Page 14 of Tides That Bind

“That’s where we met.”

I tilt my head. “So?” We skid a bit after going on the ramp and I reach out to the dashboard to steady myself. “Can’t be all that great. You guys came here. You came home.”

“The Marines brought me home,” he reminds me. “We just happened to stay.”

“Who the hell leaves this,” I pause motioning outside my window where on a normal night you would see the lights from houses and street posts glistening on the smooth waters of Seal’s Bay we’re about to drive over. But tonight, the visibility is lost to the pounding rain.

“North Carolina is on the ocean.”

I scoff. “TheAtlanticOcean. I’ve never met an east coaster who could surf for shit. Living by the Pacific, it’s the stairway to heaven. If you’re going to get Lucas up on a board, you have to start him in the Pacific.”

I turn back to face Nate to see that he agrees with me, but my head doesn’t make it all the way around to him. Instead, it’s caught in something that does break through the whitewash around us—the bright headlights of an oncoming car.

Riley,you gotta wake up.

I’d know Nate’s voice anywhere, but there’s a different tone to it now, kind of like he’s screaming but the sound is soggy and muffled, barricaded by something thick, but not too far away.

Riley.

It’s like I’m underwater and he’s yelling from the surface.

Something hits me in my chest. The blow makes me nauseous.

“Open your eyes, Riley.”

I can’t. They’re too heavy.

“For fuck’s sake, Riley, we’re sinking.”

Well, that gets me going.

I wake up right into a fucking nightmare. It’s a world painted with blood that cakes my hair, ice cold water freezing my feet through my worn-down Converse.

When I manage to find my breath, I choke on it.

“What happened?” Through the windshield, all I see is water. Some of it is the heavy rain still pelting Nate’s cruiser. But the rest of it rises. Fast.

Nate shoves me a bit. “Get your seatbelt off. Now.”

It’s hard to focus on the task when my feet splash in the rising water below my seat.

“Holy shit. We went off the bridge.”

Nate’s car tilts forward as we begin to go under. Everything is in slow motion.

Until it’s not.

When we thump, I hit the damn ceiling even though I’m still buckled in.

“Fuck.”

“You need to stay calm, Riley.”

Calm. Right. We’re twenty feet down at the bottom of the bayin a car.

I’m calm as a fucking sea cucumber.

Suddenly there’s a flash of light, but thankfully it’s not the light at the end of the tunnel. Nate beams a flashlight in my face.

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