River's End (River's End Series, #1)(79)

“Jack Rydell! Put me down this second. What is wrong with you? What the hell are you doing?”

“Doing? I’m just showing you where we swim on my ranch,” he said as he started walking across the field. He went down the driveway and towards the path to the beach. His kids stared, open-mouthed, as they trailed behind, but at a distance. No doubt, they were just as unsure of what the hell to do. Meanwhile, Erin screamed and kicked her legs the entire journey to the river’s edge. He had to loop an arm around her shins to hold her still. She weighed no more than a sack of feed, so it wasn’t hard for him to carry her, although she was slippery as an eel.

He quickly strode towards the river, now in full summer, which made it lower and warmer. It looked beautiful in the sunlight shimmering around it and the mountains, all hazy and purple, above it. He strode up towards Rydell Rock and she started shrieking louder.

“Ian! For God’s sake. Stop him,” she yelled loudly behind him. By then, he quickly picked his way up the rocky trail, right to the top of the large rock that jutted a good twenty feet above the river. He couldn’t chance looking back with Erin screaming and fighting him. He carefully climbed to the top without losing his balance or his hold of her. She twisted and fought as hard as a caterpillar caught in a spider web. He was surprised at her strength, once she figured out what he intended to do.

At the top, he stood on the edge of the rock. Below him was a deep, clear, slow-moving pool of water. It glowed with dappled sunlight on the sandy bottom. It was perfectly safe. She’d be fine.

“Don’t you dare, Jack! Don’t you dare! I swear to God, I’ll kill you. I will. If you do this, I’ll make you regret it every day for the rest of your life.”

“Yeah? How’s that?” he asked, suddenly visibly amused by her while his anger seemed to instantly diminish. Her ass was firm and tight under his hand as she struggled. Her breasts bumped against his back and she pounded her fists into his lower back, from where she hung with her hair dangling nearly to the ground.

She didn’t answer him, but yelled towards the beach again. He glanced back. Ian, Ben and Charlie just stood there, shading their eyes as they watched them.

“Do something. One of you. Please help me.”

He grinned as a fresh batch of anger seemed to consume her. The more she fought his unrelenting grip, the more she merely ground herself closer to him. He suddenly popped her up, so she was upright in his arms, and then smiled before letting his arms out and throwing her off the rock.





Chapter Twenty-Two


The water surrounded her body, breaking her fall and leaving her buoyant. She had her nose plugged and kicked towards the surface, anger rushing through her bloodstream, and propelling her forward. How dare he? How dare Jack Rydell storm back home, then carry her down to the river just to throw her off a cliff? She could have hit her head on one of the rocks! She could have broken a bone by hitting the sandy bottom. Or drowned. She could have freaking died. She finally surfaced, coughing and sputtering.

Looking above, she saw where Jack stood, silhouetted against the eye-searing blue of the afternoon sky. His eyes were shaded as he stared down at her. He looked big and hulking against the sky, like the king of the river, watching over her. His hands were on his hips, with his elbows out, and he was laughing. At her. Again. She glowered at him, but doubted he could see her expression. She would never, ever forgive him. Never. Ever. He could crawl over broken glass and cut his hands and knees to shreds, and she wouldn’t feel any pity for him. She wouldn’t even offer him a Band-Aid.

Kicking her legs towards the base of the rock she’d just been thrown off, the river circled around her, creating a mini cove-like effect. Once she set her feet down, the surrounding rock blocked her off from the beach as well as Jack above her.

She was stuck. She couldn’t swim up the river because the current was too swift and deep. She had no shoes on, so she couldn’t climb up the steep ledge either. Jack yelled over towards the beach that she was fine. Fine? Fine to be stuck in a rushing river with no way out? Yeah, sure; she was peachy.

She glanced up when tiny pebbles slid past her hands where she clung to the edge of the rock. Jack’s silhouette came above her again. He was climbing down the deep V of the rocks that provided the only access to where she was stuck.

“What the hell is the matter with you? You could have killed me. I don’t know who you think you are, but you had no right to do that to me.”

She started yelling at him before he took another step. He paused on the rock, leaning back. “You keep yelling and I’m turning back, Ms. Poletti. And by no means did I almost kill you.”

“What if I couldn’t swim?”

“Seeing as how this started over a pool you put in my alfalfa field, I took a wild guess that wasn’t the case.”

“You’re a lowdown dick head. You had no right to manhandle me just because you happen to be bigger than me. I…”

She stopped mid-sentence with her mouth hanging open, when she saw him turn and start to climb back up. “Hey. Where are you going?” she called after him.

“Shut up, Erin, or I’ll leave you down there.”

She frowned. How dare he order her to shut up after what he’d just done to her. But she was bobbing in deep water, with no shoes, no floaties, no life jacket and therefore, no means of safely getting across the river and back home.