He smiled and his eyes shone with unshed tears. “Go.”
I forced my arm out of the water and tugged the hair above his collar. Suspicion confirmed. I had zero strength. The sad little kicks keeping me afloat wouldn’t last forever.
“Hold your breath.” My voice disappeared in a hellacious crack of thunder. Lightning scorched through the sky. I grabbed onto Adrian as the wave raced around us, lifting and tossing us like beach balls. Adrian slid under the water as the tide pushed us into a narrow passage at the back of the cave where I’d never dared go. Crabs and bats and creepy little nocturnal creatures lived back there. Worse, there was only one way out. The way we came in.
“Shit.” Adrian stared at the blackness above us. The path Mrs. Flick had disappeared through was gone. The tide shoved us at least twenty feet from where we were. I mourned the loss of hope. Our only chance at escape was no longer in sight. Twenty feet was as good as a thousand in my condition and fresh tears stung my salt-burned eyes.
“We don’t know the entire cave fills with water. We never came in this far and we never came back here during high tide.” I hoped he’d pretend with me. We still had a chance. There was always a way. We just hadn’t thought of it yet.
When the next wave came, we bobbed steadily in our little alcove without the trauma of the tide dragging and throwing us around. Our new trauma was pressing our faces against the cave roof for air. I anchored my weak arms under Adrian’s and held him up with me. He slipped and volleyed in my grasp.
“What are you doing?” I wished I had the strength to shake him.
“Let me go.” He wiggled some more and I pinched him.
“No.”
“Patience. Knock it off. You can survive this. Don’t kill us both. Someone needs to make sure that woman gets punished. Let me go.”
“Are you still wiggling on purpose? Stop it.”
“I think my feet are moving.” A brisk laugh bubbled out of him. See? Hope.
“There. This isn’t over yet,” I said.
The next wave took the air with it, filing the alcove completely, pressing us into the cave roof and stealing our oxygen. My arms slid. Adrian sank. I went after him. The tide sucked me away, pulling me back to where I’d started, back toward the sea. I kicked and fought against the pull until I broke the surface. I scanned the dark cave for Adrian. My arms swept helplessly in search of him. My best friend. My first love. My confidante.
“No!” I screamed into the cave. “No! No! No!” When he didn’t appear, I just screamed. And screamed.
In the next burst of lightning, I spotted Adrian floating face down near the far wall. I paddled to him, cursing Mrs. Flick and vowing to haunt her if I died. I rolled him over and blood sprouted on his forehead. His right eyebrow was split open and dark red blood flowered over his face, following patterns made by the sea. Anger flooded my senses and I screamed some more. He didn’t open his eyes.
Finding impossible strength, I swam with him like years of lifeguard training taught me and found the highest flat surface not yet covered by water. I pressed his back to the ledge and forced his legs up beside him, using the water as my aid. I clutched his cheeks, pressed my lips to his and blew. Water enveloped us, but I hugged my body to his, unwilling to accept this loss. This could not, would not be our reality. As the water receded, I started over. I breathed for him and pressed his chest with the little strength I found. Whatever I had in me was his to have, my breath included.
Between ear-splitting thunder and bone-crushing waves, I detected voices. Hope lifted me to new heights and I pressed my lips to Adrian’s again. I would not stop. I would not quit on him. This was our chance. Between breaths, I screamed. If I heard them, whoever they were, they heard me. Period. We were surviving this if it killed me. I tossed my head back and screamed into the opening above me.
Breathe.
1-2-3-4-5. I leaned into his chest with each compression. I didn’t have strength, but I had the weight of a drugged body on my side.
“Ahh!” I tilted my chin toward the muddy rocks above us.
Breathe.
1-2-3-4-5.
“Ahh!”
Waves threw me onto Adrian and knocked him against the wall. I grabbed his long legs to stop me from floating back into the alcove of doom. In my peripheral vision, something entered the cave with the next rolling wave. Sharks.
Worst. Day. Ever.
Water covered Adrian’s ledge and dropped him into the water again. I pulled his head above water and shoved him against the wall. I covered as much of him as possible with my body. The sharks probably smelled his blood. His face was covered in it. I watched for signs of something in the water and held Adrian tight as the next wave covered us and retreated.
Rubbery skin grazed my thigh. I screamed and kicked with all I had, smashing into Adrian and covering his cut with my hand.
A man in scuba gear popped up at my side and spoke into his mask. His voice was unintelligible. I screamed until my throat hurt. Sebastian peeled his scuba mask off and looked like he wanted to hurt me. I assumed this look was intended for someone else. Another wave hit and I prepared for the aching pain of bouncing into the cave wall again. This time Sebastian anchored me. The wave rushed over us, but we didn’t move. He hooked his arms under mine and lifted.
Spotlights glared over the muddy rocks overhead. People swarmed in the craggy grass, red and blue flashes carouselled in the lightning-streaked sky. A man with a rope around his waist floated in the air above us. He reached toward the water for me. I turned in Sebastian’s arms.
“Adrian’s unc-c-conscious.” I pleaded with my eyes. My words were broken.
“You first. I’ll keep him safe. They’ll send a stretcher.”
I shook my head. “N-n-no. Him first.”
Sebastian glowered. “I will—”
“N-n-no.”
The man watched Sebastian, awaiting orders. The next wave shoved Adrian under again and I flung my body toward him. Sebastian caught us both and nodded at the man dangling from the sky. The man disappeared momentarily and a black netted bed appeared in his place. Ropes dropped into the cave. Sebastian lifted me onto the ledge where I’d put Adrian. I sat tall, keeping my head above water while he strapped Adrian onto the rescue pod. The moment Adrian cleared the ground, the dangling man returned. Sebastian passed me up a human chain to safety. Paramedics met me on the grass and covered me with heated blankets before hoisting me onto a stretcher. They raced me to an ambulance over rain-soaked ground. The gurney wheels slid more than rolled, but we made it in a matter of seconds.
The same blond EMT who had lent me her clothes was there, waiting to help me. “Shut the doors. Let’s keep her warm.” She shined a penlight in my eyes and checked my pulse. My skin was porcelain white, except my fingertips and toes, which were blue.
“Where are your clothes?” Her eyebrows crowded together. I envied her those.
I guess the town hadn’t heard of my tryst. “N-n-not sure. C-c-cave?”
“Oh.” Her brows lifted. “Who did they pull out of there before you?”
“A-a-adrian.” A lump lodged in my throat and tears fell in a deluge. “He’s hurt. He’s. Hurt.” I hurt. I flopped against the stretcher, teeth chattering hard enough to break.
The ambulance doors opened and Sebastian appeared in his wet suit.
The paramedic and I exchanged a look. “G-g-go to him.”
“I’ve got her.” Sebastian gave me a questioning look. “Send Adrian’s guy over here for her.”
The paramedic, Becky, bit her lip and nodded before scurrying away.
A mixture of fear and relief clung to Sebastian’s features. Dark wet hair stuck to his forehead. Steady brown eyes looked me over, head to toe. I lay swaddled in itchy hospital blankets up to my chin.
The doors popped open again
and a new paramedic climbed in on my other side. The radio on the dash rambled in a pattern of alternating CB talk and static. My little bus felt like Grand Central Station after hours in a cave. The new guy checked my vitals and stuffed a thermometer under my tongue.
Sebastian’s eyelids were heavy. “What happened to your clothes?”
Everyone’s first question.
“I on’t oh.” I pressed my tongue against the thermometer so I didn’t lose it.
“T-t-t,” the paramedic scolded.
“Did he try to hurt you?” Sebastian’s body went rigid. His gaze moved over my face, seeking the truth.
I shook my head and gave the paramedic a dirty look. He removed the thermometer and made a low whistling sound. He pressed a stethoscope to my chest, rolled me onto my side and pressed it to my back before releasing me.
“Are you hurt?” The words clawed their way between Sebastian’s clenched teeth.
“No.”
“She’s covered in scratches and bruising. There’s a knot on her head, her pupils are dilated and her breathing’s shallow. I’m guessing she has a mild case of hypothermia and drugs are probably involved.” The paramedic pulled out a syringe and the world went black.
* * *
I woke in soft, warm place. The steady beeping of hospital machinery pulsed in a comfortable rhythm. I didn’t know what it meant specifically, but generally, it meant I’d survived. My eyes sprung open.
“Adrian?”
Sebastian appeared. Weird.
“He’s fine. How are you?”
“Warm.” I smiled. I felt wonderful.
“Adrian woke about an hour ago. They gave you something to help you rest.”
Darn. More drugs. I’d need a stint in rehab at this rate.
“He told me what happened. Lucky for him someone tried to kill you both and the situation wasn’t what it looked like.”
“What did it look like?” I glared at him the best I could. Whatever they put in my IV made it hard not to smile.
Sebastian tilted his head in a gimme-a-break move.
“I think it looked like someone drugged us and tried to kill us. What did you think it looked like?”
Sebastian rubbed a hand over the stubble on his jaw. He sighed. “It looked like he lured you someplace remote, talked you out of your clothes and when you changed your mind, he got rough.”
“What about his head wound?” I wished something like that had never crossed his mind. As ridiculous as it was, I wanted him to like Adrian. I needed him to like Adrian.
“I figured you nailed him with something heavy, as you should have.”
I laughed. “I would have.”
He smiled. A real smile. My heart soared.
“Fargas is taking his official statement now. I got the CliffsNotes version while we were alone.”
Oh, dear.
“How’d you find us?” I raised my arms. Thankful they moved easily and on command.
Sebastian looked away.
I pressed on, louder this time, thanks to whatever was in my IV. “I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. The caves weren’t on my agenda. I woke up there.”
He huffed. “Tracker.”
As I suspected. I wanted to rant about the shameless invasion of privacy, but it seemed like a moot point.
“I put a tracker in your phone when you pulled James Trent out of the water and left your phone on the pier. I put a tracker on your parents’ Purple Pony cart when your car was totaled. I worried when I saw you stopped at the cemetery, so I called Adrian. He was the day shift. He told me what you were up to and swore to let me know if you got yourself in trouble. He also told me you promised to call him if you needed anything.”
“I gave him some time to call me back and he didn’t, so I checked the tracker on your phone. You went to the shore and stayed all afternoon. Not unusual. Then the phone disappeared. Considering the recent happenings at the shore, I decided to check it out.”
“You called Adrian.”
He nodded. “Straight to voice mail. I went to the shore. The rain had started. No Pony cart. No Jeep. I drove to the cemetery and found the Flick limo alone in the lot. I tried your place then Adrian’s. No Adrian. I headed back to the shore and found his Jeep parked in the grass. He wouldn’t park up there to go to the beach. I called in the Coast Guard just in case. Then I called Fargas and got two ambulances on standby. Fargas made it happen. People do anything he asks. It’s weird. The guy’s smarter than he lets on. He’s a good cop. He was the one who sent me to Flick’s to ask about their finances yesterday. He had enough evidence to bring her in and support a warrant by the end of the day. When he went by to pick her up, she wasn’t there. Good intuition on that one. Fargas rallied the troops in minutes when I told him you and Adrian were missing. He said she had you. I couldn’t get my mind around that concept, not with Adrian missing, too. I never dreamed a little old lady could hold the two of you hostage.”
I played with a thread from my stiff hospital-grade blanket, twining it around my finger. The pale yellow walls didn’t soothe me or distract me from my true concern.
“How is he?” I examined the chart on the wall by my bed with smiley faces ranging from perky to green with an ice pack on its head. My heart ached for Adrian. It was my fault he was hurt.
“You saved his life.” Sebastian huffed and looked at the ceiling. “You’ll never get rid of him now. He told me all about you refusing to let him go, even when you couldn’t swim.”
“He would’ve done the same thing.”
“I know.” Frustration burned in his eyes.
“You saved us both.” I reached out to Sebastian and he accepted. Bracing his palms against either end of my pillow, he leaned into my personal space. He looked amazing in his gray-and-black FBIs Do it Undercover shirt and faded denims.
“I feel like that earned me a sponge bath.” He pressed his lips to mine and I melted. If it wasn’t a semi-private room, I’d have pulled him onto the bed with me, though that part might’ve been the drugs talking.
I found the call button with one hand and lifted it to our faces. “Can I get a sponge bath in here?” I teased.
He swiped the button out of my hand and tossed it out of reach.
“Right away,” he whispered against my mouth. He grabbed the curtain behind him, dragging it around us until we were alone. His hands were warm and strong against my cheeks.
I ran my fingers into the hair at the back of his head. “You’re looking at me like you just dug up a treasure.”
“I kind of did.”
It wasn’t the trauma and it wasn’t the stuff in my IV. I loved Sebastian Clark in a deep, earth-moving, life-altering way. From someplace truer than logic, statistics or cynicism, I loved him. I hoped he might love me, too.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“So she went back to Flick’s like nothing happened?” I spooned ice cream from the container to my mouth and waited for Sebastian to finish my new favorite story.
“Aren’t you tired of hearing this?” He gripped my thigh and smiled.
“No. Ugh. I wish she had surveillance cameras. I’d kill to see that footage.” I pressed my lips tight. Poor word choice.
Sebastian, just back from work, was still wearing his black suit. Detective gear. It was the first trip he’d made to the mainland since I came home from the hospital two days earlier. He looked like he belonged on the cover of a magazine, not delivering pints of ice cream to someone in silk pajamas.
“My team picked her up when she got back to her office. She hung her waders in the hall closet and went to her desk. They found her filing new contracts with families planning their departure.” Sebastian sat at the edge of my bed and rolled his eyes heavenward. He hadn’t left my side longer than necessary after the accident
. He worked from my apartment, finding excuses to stay. Claire said he’d completed every sheet of paperwork he’d ever saved for later.
“You can’t give me ice cream whenever I ask, you know? I won’t fit in my clothes by the end of the week.” I scraped my spoon around the bottom of the container.
“It’s a bribe. I promised your parents I’d get you out of your apartment tonight. Your mom’s terrified you’ll become agoraphobic.”
It didn’t sound half bad. I’d gone through a total trauma. Leaving the house sounded...scary.
Except, I wasn’t that girl. I didn’t fall in the face of adversity or cry in my Cheerios when things got tough. After nearly losing my parents to their arrest or my rock cave “tryst,” I wanted them to see I was okay. Plus, I had only child guilt. When I didn’t please my parents, I hated myself somewhere deep inside.
“Have you decided what to wear tonight?” Sebastian put my empty ice cream container and spoon on the nightstand.
“No.”
“I got you something.” He dug through the overnight bag he’d dropped on my floor and presented me with a small purple sack.
“Hmm.” I slid my fingers inside it and pulled out a soft cotton shirt. Black with white letters. Team Sebastian.
I laughed, jostling a bouquet of Mylar balloons tied to the headboard. My mom had taped dozens of cards to my bedroom door frame. The island sent them by the bushel, wishing me the best, telling me they loved me. Dad piled incoming casseroles in the refrigerator and freezer each morning when he brought Mrs. Tucker’s coffee and crullers.
Sebastian’s spreading smile gave me pause. It seemed he saved those smiles for me. “Maybe you should try it on. To be sure it fits.” His hands were busy. He’d untied the string of my pajama pants before he finished his question.
“Excuse me. What are you doing? I believe you brought me a shirt. Did I miss the pants in here?” I turned the bag over and he knocked it on the floor. Lacing his fingers with mine, he pulled my arms over my head and I forgot about the pants.
Murder Comes Ashore Page 25