Page 12 of Under Water

We’re on the road before Lex turns to me and grips me by the back of my neck. “You should stay in the truck.”

Something in me goes all hot and irritated, enough to blot out the panic for a long second. I haven’t dealt with drowning calls since the kid I lost, and fuck. Rationally, I didn’t think I’d be able to get away with avoiding them for the rest of my career, but it’s been a couple of years, and the guys have been giving me a big cushion.

Until now.

Until there weren’t enough of us at the station for me to stay back.

But maybe they were doing me a giant disservice. It’s a super-fun thing to think about while all I can hear is my heart beating in my ears.

“You gonna pass out on me, Easty?” Lex demands.

I take another long breath, then shake my head. “I can do this.”

“Listen—”

“No.” My voice is short, sharp, cutting above the noise of the truck. Even Ozzie looks over at me. I square my shoulders and fight the urge to knock Lex’s hand off me. “I can do this.”

He stares for a long second, then finally gives a firm nod and lets me go. The space between us allows me to breathe a little easier, and as much as I want to look up at Ozzie, or at Lex, or even see if Teo has been stealing glances at me from behind the wheel, I can’t.

My gaze is stuck on my boots as I feel the truck start to slow. I can tell we’re at the park. It’s less than a five-minute drive in a standard car, so we’ve made it in two. I strain my ears, trying to listen for the screams, just like last time, but there’s nothing apart from the truck engine and the hiss of the brakes as we come to a stop.

Lex wrenches the doors open the moment it’s safe, and without thinking, I’m darting out ahead of him.

“Easton!”

I can’t bring myself to listen. He can handle the equipment. My gaze is now fixed on the small group of people beside the little pond and the one man on his knees giving what is obviously mouth-to-mouth.

But he’s doing it wrong. Fuck. He’s puffing into the boy’s mouth, but he’s not holding his nose, and his chest isn’t even moving.

“Out of the way!” I snap.

No one is hysterical. No one is panicking. I don’t think any of these people are this boy’s parents. I drop to my knees, and my eyes widen because he’s very small, and he’s also obviously disabled. His legs are bent at the knees, and his spine is crooked, which makes his back arched.

He’s pale and soaked, and his lips are blue.

I feel for a pulse and almost pass out from relief. It’s there—thready and weak, but there. Pressing my ear to his chest, I can tell there’s no air in there, so I grip his nose tight, take the biggest breath I can, and force it into his mouth.

I do it again.

Then again.

Somewhere in my periphery, I can tell that Lex, Ozzie, and Teo have rushed up, and Lex is prepping the BVM. But before he can elbow me out of the way, the boy’s head lifts, and I get a sudden face full of water and vomit.

It’s the first time in my life I have ever appreciated being puked on. I fight back a hysterical laugh as I turn the kid on his side and allow him to expel whatever water’s in his lungs. His little body seems weak, and I can hear a faint sob, which is another good sign, and I glance over at Lex, who is swallowing heavily and preparing an oxygen mask.

“Teo and Ozzie went to grab the stretcher,” he murmurs, leaning in. He presses his meaty fingers to the boy’s neck and closes his eyes, then nods. “Yeah. Stronger.”

“Thank fuck,” I murmur. The boy begins to squirm, so I shift him into my arms, and he looks up at me with wide, dark brown eyes. “Hey. Can you tell me your name?”

He shakes his head.

“Do you know your name?”

He nods, then rasps, “Stranger danger.”

I burst into laughter, which sounds a bit like a sob, and nod. “Yeah. My name’s Easton. I’m a firefighter. These people here told our dispatcher you were in the water. Do you know how that happened?”

He blinks at me, looking sleepy, and shifts when Lex reaches over and puts the mask over his face. He fights it a little, but I hold him tighter.