AllFreeNovel
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A cave.
We’re going into a cave. Pitch-dark on the inside. Not much lighter outside. The wind howls above us, but it doesn’t seem to touch me. The crash of the surf echoes against Emerson’s steady breathing. His hands meeting the water. The cutting wind might not touch, but he does. Emerson climbs up onto a ledge and lifts me into his arms.
Numb pressure all over my body. I force my eyes open and find his, barely visible in the last of the light. He’s not looking at my face. He’s focused completely on the wetsuit.
“This one is for summer,” he says, his tone half-absent, half-scolding.
I didn’t know. I try to tell him but my mouth is too cold. I guess I never studied the wetsuit options for an ocean escape.
Water gathers near the ledge like an infinity pool surrounded by stone. That’s all I see before my eyes close again.
Emerson’s done with my wetsuit. He moves me closer, leans me against him, and reaches for the backpack. The zzz of the zipper bounces off the ceiling. I hear something like a match, or a lighter. Orange blooms behind my eyelids. Isn’t he worried we’ll burn to death?
I guess not.
He eases me away, my back against the wall, and I can’t help trying to look again. Emerson’s stripping off his wetsuit in the firelight. He’s a tall, muscled shadow against orange flame. He’s only wearing briefs and a T-shirt under the wetsuit. Both of those come off, too. His hands move over the backpack. Something long and thin unfurls into a pad on the ground. He has clothes, too. Dry ones. He puts on more briefs but nothing else. Silver sparkles in the air. Two big lengths of it. Emergency blankets. I took one for granted the very first time I met Emerson.
Not anymore.
He comes back to me and I blink up at him. Emerson doesn’t bother explaining what’s going to happen. He moves me like a painting. Over to that mat. My tank top comes off over my head. My panties. He tosses them away one by one and sits on the mat, then tugs me into his lap. I can barely feel his touch.
I want to make a joke about it. How I’m naked and he’s mostly naked, and we’re both fools for being out here at a time like this. But I’m frozen solid. Deathly cold. And his chest against my back is so warm and solid that tears gather at the corners of my eyes.
He wraps us in silver. Wraps his arms around mine. His legs, too.
“Stay,” he says. Like I have any other choice. I can’t move. My arms are ceramic. Can’t keep my eyes open. “Stay, Daphne.”
His body feels so much warmer than the air. It must be some kind of hallucination. He’s frozen, just like me. Here in the dark, we’re all frozen. Ice carvings. Statues. My mind is still under the water, drifting in the black tide. It’s nice not to be alone. I worry that we’re too close to the fire, but it doesn’t catch on my skin.
I rise gradually toward the surface of my waterlogged thoughts. There’s air up above. Sun. I try to pick up one arm and swim toward it, but Emerson holds me tighter.
“No need to swim,” he murmurs into my ear, his breath a warm whisper. “It’s all right, little painter. Don’t fight it.”
Don’t fight what?
But then my head breaks above the surface and my body returns to itself. Realizes that something terrible has happened. Violent shivers erupt through every muscle. Fear constricts my throat. I can’t stop the earthquake. I’ll shake myself back into the water. My teeth chatter so hard my temples ache.
“You’re fine.” Emerson’s confident. Calm. “Nothing is wrong. It’s okay, Daphne.”
The word no fractures under all those shivers.
“Shh.” He hasn’t let go of me, and I know he won’t. Not until this is over. The fear subsides a little. “I’ve got you. It will stop soon, I promise.”
“I don’t feel right.” The words are so difficult to get out. They barely make sense.
“It’s good,” Emerson says. “It’s okay. You’re okay.” I try to tell him that it’s not. That it feels like my skull is going to shake out of my head. It’s too much. My teeth are chattering and it hurts. “You’ll be all right. You will, little painter. You’re just warming up. You were cold, and now you’re getting warm. That’s all it is. Nothing to be afraid of.”
Don’t let go.
Fear comes back in another wave. If I fall in, I won’t get back out again. What escapes is a wordless, terrified sound.
“We’re nowhere near the water,” Emerson says. “I won’t let you go.”
I believe him.
It takes time to get warm. Heartbeats upon heartbeats. Awareness seeps back into my limbs. I can feel him. His chest against my back. His arms over mine. Emerson shifts so he’s cradling me, my head on his shoulder. It feels so good to lay like this. To be on solid ground. His breath is even and warm on my forehead. Strong, solid arms. Even his thighs are lean and muscled. Every part of him. Safe as houses. Where did I ever hear that? Doesn’t matter. He’s keeping me warm.
A fire starts at the base of my neck.
