Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card (Jessie and Luke)

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LUKE

The grains of sand bit into my back as I lay sprawled out, limbs. heavy and aching. Every inch of me was soaked, raw, like I'd been dragged through a wave of razors. I tried to focus on breathing-one sharp, salty breath after another- but each inhale scraped down my throat.

To my right, Josh flopped beside me with a grunt, looking just as beat as I felt. He let out a long sigh and stared up at the sky, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. "Never... flying... again," he muttered, half under his breath as if the words themselves took too much effort.

I chuckled, my voice rough. "Yeah, and the company better pay us overtime for this...assuming we live to collect it."

Josh gave a tired laugh, the sound barely there, but it still managed to make me grin. "If we make it out of this alive, Jess and Laura will probably kill us anyway. I might just stay on the island. Laura has good aim. I don't feel like a paintbrush in the eye." Josh checked, and For a moment, we just lay there, staring at the endless blue above us, both of us too exhausted to care about the sand itching under our backs or the sun baking down on our soaked clothes. Just breathing. Just...existing after whatever the hell had happened out there. 14:03

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204 Moucher

Then, the quiet was broken by a high-pitched scream, faint but unmistakable, slicing through the air like a knife.

Josh and I jerked upright, every ounce of exhaustion shoved aside as adrenaline kicked in. Out on the water, a pair of hands flailed desperately, fingers clawing at the surface as the figure. sank and rose again in the rolling waves. "Shit," I breathed, pushing up on my elbows. "Someone's drowning."

We scrambled to our feet, but the moment I stood, a sharp, white-

hot pain shot through my leg. I let out a strangled sound, feeling my thigh buckle under me. "Fuck!" Josh turned around and noticed my leg. "That looks worse than your face, man." He said with furrowed brows. I rolled my eyes at him.

I swayed, forcing myself to look away from the injury, my mind still focused on the water. "It's gotta be you, man," I managed, gritting my teeth. The words came out a little rougher than I intended, but there wasn't time to worry about it. Josh looked over at me, his face twisted in frustration. "I just dragged you out, man." He cursed under his breath, scanning the water again, but he didn't hesitate for long. "Fucking fine." With that, he tore off his shirt, tossing it onto the sand, and sprinted toward the waves.

I pressed a hand against my thigh, trying to stop the blood, but finally tore off the trunk of my pants to wrap around my thigh.

ras!

The minutes dragged on, each one feeling like an hour, as I watched his form moving against the pull of the ocean, closing in on the panicked figure. Waves crashed over them both, and 1403

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for a moment, they disappeared beneath the surface.

My gut twisted, a sick feeling of dread pooling in my stomach. But then Josh's head reappeared, his arm wrapped around the other person as he struggled to keep them both above water. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they got close enough for me to see them clearly, and I dragged my ass up to meet them halfway. The person he'd rescued was a woman, her head drooping against his shoulder, her face pale and lips blue from the cold.

"It's the flight attendant." He sputtered just as I got to him and helped him drag her to shore.

I tried to stand, gritting my teeth against the pain, but my leg gave out again, and I landed back on the sand, cursing under my breath.

The woman lay beside him, eyes closed, her breaths shallow. For a moment, neither of them moved, both of them looking half-dead after their struggle against the sea.

"Is she...is she okay?" I managed to ask, still trying to catch my breath. Josh leaned over to look at her and nodded, barely able to speak himself.

"Yeah...just...just give her a minute." He shifted to a sitting position, eyes flicking between me and the woman, his gaze settling on my leg. "You're bleeding like hell, man. Nice pants."

I shrugged, though the movement sent another stab of pain through me. "It's fine."." I gritted my teeth, but he wasn't buying

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1248 Winches

"Luke," he muttered, glancing around for anything we could use as a bandage.

"You didn't need to rip your pants. I'm wearing a belt -

we can use it as a tourniquet. Gotta keep the pressure on it till we figure out where the hell we are," he said, laughing. He tightened the belt, giving me an apologetic look when I winced. "Don't need you bleeding out here on me." I managed a weak grin, though the edges of my vision were beginning to blur. "Yeah, yeah... You're stuck with me a bit longer."

The woman stirred, a soft sound escaping her lips, and Josh's focus snapped back to her. Her eyelids fluttered, opening slowly as she looked up at us, her gaze unfocused but full of relief and confusion.

She looked like she was going to say something for a second, but then she just shook her head, glancing around as if trying to remember how she'd ended up here.

"You're safe now," Josh told her, his voice gentler, reassuring. "Just take it easy. We're on an island...somewhere. But you're safe."