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My lungs were screaming at this point. I wasn’t a water kind of guy. Hell, I’d only learned to swim recently. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to last down here longer than Eric. We seemed to be on even footing, sinking lower down below the water’s surface.
Hands cupped my cheeks and Marina turned my face toward her. Her lips pressed to mine and my brows drew low. This wasn’t the time for kissing. Air brushed my skin and I instinctively opened my lips a little. She blew her breath into my mouth. I sucked it down into my lungs. I had no clue if there’d be enough oxygen in it to help, or if I was just breathing in carbon dioxide, but Marina seemed to know.
She blinked hard, a warning, and we both closed our lips. I watched her swim hard for the surface. She’d given most of her breath to me, and my lungs weren’t aching as badly anymore. I wasn’t dead yet, so it must have worked.
Glancing over I saw Eric doing this morbid fucking shaking thing in my grasp. His whole body was convulsing as his mouth gaped open and closed. He was drowning. Watching the light fade from his eyes, I decided I never wanted to die this way.
I waited until he stopped moving, eyes wide open and unseeing, before I let him go. He floated there for a minute before he began to sink downward. He was still wearing a dive belt that had lead weights on it and it was dragging him down to the bottom. That was fine by me. Less mess to clean up that way.
Hands settled under my arms and I looked up as Marina dragged me up toward the surface. I didn’t know how far we’d been under, but the sun got bigger and brighter with every kick of her powerful legs.
We broke the surface and I wheezed in a breath. My lungs were all but weeping with gratitude. Marina’s arms went around my neck as we treaded water.
“Oh my God,” she breathed into my ear. “You’re okay.”
“Thanks to you,” I told her, my voice hoarse.
“You saved my life,” she said, awe filling her tone.
I looked down at her and cupped her jaw in my hands, looking into her gorgeous amber eyes. “You’re mine. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
The sound of a motor had us glancing over. There were questions in her eyes, but she didn’t ask them as Dave brought the boat toward us.
“What do we tell them?”
“Say there was an accident and he drowned. You did everything you could, but you couldn’t get to him.”
She nodded in agreement, but closed her eyes in distress. “This could cost me my job…” Shaking her head, a determined look settled on her face. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”
It took hours after Dave and Drew pulled us out of the water before I was able to talk to her again. Dave called the Coast Guard out and the cops. The Coast Guard recovered Eric’s body while the cops spoke to us to take our statements.
CHAPTER13
Trip
“Don’t say anything about me telling you he was dangerous,” I told Dave.
He looked over at me, startled. “What? Why not?”
I gave him a sharp look. “Just fucking don’t. Tell him we paid you to take us out fishing and this was the spot you chose. The others told you Marina and Eric were missing so we joined in the search.”
He opened his mouth, then shut it again, when I stepped closer to him. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
Dave’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded. I hated bringing people in on this kind of shit, but there was no choice. I had to trust he wouldn’t go against my story. I recited it to the cops, answering their questions. Talking to the police was the last thing I wanted to do, but if it helped Marina I’d do it.
“I tried to swim down to help him, but he had a weight belt on.” I shrugged and tried to put a look of sadness on my face. The way the cop was looking at me told me I probably looked more constipated than sad. “If I hadn’t let him go, he would’ve dragged me down too.”
“Okay, Mr.…Sorenson.” The cop looked down at his notepad and scanned it. “Go ahead and stand over there. If we have any more questions, we’ll let you know.”
I stepped away from him then moved in closer to where Marina was talking with another officer.
“Why were you both out of your dive gear?”
“After his regulator malfunctioned he was panicking. I couldn’t keep him in the water long enough to flag down my boat. I figured once the rest of the divers surfaced they’d realize we were missing and would come searching, so we swam to the rocks. It was impossible to climb up on them with our BCDs and fins, so we took them off.” She avoided looking at me, not wanting to alert the cop that I was standing nearby. Her arms were crossed over her stomach, as though she were in distress and comforting herself. I wasn’t sure if she really was or she was playing up her fear for the officer.
Either way I wanted to drag her into my arms so I could assure myself that she was alright. My fingers twitched with the longing to snag her and reel her in until I could tuck her against my body. To reassure her that I’d never let her get hurt.
“I thought we’d be seen easier on the other side of the rocks,” she explained, “where there wasn’t a cove blocking us so we climbed over.” She swallowed hard, clearly upset. I didn’t know if it was because she was lying or because she was reliving the moments when Eric tried to kill her. “He slipped and I couldn’t get to him before he was in the water. I fell and hit my cheek.” She brushed her fingers over the bruise that was already forming there. The one caused by Eric’s hand.
