Undertow by K.R. Conway (1st book in trilogy)

Chapter 10

Raef carried me quickly through Dalca's backdoor and into the kitchen, stopping at the table to hook one foot under the chair nearest us and pulling it out away from the table.  Gingerly, he sat me down in the chair, keeping my left leg in his arm. 

He reached for the empty seat to his side and looked up to Ana, who had rounded the kitchen entrance, a pillow in her hand. Raef took it and in one smooth movement, tucked the pillow under my leg and rested both on the chair.

As gentle as he was, my face betrayed my outward stoicism and I winced at the burn, still twisting itself around the wounded ankle. It was as if someone had branded my leg, then continued to drag a burlap rope around it.

The sensation was brutal.

Raef, kneeling next to me, didn't miss the flash of pain cross my face. "I should never have left you alone," he said, furious at himself.

"It's not your fault. I decided to go back to the car. How would either of us have known that some lowlife was going to be such a jerk and send me for a swim," I said, wrapping the old blanket tighter around me. He was right about getting out of my wet clothes as fast as possible. I had warmed up fairly quickly now that I was down to just my skivvies and a fleece blanket. Raef, however, was still in ice-cold apparel.

"You really should get changed," I said, amazed he wasn't shivering like I had been. "You're going to catch pneumonia. Maybe Dalca has something here." I looked to Ana, hopeful as my leg started to throb harder.

Ana rolled her eyes, "Oh fine. I think Dalca left some stuff here for me to bring to Goodwill. Let me go look."

She disappeared around the kitchen doorway, and I could hear her footsteps heading up the staircase to the second floor. I looked back down at Raef, who was still kneeling next to me. "Thanks, by the way, for jumping in after me."

Raef reached out and caressed my cheek with his wide hand, "Always, Eila. Always."

Just then Ana came in with a t-shirt and jeans. "Alright, Michael Phelps, here are some clothes. Now strip." Raef turned to Ana who was holding out the clothes.

"We need to take a look at Eila's ankle. She said she hit it falling into the water. And . . . there was also something in the water with her," he said, looking almost . . . dangerous.

Ana's normally flippant demeanor was crossed with a fleeting shadow of fear. "Good thing you were there," she replied slowly.

It was strange, but I had a sneaky suspicion that they had a shared idea of what hauled me down into the frigid channel.

Raef pulled the soaking t-shirt over his head and I gasped. He spun around, "What? Are you alright?" he asked, worried.

"Uh, yeah. But YOU aren't!" I reached out to touch his flawless physique that was now marred by a deep gash on his back, but he turned deftly out of my reach. His move to avoid my touch surprised me a little.

            Ana leaned over and inspected Raef's back and then glanced at him, her jaw tight. "What? I didn't feel it!" Raef said defensively.

She looked over to where I sat. "If you don't mind I need to take your personal lifeguard upstairs where I have a first aid kit. Can I borrow him?" There was a sparkle in her knowing eye and I returned her gaze with a half-hearted look of death.  She knew I liked him, but it was mortifying to have her flaunt it in front of him.  Of course, I thought he liked me too, since he did jump into 55-degree water to save me, sea creature and all.

"We need to call her," said Raef, apparently not listening to Ana about the Band-Aids.

"I will, but you need to be fixed first," said Ana, her eyes darting to me for a moment.