Drown In Me

Natalie Clarke Drown In Me Copyright © 2023 by Natalie Clarke All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. Natalie Clarke asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book. First edition This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy Find out more at reedsy.com Contents Author Note Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Epilogue Author Notes and Acknowledgments Also by the Author Author Note Drown In Me is a forced marriage, soulmates romance and is book 1 of the Hudson Hearts series. It is recommended that this series be read in order. It is intended for readers 18+ due to explicit sexual content, sexual assault, terminal illness, references to suicide and themes that some readers may find triggering. Please excuse some British spellings of certain words, please remember I am a British author writing American characters set in the USA. Prologue Past I’m going to die. I’m going to die… Those words play on a relentless loop in my brain as the current threatens to drag me under, it’s grip on me is too strong, too potent. “H… Help!” I gargle as my head dips below the surface, the freezing water rushing into my open mouth and down my throat. My heart thunders heavily in my chest as adrenaline pumps through my veins, fuelling me to fight for my life. It pounds out a rhythm in my eardrums, like my very own countdown. A race against time before it’s too late. My lungs burns like lava, the need to breathe is overwhelming, and the tiny gulps of air I manage to take in as the water laps at my face aren’t enough. I think back to when I was six. My mom used to take me to weekly swimming lessons. Said it was an essential life skill you might need to use one day and I remember hating every second. Why didn’t I pay more attention? Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t be in this situation. My arms flail around me, my hands desperately seeking something, anything, I can use to pull myself out. My fingers feel for the thick sheet of ice that covers the surface of the lake, but everything is so cold, so slippery, I can’t get a good grip. It’s cold. I can’t get over how cold it is. It seeps through my skin and deep into my bones to the point where everything is numb, every single muscle in my body is seizing up, my joints slowly locking into place from the freezing water that engulfs me, swallows me up and tries to drag me down. I’m terrified. It’s the first time I’ve admitted it, but I’m terrified. Below me is total darkness, which only makes me kick my legs harder to. The dark has never scared me, but it’s the unknown of what lies beneath, the emptiness that chills me to the bone, if the freezing water hasn’t done that already. “Help! S… Somebody p-please!” I yell louder, gripping the ice with stiff, numb fingers, though I can barely feel it. The muscles in my arms and legs burn, crying out for relief but my brain is telling me to keep going. Today can’t be the day I die. Not like this. But who will find me? It’s growing dark and the temperature is dipping further below freezing. No one will be out here. Realisation dawns on me. No one will be able to find me. I’m all alone. I really am going to die. I reach out again for the edge of the ice, clinging on as tight as I can but I’m not strong enough to pull myself up. My muscles are weak, and all of my strength has disappeared. I need air. My lungs scream for air as black dots dance in my vision, my head feeling like it weights about a thousand pounds, the pressure almost too much to bear. My nails dig into the ice in one last attempt to cling to the little amount of life left in me. “HELP! H-” My fingers slip and my voice is swallowed up by water, my mouth opening as I accept my fate. I can feel my body beginning to relax as my eyes drift closed, a wave of peacefulness washing over me. Is this really what death feels like? Just as I’m about to allow the torrent of water into my lungs, I’m tugged out of the water, and suddenly I can breathe again. It comes in large gulps like my body can’t get enough as I cough and splutter, gasping for air. It’s so rich and thick I can almost taste it on my tongue. Desperate hands claw at my clothes as I’m pulled from left to right, dragged across a hard, cold surface, my body a dead weight, frozen and unable to move. We