Sleeping With the Enemy

Sequel: Chapter Twenty One

Anthony

I stood helplessly on the edge of the dock, my chest so tight I could hardly breathe. Treacherous flames engulfed the boat it as it drifted further and further away, ripping my heart to shreds as it did. For a few seconds, I was paralyzed, so horrified and scared that I couldn't move. 

The roar of the blaze was deafening as the flames grew higher and higher, lighting up the night sky as if it was the middle of the afternoon. There was shouting coming from behind me, but I couldn't make out who was yelling or what they were saying. 

All that mattered to me was Gemma, and if there was even the slightest chance I could still save her, I had to try. 

Coming to my senses, I leapt into the icy water, swimming toward it with every ounce of strength I could muster. I wasn't sure what I'd do when I got there. Every inch of the boat was burning and we'd be in the middle of the harbor by then. 

Still, I fought against the current and made my way as best I could. I was nearly there when the entire thing exploded, the hot blast hitting my like a freight train. I went under for a few seconds, and came up gasping for air, disoriented and frantic. Flames and burning debris rained down around as I tried to catch my breath. 

"Fuck!" I hissed, watching what was left of the boat sink beneath the surface. I was so close to her. So close to pulling her to safety. So close to saving her. "Gemma!"

Defeat and anguish washed over me, but I still didn't want to believe it. Gemma could survive that. She was incredibly strong, and she'd know we were coming for her. She'd do absolutely anything she could to hang on until we got to her. She wasn't gone. There was no way. 

"Gemma!" I called again, reaching for her voice among the deafening silence that set in. The only thing I could hear was the flickering of embers as they burned out and Brandon's hellacious screams from back on the dock. 

I couldn't go back there and face him. Not until I had her. 

I started sifting through the debris, desperate for some sign that she was okay. That she was alive, and just too badly hurt to answer me. The alternative was just too much to bear. If I let myself think she was really gone, I'd never survive. I'd die right here in the water with her. 

Frantically, I splashed around in the water, until I felt my dad's arms wrapped around me. 

"Let me go." I begged. "I have to find her." 

"Anthony..." My dad cautioned, pulling me back toward the dock. "You've got to let it go. Gemma's gone. If she was on that boat, there is no way she survived." 

I fought against him for a few seconds, but eventually gave in. It took too much of my strength, and I exhausted, close to hypothermia. As he pulled my back onto the rickety dock, every bit of my soul shattered as reality set in. 

In the short time I'd known her, Gemma took everything I thought I knew, and turned it upside down. She was everything beautiful and good in my world, evidence of the only thing I'd ever done right. Choosing her changed my life, and now I wasn't sure if it was worth living if she wasn't by my side. If I couldn't hold her in my arms, hear that sweet voice, or see her glowing smile. 

A dark heaviness settled in my head, and all I saw was rage. 

Black-out, violent, unrelenting rage. 

Behind me, Brandon reigned down punishing punch after punch onto Diego. The look in his eye wasn't even human, but I'd never understood him more than I did in that moment. Diego took something precious from both of us, and even this painful death was nowhere near penance enough.