As the group laughed over Jazmine’s discovery, I climbed onto the ledge at the back, steadied myself, and then carefully picked my way along the stone until I got to the end, where there was a small tunnel leading into the second room.
When we were young, I could duckwalk through the short tunnel, but now I had to crawl, and that made me nervous. But it took me only seconds, and before I could get too panicked, the tunnel ended, and I was standing inside the back cavern, bouncing my flashlight’s cone of light around the stone walls.
There was no treasure in the front cavern. Was there something back here?
Chapter 7
The back cavern was cozier than the main area, with a ceiling that was, at best, seven feet high. The curving stream that cut through the ground was shaped like an “S,” narrow enough to step over and trickling dark liquid.
“Ugh, what the—shit.”
I swung around to put a spotlight on Seb as he crawled out of the tunnel. When he stood to full height, he banged his flashlight against his palm. It was dead. “Seriously?”
“Maybe it needs new batteries? When’s the last time they were changed?”
“I dunno, when we were twelve? What do these take, C batteries? Christ, who keeps those on hand?” He banged on his flashlight again several times before giving up and shoving it in the pocket of his shorts. “Okay, this back cavern has definitely shrunk, right? Smells just like it used to, though.”
It did: very clean and crisp. Not the same musty smell that pervaded the main cavern. “Remember when you drank water from the stream and pretended you’d been poisoned?”
He chuckled. “I remember you crying.”
“I don’t, but Idoremember slugging you when I found out you were tricking us—and I rememberyoucrying.”
He laughed. “Okay, okay. Maybe I got it a little wrong,” hesaid, tracking my flashlight’s beam with his eyes. “Funny that there’s no trash back here. The main cavern is filled with junk.”
“It took us almost a year to figure out that this area even existed. Can’t really see it unless you climb the ledge.” I shrugged. “I’m guessing no one comes back here much. Not even cannibals.”
“Which would make it a good hiding spot for treasure,” he said, stepping over the stream. “So why does it feel so empty back here?”
Empty and still, yes. Also small, so there wasn’t really much of anything to explore. Seb knocked the butt of his flashlight against a small alcove, testing it like he was hunting for a stud in a wall. “No secret doors or traps here. What about that spot over there? Here, move to this side of the stream so I can get over there. Hey, wait—”
As I stepped over to swap places with him, my foot slipped on the wet rock. I nearly fell, but Seb tried to grab my arm. As he reached for me, I dropped my flashlight into the water. And before I could retrieve it, the light flickered and went out.
Darkness enveloped us.
Not like the dark of a bedroom at night, either. Utter and complete darkness. Without a visual anchor to keep me steady, I wobbled on the slick rocks and started to go down again. “Shit!”
Seb managed to grab my upper arm, his grip firm. “I gotcha, I gotcha.”
I teetered on the ball of my foot for a moment, but his hand didn’t let go of my arm. When I finally steadied myself, I felt his other hand patting me, testing... trying to find my other shoulder. And missing by a mile.
Warm fingers grazed my breast.
I froze in place, expecting his hand to move and surprised when it hesitated.
Um... ?Why wasn’t he moving his hand? Why wasn’t I moving it for him? He must’ve not been aware of where it was. Purely accidental. The way my heart thudded, you’d think I was privately wishing that it wasn’t.
My clothes suddenly felt too tight.
“Shit. I—” He suddenly withdrew his hand. “Nope. That was not your shoulder. That was...”
Embarrassment warmed my cheeks, and I was temporarily glad we were in the dark so he couldn’t see me blushing.Of course, it was a mistake.He wasn’t trying to feel me up. Why did I even think for a moment that he was?Get it together, woman!
I flinched when I felt him roughly patting around my shoulder, where he finally ended up gripping me. “There you are, whew. Really sorry about...” He chuckled. “You know.” He sounded embarrassed, but he also sounded like he was smiling.
Play cool. Make a joke of it.“It’s fine. I mean, surely we’ve all found ourselves in a dark cave, getting handsy.”
He made a strangled noise that was caught somewhere between surprise and laughter. “Hey, you’re the one who dropped your flashlight, and that handsy business was purely accidental. It wasnota grope.”
