Happily Hopefully

QUINN'S POV

Frozen ice water rushed all around me, piercing my skin like a thousand sharp knives. I became almost instantly numb. Suppressing the instinct to kick my legs until I reached the surface, I forced myself to still, letting my body go limp and grow leaden. I expelled all the air in my lungs in a slow gurgle and begin to sink.

Glancing up toward the surface, the watery murk of buttermilk colored sunlight began to fade with each passing second. Quiet surrounded me. Darkness crept in the deeper I sank and I squeezed my eyes shut. My lungs burned with the need to gasp for air. Every swimmer instinct I had raced to the surface.

I sank so heavily; my limbs bobbed of their own accord, my hair floating around my face like spiraled kelp. The cold quickly became increasingly unbearable. My entire body ached with the sting of it.

I sank deeper and faster all the while it became gradually harder to concentrate. Blackness edged its way around my thoughts until it took over entirely -- like the way a slip of paper burns from the outside in. I felt my lips part and the icy water rushed in, filling me.

I awoke in heaven. A brilliant, blinding sunbeam shone overhead, shielding the face of the angel looming over me. I felt the touch of frozen lips against mine before I lurched, coughing up river water.

"Thank God," the angel said.

I tried to focus my eyes, anxious to take in my new surroundings. "Is this heaven?" I heard myself ask.

"No."

Fear struck me in the gut. "Is it hell?"

"Depends on who you ask."

"I'm not dead?"

"No, thankfully."

I blinked madly. "Why not?"

The non-angel pulled me up, his hand pressed against the small of my back. "Because I found you in time. What happened? Did you fall in?"

Clarity and anger surged through me all at once. I rubbed at my eyes and coughed. I didn't owe him any explanations.

I shoved tangled curls off my forehead and the man moved to my right so I could see him clearly now. His face looked strained, his bluish-purple lips trembling with cold. Fully clothed and drenched to the bone, he shook violently.

I coughed again and began to tremble with uncontrollable shivers. The chills jolted me back to reality. Suddenly, the terrible cold and unease I felt frightened me.

"Can you walk?" the man asked me and I nodded.

He helped me to my feet but my legs gave out beneath me. Without warning, he swept me into his arms and cradled me against him. Although he shivered too, his body heat burned through his wet clothes and began to thaw me.

"Put me down," I demanded weakly.

"You can barely stand."

"I don't know you and I don't know where you're taking me. Put me down, please."

His grip around my waist tightened. "I'm the man who just saved your life."

"I didn't ask you to."

He responded with a soft grunt. I looked around. The little road I'd chosen was deserted -- a fact that had delighted me only a few minutes ago. Now, I desperately wanted to see other signs of life.

"Where're you taking me?" I repeated. My teeth were chattering like mad. So were his.

"To my car. I have a blanket in my trunk."

I looked up the road a bit and sure enough, a gray car sat on the side of the road.

"How do I know you're not going to kidnap me?" I asked shakily.

What sounded like a chuckle seemed to rumble in his chest like a kettledrum. "Have you ever known a kidnapper to 'save' someone’s life?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "No, but then they're not the sanest people either."

"It seems highly unlikely I would try and kidnap you seeing as though I just saved your life. It doesn't make sense that I would now turn around and harm you."

I'd have to be satisfied with his answer. I couldn't think straight anymore. The winter air combined with my soaked clothes paralyzed me.

The man put me down when we'd arrived at his car and then retrieved a thick blanket from his trunk. He wrapped me in it, rubbing my arms to help circulate my blood.

"You should take your sweater off and wrap the blanket around you. You'll get warm faster."

"Not happening," I scoffed.

"Believe me, I'm not hitting on you. It was just a suggestion."

"From what? Your Boy Scout training manual?"

He paused. "Actually, yes. But also, common sense."

Reluctantly, I smiled.

"We'll sit in the car for a while and get warm. Get in."

I hesitated and he looked at me over the roof of the car. "Didn't we already establish the fact that I'm not going to hurt you?" he asked dryly. "Get in before you freeze to death."

"We didn't establish anything," I retorted as I opened the car door.

I obeyed because it made sense and the tingling sensation in my fingertips made me think I may be close to losing extremities. But something about his demeanor, his authoritativeness, forced me to take heed, too.