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Though I supposed it did make a sort of sense. Swimming gave me the alone time with Ronan that I’d begun to crave. Not even knowing he had a thing with Amanda could staunch that.
It’d snuck up on me, but Ronan was one of the few people on this island I trusted. That he was letting me glimpse these stolen moments with Amanda only solidified it—he may not have liked me in that way, but it seemed at least he trusted me.
“Is it so surprising you might actually fancy a swim?”
“Not so much surprising as miraculous. ”
Amanda reached over and patted his shoulder. “He’s just a good teacher. ”
Ugh. This time I almost said it out loud. Glimpsing their stolen moments was one thing; having my face rubbed in it was quite another.
Her words and that cloying expression echoed in my mind until, later that afternoon, I spat them back at him. “Good teachers don’t lure students to their untimely death. ”
Ronan was rowing us beyond the breakers in nothing more than a little dory. It was going to be my first deep-water swim lesson. My knuckles were white as I gripped the lip of the boat. Its paint was old and peeling, and I used my thumbnail to scrape brown flakes into the water, contemplating when and how I might go about vomiting over the side.
“Comfort in deep water is crucial for every swimmer. ” Every pull of the oars tightened his already-snug sweater around his biceps.
I forced myself to look away from his flexing muscles. Unfortunately, that left me staring into black water. I estimated there was one-foot visibility, max. “Isn’t deep-water training for more advanced swimmers?”
“You’re thinking of breath-holding exercises. ”
Panic pulled my skin into goose bumps that even the thick neoprene of my wet suit couldn’t prevent. “You’re going to make me hold my breath, too?”
“You’re an advanced swimmer, so you are ready for both. ”
I opened my mouth to protest but clacked my teeth shut again as a thought hit me. The island was receding in the distance. If I had skills like Ronan claimed I did, why couldn’t I just escape? As in, skip out even before Alcántara and I went on our mission?
It silenced me. The only sound was the slap-slap of his oars in the water as my mind raced. How big was the island? I’d seen the middle of it during my midnight punishment, but why had we never been to the other side? What was there? Somewhere there’d be larger boats to be found—was that where they were docked?
I craned my neck, studying the jagged coast. There were gray rocky beaches, towering cliffs, misshapen ch
imney stacks carved of million-year-old granite. But what was on the far side?
“Why don’t we ever go the other side of the island to swim?”
“It’s just cliffs over there. ”
“Well, don’t I need to learn how to cliff dive or something?”
My mentioning cliff diving would understandably put him on his guard. Pinning his eyes on me, he warned, “You’ll want to stay away from the far side of the island. ”
We’d gotten far enough away that I could begin to trace the curve of coastline with my eyes. It seemed to be just more rocks and cliffs, disappearing into gray mist in the distance. But what if I stole a boat? Would there be someplace to row to? And why was he warning me away from the other side?
He dipped his oars in the water, dragging the boat to a stop. “I think this is far enough,” he said, implying so much more.
I squinted harder, and my heart kicked up a notch. Small white dots had wavered into view. Was I imagining it? Houses? “Do people live here?”
“You’re here, aren’t you?”
I shot him an exasperated look. “Seriously, Ronan, it’s me you’re talking to. You can trust me. ” I gave an exaggerated look around. “Nobody can hear us. Now please, do people live here? I thought I saw houses. ”
His answer, when it came, was careful. “There are some people on this island, aye. ”
“You’re shitting me. ”
He glowered at my language.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s just…” I peered into the distance, seeing them clearly now. Tiny cottages dotted the coast, like a little fishing settlement visible in that spot just before the island curved out of sight. “Who would live here?”
