Page 50 of Sink With Me

“What’re you doing?”

I've been so focused on every move he makes that I haven’t even realized how close I had stepped towards the water. Pausing in my tracks, I glance down to the waves, brushing the tips of my boots. The last time I was this close, I lost the person I thought I could see a future with. My heart speeds up with each ebb and flow of the water. How can something so calming create so much panic? I once thought that it couldn’t touch me if I didn’t let it. I was in control.

Daymen made the water bearable. He gave me power only to show I can’t control what life nature decides to take. I swallow hard, the mists from the sea sticks to my legs making my body shudder. For once I had someone try to know me, help me. I couldn’t save him. Each bubble that forms against the sand sends visions of the ones that rose from his mouth the further down he went.

When I glance back up, Tide is so close I can feel the heat of his body and I’m being pulled into his gaze.

“I told you, I’m the only thing you should be afraid of. Didn’t I?” He mumbles, his hands slip under my shirt and despite my inner voice yelling at me to tell him to stop, I allow him to pull it over my head. My vision is blurred, but I can’t even dwell on that fact when I see him drop to his knees at my feet and start undoing my boots. He saved me. I know logically he wouldn’t have been able to grab Daymen as well, but it doesn’t make me want to punch him in the face any less.

He pulls them off one by one, doing the same to my socks, working my shorts down my hips creating a path down my thighs and calves with his fingers that his lips follow. I focus on how each lick of water touches his knees. He should’ve let me drown. I still don’t know whose mouth I should trust, but I do know I don’t deserve the kindness he’s attempted to show me.

Once I’m left in nothing but my undergarments, he kisses his way back up my body until his mouth is hovering over mine. What if I’m wrong? What if I choose the wrong side and take the wrong life? In the end, I will avenge my parents. But who's going to pay? His gaze flicks at my mouth, but I remain motionless. I've believed the same facts for as long as I can remember, but with every second I spend by his side, it’s another month’s worth of training that’s gone to waste.

I need to hate him.

“Make me the monster. Let me be the one to scare you.” He mumbles letting every word fall against my mouth. Gripping my waist, he pulls me against his chest, forcing my feet to follow his. I shiver, feeling the liquid engulf my ankles, slowly rising to my calves, but I can’t look away from him to see how deep we’re going.

“I’m not as good at swimming as I used to be.”

“I am.”

Something flashes over his eyes as he speaks the two simple words, his face looking solemn for a moment before it quickly disappears. The pads of his fingers trail up my body until they guide my arms to wrap around the back of his neck, forcing me to anchor my body to his.

“What if you drown smart ass?”

I tilt my head back and look at the sky. Each star fights to shine through the thin clouds, while he guides my legs to wrap around his waist. I want to choose right. What is right though? His mouth traces down the length of my neck until it’s trailing my collarbone.

“Then I guess you’ll sink with me.”

He smiles against my skin and the heat of his breath makes goosebumps erupt along the spot. Sinking with him doesn’t sound so bad. Things would be simpler that way. I wouldn’t have to fight with my fucked up brain and I could just stay close to the one person who should push me away. A light from one tower skims over our bodies back to the sea ahead.

“You’re sick.” I whisper, unable to control how breathless my words are. His grip on my thighs tightens, forcing me to look down at the water lapping around our chest. I shouldn’t let out a breath of relief, but I do.

“Do you trust me?” He asks, making me scoff at the question. I shouldn’t. He could drown me at any moment. He could forget me in the water like everything else that I’ve ever cared for.

“Yes.”

I glance over his shoulder at the pitch-black motion of waves crashing against water in the distance.

“You shouldn’t.”

The words he speaks turn muffled. This is it. Cool water surrounds me from head to toe. This is the moment I die because of my stupidity in trusting the enemy. My body tenses. All my years of training and preparation left me to this moment where I’m being pulled into the dark depths.

Instead of pulling away, my hold tightens around him. He’s sick, but I know I’m twisted. If I’m going to sink, he is going down with me. There’s no use in panicking or fighting. I know my fate will always lie in these waters, but now he can finish what I started. The salty water threatens to break through my lids and my lungs protest at the fact they didn’t suck in enough air before we went under. I wish I could hate him, but the longer I stay under, the more I realize he’s the one who shouldn’t trust me.

Not the other way around.

I flinch against the light breaking through the metal barrier. How many days has it been now? Four? Maybe five? Groaning, I shift, wrapping my arm around my abdomen to cover the welts lining my skin, but it’s no use.

“If it isn’t little Miss.Cordi. I hope you know how much it pains me to see you like this, but you need to train for what could’ve happened.”

I swallow hard against the dryness in my throat, standing as I straighten my shoulders. My muscles protest against holding my body weight up straight. I’ll accept it though. I know I made the right decision, but I'll never tell him what that decision was. I can’t. I'll just push through the training and condition myself.

“I didn’t know there was another body. Karma only informed me of one.”

“You weren’t supposed to take that one!”

A harsh slap causes my head to jerk, following the boom of his voice. He’s right, I should’ve followed orders.

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