Page 75 of Pitcher Perfect
Meanwhile, Vivica was in a distant third and appeared to be swimming in the wrong direction. But Robbie’s attention remained locked on Skylar and when she stopped swimming completely and her head disappeared under the surface, his fucking soul left his body.
“Skylar,” he shouted.
She had a cramp. She’d gotten dizzy and lost consciousness.
Jaws is real and he’s in the reservoir.
Bad. Bad. Something bad.
Robbie’s brain snapped into survival mode and he quickly scoped out the surrounding shoreline, trying to judge if therewas a closer entry point into the lake to her location—and there was. There was. He broke into a sprint without taking his focus off the spot where she’d gone down—
She emerged from the water and Robbie made a broken sound, but he didn’t slow down, not one iota, because she was visibly struggling.
“What the fuck.What the fuck,” he chanted, finally reaching the closest section of the beach and barreling full speed into the water, breaking into a swim as soon as the water got waist-deep. He didn’t allow himself to speculate on what was wrong with Skylar or what could happen if he didn’t get there in time. No. Just go.Go.
It seemed like an hour had passed by the time he reached Skylar, when in reality it had probably been under three minutes. She flailed in the water with an expression of pure fatigue, followed by the relief of seeing him.
Robbie, she mouthed without sound.
“I’ve got you.” He turned her around, banding an arm across her collarbone, and immediately reversed direction back to shore, adrenaline moving like lightning through his veins. “Breathe, Skylar. I’ve got you.”
“I don’t know what happened.” Her teeth were chattering, no doubt from fear, as well as the water temperature. “My leg cramped and I tried to... push through it but I got so tired trying to compensate...”
“Okay. I figured it was something like that. Deep breaths. You’re going to be fine.”
“I didn’t think anyone would see me,” she whispered, breath hitching.
“Really, Rocket?” Robbie labored through a few inhales, exhales. A few violent clenches of his heart. “Don’t you know I never stop looking at you?”
She wrapped herself around his arm, holding on so tight, his throat constricted. By now, Skylar’s parents and Elton had become alerted to the emergency. Elton was currently swimming in their direction with an obvious sense of urgency, Doug and Vivica waiting on the shore holding each other and looking terrified.
Robbie could relate. Now that Skylar was safely in his arms, angry cymbals smashed together in his head. Visions of what could have happened plagued him. By the time he was able to put his feet down and carry Skylar the remaining distance to land in his arms, the blood vessels behind his eyes were on the verge of bursting.
“Towels!Get her some towels.”
Madden appeared, holding a stack of striped beach towels in his arms, his concern for Skylar obvious and at that moment, Robbie didn’t have the capacity to be jealous. Later, maybe. Right now, as he held a shivering Skylar to his body while everyone wrapped towels around her, he was racked with residual fear—and frankly, outrage. Not over the competition itself, but the fact that it stood in place of emotional bonding. The kind he was starting to sense more and more that Skylar needed.
“Never again. She’sneverdoing the swimming challenge again. Or any other dangerous ones. Is everyone listening to me?” Having cocooned her as much as possible in various shades of terrycloth, Robbie caught her in a bear hug. “Please stop shaking. Please stop shaking.”
“I’m okay.”
“I’m not. You almost drowned because the Pages can’t sit in the living room and play charades like a normal family.” He looked all three Pages in the eye, one by one. “The need to continually prove herself is going to get herkilled.”
“Hold on just a damn second—” Doug blustered.
“The games feed our competitive spirit. They’reours,” Vivica insisted, but her eyes held a note of worry as she regarded her daughter. “Skylar, you enjoy them, don’t you?”
“I don’t know,” Skylar said hesitantly, her voice muffled by Robbie’s neck. “I guess I don’t know anymore.”
Several seconds of silence passed.
Madden observed the ground, while Elton stared at his sister, as if trying to solve a puzzle. And Robbie was caught off guard by his own concern for the family. All of them. Maybe he’d been insensitive by pointing out the fatal Page flaws this morning. He didn’t regret it, though. His concern was Skylar and anything that had the potential to hurt her, physically or emotionally, needed to be addressed.
This is what Sig meant. About no one working harder to make her happy. I get it.
Holy shit. I’m capable of learning.
“We talk about these games all year, Sky,” Elton said finally, appearing baffled, but veering toward concerned, like his mother. “We look forward to them.”
