Page 73 of Scorned Beauty
Face it, Sloane, you’re still a wreck.
Against the backdrop of a clear blue sky, I focused on the sailboat a few hundred yards out. I thought I heard my name. A rough echo in the wind.
The feeling of sand sinking around my toes. The heft of the water as I moved against it. I soaked up every sensation, reminding me I could feel. That I wasn’t numb. Enjoying life’s simple pleasures was a start. It was a matter of coaxing one foot in front of me and forcing the other to follow.
Then I stepped into nothing.
The ocean swallowed me up. After my initial panic, I calmed enough to let buoyancy do its job. But then I wanted to experience the deep again and dove back in. A glimmer of sunlight illuminated the sandy and rocky terrain, beckoning me to swim toward it.
Can you hear me down here, Billy?
I stayed suspended in the ocean’s depths.
You need to head back, he replied.
Back where? I have nowhere to go.
I’m sorry, Sloane. Forgive me.
Powerful bands clamped around my body and hauled me upwards. I struggled against the tentacles gripping me tight. I choked on salt water.
My eyes watered.
Panic seized me.
Lungs. Heart. They jump-started my survival mode.
I kicked.
I broke the surface, spitting water. My nostrils burned.
And then I realized what was happening.
Some idiot thought I was drowning. Infuriated, I let my body go limp and let him perform his heroic duty for the day.
“Goddammit, Sloane! Goddammit!”
Wait. Dom?
“Let me go!” I only managed a croak.
“Fuck that!”
My feet dragged along the surface of the sand, letting me know we were back in shallow water.
Before I renewed my fight to be free of him, he swept me into his arms and I was staring into his furious eyes.
“I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” I informed him.
His eyes were too dark for the morning. He was angry.
Well, I was angrier.How dare he infiltrate my newly found peace?
“Could have fooled me,” he gritted.
We were back on dry land, and he set me flat on the warm sand. And before I could jackknife into position, he flung his body on top of me, trapping me on the shore.
His chest flattened my breasts while his hands cradled my face.
