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I didn’t care how the thick bush suddenly ended, giving way to golden moonlit sand.
I didn’t look at the huge glowing disc in the sky as the moon granted its silver light, pouring it all over the calm ocean. The faintest lap of lazy waves licked at the sand, refracting the night sky above, glimmering with a million salty stars.
My heart pounded as a shadow flung itself toward the sea. A shadow that tripped and flew, sun-lightened chocolate hair streaming behind her.
“Nerida!” I threw myself after her. “Get back here.”
I didn’t know why she’d run or why I hurt in the pit of my stomach.
She was being immature and stupid, and the moment she stopped, I was gonna make damn sure she understood that this sort of behaviour wasn’t on.
Neither was kissing drunken boys or lying about a chaste camping trip, only to find out it was a ruse for a fuck-fest.
Her parents are going to kill me.
“Neri! Kosmayi birak ve benimle konus!” I flinched as I slipped into my mother tongue. Repeating myself in English, I yelled, “Stop running and talk to me! You’re going to twist an ankle running so fast!”
She didn’t stop or look back.
Jack would never forgive me if I returned her damaged.
My teeth ground together.
He’d also never forgive me if I returned her, and he found out she’d spent the night with a seventeen-year-old moron like Joel.
A splash and spritz of moon-glimmering water as Neri barrelled into the sea, ran until the water lapped at her thighs, then dove under.
Gone.
I slammed to a halt on the sea’s edge, panting hard, heart chugging. “Neri!”
My gaze skimmed the gentle waves, wishing the sun shone and not the moon, desperate to be able to see her.
Terror of her drowning like she almost had with the net suffocated me.
I paced the shore, seawater wetting my feet and ankles, warm and whispering.
I didn’t have a watch.
I couldn’t time her.
She’ll come up for air soon.
How long has it been?
A minute?
Two?
Dragging both hands through my hair, I kept pacing. Madly, furiously, kicking the ocean out of my way as my eyes stayed locked on the spot where she’d gone under.
No bubbles.
No ripples.
She’d disappeared without a trace.
I dropped my arms, rubbing my mouth as I looked at the moon, the forest, the sand, the stars.
