“I don’t even know what to do with that information,” I said honestly, pinching the bridge of my nose. Was she s
aying she wanted to lose her virginity right now? With me? Or was she looking for advice?
“I just figured…I don’t know. I don’t want to lose it to some guy at a party or something. I want it to be with someone I trust. Someone like you.”
“Sarah…” I shake my head. “That’s not a good idea.” Part of me was flattered. Part of me was pissed that she’d do anything to jeopardize things with her family. It’s not like she’s the one with anything to lose, I thought bitterly. No matter what happened, she’d still have parents, a home, a bed…things I’d never had.
I was tempted. If she were any girl other than my foster sister, I’d have already bent her over this bench. Sex is sex. It’s not about love or even like. But it was for Sarah. Plus, I had two more years until I was eighteen. I didn’t want to have to move again if shit went south.
Sarah leaned over, pressing her lips to mine. I let her kiss me, but when she lost her gloves and went for my pants, I swatted her away. She backed down, seemingly content to make out instead. When she reached for my dick again, it was harder to push her away. No pun intended.
“This doesn’t make me your boyfriend,” I said right as she palmed me through my jeans.
“Who asked you to be my boyfriend? It’s practice.”
I had mixed feelings. On one hand, it felt different with Sarah. Wrong. “Sarah, no,” I said, trying to let her down easily, knowing how sensitive she could be.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” the voice I knew to be Luke’s growled from a few feet behind us.
“What are you doing here?” Sarah squealed, her hand jerking from my lap, looking like she wanted to disappear.
“What am I doing here?” he asked, incredulous. “I’m looking for you. The school called Mom. She and dad are both out looking for you right now. Saw your car and thought something happened to you. What the hell were you thinking?”
“She skipped school. She didn’t rob a bank. Give the girl a break,” I said as I stood to face him. His eyes zeroed in on my crotch and I looked down, noticing for the first time that Sarah had managed to get my fly down.
Shit.
I pulled my zipper up, and Luke’s face turned bright red right before he charged me. Before I could react, my back was hitting the frozen lake. My head hit the ice a second before his meaty fist connected with my face, and Sarah screamed for him to stop.
“What the fuck!” I yelled as Luke straddled my torso, gripping the front of my jacket.
“Are you fucking my sister?” he bellowed, landing another punch. Pain radiated through my face.
“Luke! Stop!”
He ignored his sister’s pleas, and we scuffled, rolling around, each of us fighting for the upper hand. I pinned him down, giving him one good hit before I stood to walk away. Luke swung his arm out and grabbed my foot. Reflexively, my arms flew out behind me to catch my fall. I heard rather than felt the snap. I knew before I looked that it was bad, and I was right. My forearm was bent in the opposite direction.
The sight of my arm bent at an unnatural angle, combined with the blinding pain that followed, had me gagging, but I don’t think Luke noticed any of it, because he was on his feet, coming back for more.
“I didn’t fucking touch her!” I shouted through the pain, using my good arm to scramble away, choking back the vomit in my throat. “My fucking arm!” I tried to tell him, but Luke wasn’t listening. He bent down, reaching for me again, but this time I pulled my knees back and kicked both feet into his stomach, sending him flying backward.
That’s when I first felt it. The ice wasn’t thick enough, and it splintered beneath us. It felt like it happened in slow motion, but in reality, we’d only been fighting for seconds. I tried to drag myself toward the edge, but my arm was fucking useless.
Luke yelled as the ice finally gave, and he gripped the edge. His eyes were wild as they locked onto mine. He started to hyperventilate, frantically trying to pull himself over the edge.
Sarah was sobbing now, running toward us, screaming her brother’s name.
“Sarah! Do not walk onto the ice. Call nine-one-one,” I instructed, and she halted where the snow-covered shore met ice, fumbling for her phone. “Luke, try to stay calm.” I kept my voice steady in spite of the excruciating pain that radiated through my entire arm. I remembered hearing somewhere that more often than not, it’s the cold shock that causes sudden death. Not drowning.
I knew I didn’t have long to act. I flipped onto my stomach, one-armed army crawling toward a thrashing Luke. Each time he tried to pull himself up, the ice broke off, submerging him even more. Once I was finally within reach, I extended my good arm—the right one—and told him to grab it.
His hand gripped mine, just like we did when we arm wrestled many times before, and I gritted my teeth, eyes squeezing shut as I mustered all my strength to pull him out.
“Get me out, get me out, get me out!” Luke chanted, completely panicked as I got his top half above water. He lifted a knee onto the ice, and before I could so much as blink, it cracked, giving way under his weight, sending us both under.
The cold was something I never could’ve prepared myself for. It took my breath away, and my heart sped up so fast I thought it would burst out of my chest. I paddled my way toward the surface, using the top half of my broken arm like a wing, as I kicked my feet. As soon as I broke through, I gasped for air, looking around for Luke.
“Where is he?!” I didn’t get an answer. Sarah was wailing, so full of fear and despair that I knew I’d never forget the sound if I lived to see another day. I tried to calm my erratic breathing, knowing that staying calm was crucial, while also knowing it was futile.