Page 83 of Endless Depths

Primordial terror seizes me. I rush toward the exit like a tidal wave is chasing me, and reach the deck just as the bow starts to lift. But no one is there.

Where is Morgan?

Alarms scream louder and louder inside my head. The ocean rises to meet me. I climb onto the rail, suck in one last breath, and leap.

My eyes open.

“MAN OVERBOARD!”

TWENTY-THREE

Morgan

“Morgan!”Cole shouts.

I blink, look at the water, then turn toward the voice. Cole’s sandy hair lifts with the wind as he runs toward me, dressed in a rain jacket over joggers.

Fog blooms from his mouth with each precious exhale. He skids to a stop in front of me, and takes my hand, blue eyes wide in fear. “What are you doing?”

“I saw you. I thought you…” I scan the water back toward the stern. “I saw someone jump. Shit. Javi’s been having such a hard time. What if he?—”

Cole drags me away from the rail. “Morgan, no one went overboard.” With a hand on each shoulder, he spins me toward the amber rectangle of the open door. “Look.”

Lawrence and Javi stand sentry outside the gear room. Alejo ducks out from behind them.

“Where’s Wes?” I check the wheelhouse and, sure enough, he’s at the helm.

Relief fills me. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry. You seemed so real. I thought I lost you again.” I hug him tightly, burying my face into his neck, reassured by his warmth and scent.

Cole tenses. He doesn’t hold my head against him the way hewould have before everything went wrong. He doesn’t hug me back at all. My hands drop to my sides. Somewhere between terror and relief, I forgot how broken we are. How long will it take to erase the muscle memory of reaching for him?

“Let’s talk inside, far away from the ocean.” He steers me forward with a wary glance and his hand on my shoulder. “You guys can go back to bed,” he calls across the deck.

My legs feel weak, like the fear hasn’t fled me yet. The boat pitches and I slip, but Cole tightens his grip on my shoulder and stabilizes me. “Careful.”

“Thank you.”

A nod is his only answer. The fear that filled me fades, replaced instead with shame. At least the gear room is empty by the time we reach it, so no one else will witness my mental breakdown.

The warmth that greets me inside should comfort me, but it stirs up déjà vu instead, and it only gets worse when Cole pushes me down onto the trunk like Javi did last year. I dart a glance at the floor on my left to make sure Cole’s lifeless body isn’t there.

“You’re shaking,” Cole says.

Yeah. I’m losing it.

“How long were you outside?” He peels off my hoodie and drops it on the ground. It lands with a heavy squelch.

“Not long.”

He reaches for the bottom hem of my tee.

“I didn’t fall in. I was rained on. I can take off my shirt.”

Storms coalesce in his gaze, then fade. “Fine.”

While I stubbornly struggle to pull my shirt over my head, he takes off his jacket and hangs it up, then wraps a towel around my shoulders.

“Thanks.”