering on the edge, and he was pretty sure it was only his presence and her fear of anything happening to him because of her that was keeping her going.

“Come on, we’ll do this together.”

Maintaining his hold on her because he knew she didn't have the energy to swim on her own and he didn't want to lose her to the ocean, Jake swam them both closer to the shore.

Ironically, it was only because the storm had died down that he thought they stood a good chance of getting past the rocks. If they’d stumbled upon the shore at the peak of the storm, he was pretty sure that any attempts at getting to the sand on the other side would have resulted in nothing other than their bodies being dashed to pieces as the harsh waves rammed them into the unforgiving rock.

Timing was everything.

As he swam closer, he catalogued every rock formation, every small gap around them.

Then he spotted it.

A little to their right, the rocks ended, opening into a little cove, maybe fifty feet wide, before the rocks began again as they circled the rest of the sand within sight.

That was where they’d aim.

Too weak now to do much but give a few feeble kicks, Alannah allowed him to pull her along with him, and her acquiescence was beginning to scare him. Of course, he was glad she wasn’t fighting him, but the fact that she had so little energy left to swim told him that he wasn't just running out of time, he was basically out of it.

Thankfully, the sky was lightening, and with the storm dying down and thus the waves no longer as fierce as they’d been earlier, he was able to steer them with relative ease toward where he wanted them to go.

Right as he was rounding the edges of the rocks, a wave slammed into him.

For one horrifying second, Jake was positive that he’d just killed them both.

One strike against the rocks would be all it took to break at least a couple of their bones. Weak as she was, Alannah wouldn't be able to survive, and even though he was doing a lot better than she was, he was running dangerously low on energy as well.

A hit could take them both out.

Permanently.

It had been a long time since he’d gone to the beach, but when he was a kid, he and Jax would spend most of their summer playing in the sand and swimming in the ocean. They’d both gotten pretty good at body surfing. Learning how to read the waves and where to place themselves in their path so they could ride them all the way to the shore.

That was exactly what he did now.

Pivoting so that the wave worked for him rather than against him, he managed to get them both planted right in the perfect position.

As the wave surged again, it took them around the rocks and rushed them right toward the safety of the sandy beach before them.

The next thing Jake knew, he could feel the sand beneath his body.

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