Page 343 of Dangerous as Sin

Once we had everything set up, we went around loading our own equipment and the water jug, cups, and snacks that we’d offer between dives. Thanks to the nature of diving—the things that the pressure can do to your body while under water—we needed to do an hour long break up on the boat before we’d be able to complete our second dive for the day. It let our guests rehydrate and rest, but more importantly it allowed the nitrogen bubbles that built up while we were down below to work their way safely from our bodies.

Our guests usually ranged from beginners to advanced. This area was a beautiful place to dive, but the water was cold and we had to keep a close eye on the newbies. Everyone had to have an open water dive certification in order to dive with any shop, but the Pacific Ocean, especially along the northern California coast could be a challenge.

“We have seven today,” Donna told me. We’d both gone to the dive shop, but I’d loaded up the tanks and gear, while she’d gone in to get the details about our guests from the owner.

“Okay, I’ll partner up with the singleton,” I answered. “You guide the dive.”

She nodded in agreement. It wasn’t uncommon to have lone divers sign up for a dive. If we had enough we paired them up together. When the numbers were uneven one of us dove as their dive partner. It was important to have a partner under the water.

There was nothing more chilling than having something go wrong and you can’t vocalize it to anyone. Because of the masks your peripheral vision was zero. This means it could be hard to get someone’s attention unless you were in their direct line of sight, or had a metal bang stick you could knock on your tank with. Either way, it was important to have another person close by, paying attention and checking in with you continuously. It could very well save your life underwater.

“All set,” Greg called up from the engine room on the boat. He began climbing up the ladder right as our guests began walking down the dock.

It took us about half an hour to get everyone fitted in their equipment and go over the dive plan for the day. There were six smiling faces. The lone man who I’d be diving with today hadn’t cracked a smile yet. Great.

I stepped over toward him. “Alright everyone, go ahead and check all your gear over, climb into your wetsuits, then we’ll load everything else up. You’ll be attaching your equipment to the tanks on the boat once we get to our first site for the day.”

As soon as everyone started double checking they had everything they needed, they handed their bags containing their gear to Donna and Greg.

Turning to the man, I smiled. “Hi, I’m Marina. I’ll be your dive buddy today.”

“Eric.”

Okay. Maybe he’s nervous.

“Great, well it’s nice to meet you. This first dive will be our deepest, but at about fifty feet, it’s a pretty easy dive. There can be some swells, depending on the weather.”

“Fine.” He stepped past me and handed his gear over to Greg.

An uneasy feeling swept over me, but I shook it away. It wasn’t like this guy and I had to be best friends. That was another great thing about being underwater. There was no talking. I pulled my wetsuit on, leaving the hood and gloves for after we got to the site.

It was a foggy morning, but it was already starting to clear off and it should end up being a beautiful day. I studied Eric as I pulled the long trailing string on my wetsuit zipper in order to close it. His intense and focused silence was making me nervous. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off about him.

He was probably around thirty and relatively attractive. His blond hair gleamed in the misty morning light as he got into his own wetsuit. I just hoped he wasn’t the reckless kind. Being reckless underwater got people killed.

Everyone began loading up while Donna and I untied the mooring lines, then hopped into the boat. I gave Greg the ‘okay’ signal. You didn’t use a thumbs up in our line of work to signal that things were good. Underwater, thumbs up meant you need to surface. Putting your index finger to your thumb and making a circle with it meant ‘okay’, ‘good to go’, etc.

The boat pulled away from the dock and I took my seat enjoying the cool air in my face.

“You look happy,” Donna said as she sat next to me. There was a grin on her face. “Anything to do with a certain guy you’ve been seeing?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “That and being out on the water,” I told her. That was as much as I was going to say while the others sat around us.

Feeling eyes on me, I glanced over and found Eric staring at me. Again, chills raced over my body, causing my skin to pebble beneath my wetsuit. His stormy eyes were focused on my face. I looked away, uncomfortable that he was listening in.

Donna leaned closer to me. “He’s an odd one.”

I sent her a sharp look and she quickly shut up. We didn’t talk badly about our guests. Granted, most of the time the people who came with us were happy go lucky types who just wanted to have a fun trip. This guy looked like he was going to a funeral. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen someone scowl so hard before.

There wasn’t time to get to know him more or figure out why he seemed to be reacting this way. All I could hope was that today went well and then let Dave, the owner of the shop, know that he might want to blacklist this guy.

I sighed inwardly and prepared myself for whatever might come while diving with Eric. I was an accomplished diver and a professional. I could handle whatever he threw my way. Hopefully he’d just woken up on the wrong side of the bed.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Marina

Greg cut the engine and drifted the boat in close to the outcropping of rocks we’d be diving near. We rarely dropped down into the deep blue—where the ocean stretched for thousands of feet before reaching the bottom. There was no reason to. All the action was near rocks and reefs, and the different sea life was the reason we were all out here. So we dove near shelfs, shores, and rocks so we could see all the fish.

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