My heart ices over and all I can think about is Jack and the baby we might have made, the family we almost had.
"I just don't know whether I want to do it quickly and let him find you or make you suffer and take my time before I give you back to him. Let him think about all the shit I did to you before I took your life so that guilt eats at him for the rest of his life."
"I'm never going to give you the chance to use me to hurt him. You'll have to kill me." He stares into my eyes.
"Yes, I can tell you're not going to make it easy on me. Very well, have it your way."
Maybe if I turn just the right way I can prevent him from killing me. Maybe I can run fast enough to get to the water and dive down far enough that he won't be able to shoot me. With that in mind, I start walking backwards on the dock so I can reach the deeper water. Maybe...I scream and jump as the deafening roar of the gun going off blasts through the silence of dusk.
At first I'm not sure if I'm hit or not but then I realize Don didn't shoot me after all. He aimed for me sure, but a dark shadow barreled into him before he could squeeze the trigger. Lights flash on at the dock and I can make out Don fighting with Jack, the shadow who just saved me.
Libby and Evie and Ana come running down to the edge of the river to surround me. The men also come. Jim holding Libby back a little bit as the two men fight to gain the upper hand. Hands pull me back as both men hit the water still fighting. I look up to see Remy holding on to me.
"Don't worry about me, help Jack!" He doesn't step away from me or make a move to help. "What's wrong with you? Help him!"
"He's in the water, cher. He doesn't need help when he's in the water. The water and Jack, they understand each other. That's why he went in the water when he was shot. He's in his natural element." He speaks more to himself than to me. "Don should've kept his ass out of the water if he wanted to live."
It does look like Jack is pushing the fight to deeper water, in some instances taking Don by the arm and pulling him further in.
"Like a gator." Remy seems almost enthralled by the scene in front of him. "Dark son of a bitch, takes them further and further out until he can take them all the way down to the bottom with him."
The way he talks about Jack makes him sound like he’s not human. I bristle at that and slap him hard on the back of the head like I've seen Jim and Jack do when he irritates them. I turn my attention back to the two men but can't find them. They’re gone. The water where they were is still and quiet like no one was ever splashing around in it.
I break loose from Remy's hold and run out onto the dock hoping for any sign of Jack. They've been down a long time and the seconds that tick by might as well feel like hours. I fall to my knees hoping to spot something. Then a huge bubble of water bursts to the surface and all of a sudden the water turns red. It plumes out spreading across the top of the lake like some fucked up watercolor.
"Jack!" For the first time since I was grabbed my heart stops. "Jack!" What am I going to do if something happens to him?
Just when I'm about to scream his name again a noise behind me makes me spin around and Jack pushes himself out of the water and up and onto the dock where he rolls on his back and waits for me to come to him. I start running my hands up and down his body looking for wounds.
"I was so scared, I didn't know if you were going to come back to me. I saw the bloody water and couldn't tell what was happening down there." I bend down and kiss him over and over again. He pulls me down and melds our mouths together. All of a sudden the kiss takes on a different feel.
"What about me? I thought my god damn heart was going to stop when I saw that fucker aim a gun at you. I should've killed him slower."
I giggle as he flips me over and gives me another heart-stopping kiss. Jim and Libby are the first people to make it to us. Libby has tears streaming down her cheeks as she tries to pull me out from under Jack.
"Is he dead?" Jim asks. Jack gives a solemn nod to him as an answer. Jim nods back. I understand how important getting Don to talk was for him and his men. "There are other ways..." He speaks to me when he sees the look on my face.
"Everybody go the fuck away." Jack all but growls at everyone standing around. I can feel how hard he is. He wants to prove to himself that I'm alright and still very much his. The people start to disappear as Jack runs his mouth down my neck. Jim picks Libby up and takes her back towards the house.
"Jack, I don't think I can handle knowing you're off doing something dangerous and knowing you might not come back to me." It's the thing that has been pricking at my conscience since he slid his ring on my finger. "I was so scared when you were fighting with him. I..."
He interrupts me as he leans back so he can rip my shirt down the middle, "I'm retiring. There is no way I can go away from you and not see you for days on end. Not to mention I don't want any of the dark shit I handle to come back on you and the kids."
My eyebrows go up, "Kids?"
"Oh yeah, Sweets. We're gonna have a whole god damn house full." He pulls my shorts down along with my panties and slides inside of me. I didn't even realize he had unzipped himself until his large cock grinds into me causing me to gasp and sigh.
I wrap my legs and arms around him to hold him tighter to me. "I love you, Jack."
"And I love you, Sweets. You are everything I could have ever hoped for." He pulls out just to rock back in, going deep with every thrust.
I realize we're making love outside, on the dock, for anyone to see but I don't care. What once embarrassed me doesn't worry me at all now. We love each other until dusk becomes night and then we do it all over again.
Epilogue I
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