Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Juniper argued.
“Tell me about it.” I leaned forward, my senses blocking everything out but that bobbing figure in the ocean below us. It sank beneath the waves, and I began counting in my head as June lectured me on the finer points of maintaining a friendship with a girl.
When I reached forty-nine, the figure popped up again, only to sink once more.
Every fiber in my being screamed with inexplicable certainty that figure was Allie.
And she was drowning.
Chapter Five
Allie
Dancegrl6701: Must be nice to get into every intensive you want.
Ryandnzx: Work harder.
Thirty-three.
I counted in my head as I sat on the ocean floor, my eyes closed behind the goggles, holding tight to the kettlebell weight I’d thrown in twenty minutes earlier so I wouldn’t float to the surface.
Thirty-four. The ocean roared deliciously around me, rising in a crescendo with each wave that threatened to push me to shore before ebbing again. It was the noise that finally allowed me to think, to simply exist beyond the incessant demands of everyone around me, asking when I’d be back, asking how the rehab was going, asking if I was back at the barre yet.
Thirty-five. Rather than lie, I’d simply left.
Thirty-six. The water drowned out everything but the feel of my own heartbeat and the beautiful aching need for air that reminded me I was still alive. Each time the pressure drove me to the surface for oxygen, it not only reminded me that my lung capacity was shit after going months without training, but also drove home the inescapable truth that I still wanted to live.
Thirty-seven. For a couple of terrifying months, I hadn’t been entirely sure.
Thirty-eight. Damn, it’s cold. I really should have gone with the wet suit. The water was still freezing this time of year, and my skin had progressed from prickling to numb.
Thirty-nine. My lungs burned. I was out of shape. I should be able to hang for at least a minute, if not two, even against the driving waves.
Forty—
Something grabbed hold of my waist and pulled, wrenching my hand from the kettlebell, and flooding my veins with terror. My breath expelled in a scream of bubbles and my eyes shot open, looking for a shark—
Water rushed by as I was yanked upward through the ten feet of water that separated the sand from the sun. I fought the strength—holy shit, those were arms around me—hauling my back against someone’s chest. My lungs shrieked for the air I’d so recklessly let escape, but the arms wouldn’t budge.
We broke the surface, and I gasped for air, then quickly shoved my feet into the stranger’s stomach and kicked, propelling myself out of his viselike arms and into the open water beside the pier. “What the actual hell are you doing?” I shouted, turning around to face my attacker once I was a few feet away.
“Saving you!” the man shouted, sea green eyes locking with mine as we rose with a swell and dipped back down again.
My heart faltered.
Hudson? Had I gone hypoxic and started seeing things?
Gravity wavered. That was the only explanation as to why my stomach pitched against the waves, why I suddenly couldn’t tell if the sky was above or below me, why my heart couldn’t pick a rhythm, why I ceased swimming . . . and promptly sank.
Water rushed over my head.
I startled, then kicked back to the surface as Hudson reached for me. Sputtering at the first breath of air, I batted away his hand. Like hell was I ever going to let Hudson fucking Ellis think I needed rescuing. “I’m not drowning, you asshole!”
Those annoyingly gorgeous eyes of his flared. “Are you sure about that?”
Holy shit, it’s really him. His sandy-brown hair was cropped short at the sides and only slightly longer on top instead of falling into his eyes, but his voice, the way his brow knit, even the fact that he’d jumped in the ocean fully clothed all screamed that I wasn’t hallucinating.
“Sure about you being an asshole? Absolutely. And I’m quite certain I wasn’t drowning.” The years had carved away the traces of the cute boy I’d known in his face and left the angles of a fully grown man who’d become a stranger. A beautiful man with a strong square chin, full lips I’d never had the chance to kiss, and eyes that had haunted my dreams for nearly a decade. And damn whatever was left of the broken little pieces, but my foolish heart leapt straight into my throat.
“Then what would you call whatever that was?” He motioned toward the water with his head, his arms busy treading water just like mine were. “Because it didn’t look like swimming.”
“Working on my lung capacity!” How was this even happening right now? “Unbelievable.” That’s exactly what this was. Of all the times I’d practiced what I’d say if I ever ran into him, this was one scenario I hadn’t envisioned.