“That is weird. Why not?”
He pointed to the water because the answer was obvious. My eyes finally drifted to the waves, and I gulped, realizing how humongous they were.
“This isn’t a beach for swimming. You see how quickly the water keeps going back out to sea because of this slopehere?” I followed along with his words and nodded. “That’s the undertow, and it’s strong as fuck right now. You can be swept out in seconds, even in water that looks shallow.”
I glanced up at him and noticed he seemed pretty tense. His brows were bunched together, and his muscles were flexed. “Okay, well I didn’t know any of that. Thank you for informing me.”
He glanced down at me, and the spaced expression on his face cleared. He gave me a little smirk that made my insides tingle. “Your ass needs full-time security for real.”
I opened my mouth to reply when we heard someone shriek, “Help!” Dior released me, with his eyes trained on the water he’d just educated me on. It sounded like someone didn’t get the memo, and it took us a minute to figure out where the voice was coming from.
“Stay here,” Dior instructed me with his eyes trained on the ocean.
“Wait. What are you doing? Didn’t you just say stay out of the water?” I asked in a panic, grabbing ahold of his arm. There was no way I was about to let him run into those menacing looking waves.
Everyone was standing around with their eyes trained on the man attempting to get back to shore while being tossed further out. His cries for help brought tears to my eyes. Dior snatched away from me, tossed his shirt off, and took off running toward the ocean. I tried to stop him, but it was useless.
I lifted my hand to my mouth in horror. Too afraid to close my eyes and miss a second of this moment, I said a prayer out loud. “Lord, please protect him.”
I didn’t want anything to happen to Dior, and I couldn’t believe he would risk his own life to save someone. But then I started to think about if it was me. If it wasn’t for him, that could’ve been me out there, hoping and praying someone wasbrave enough to help me against an unpredictable and scary beast.
All my senses disappeared except for my eyesight as I watched Dior make it to the man by a miracle. Before I could be relieved, a huge wave gathered behind them and swept them underneath. “Oh my God,” I mumbled when they both disappeared for what felt like forever.
After a few minutes of being tossed around, they resurfaced closer to the shore. Dior helped the man up, and they raced to safety as quickly as they could before collapsing on the sand. Two lifeguards raced past me toward them, but I was close on their heels. I fell on my knees beside Dior, trying to ensure he was in one piece.
“Are you okay?”
He bent over then started to cough up some water. After a few deep breaths, he nodded. Slowly, he glanced up at me. “Yeah, I’m good, mama.”
I tackled him before he could fully get the words out. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.” My heart was quite literally in my ass. I thought I’d lost my safety net, and I never wanted a fear so dark to ever have me in its grasp again.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled in a detached voice. When I pulled back to look at him, the distant look from before had returned.
“Thank you so much, man. You saved my life,” the guy he’d gone in to save said in an accent I couldn’t quite place. He was probably from somewhere in Europe if I had to guess.
Dior simply nodded as the lifeguards led the guy away, and I stood to give him room to get up. He was quiet as a mouse on the walk back to our villa. I had enough of the ocean for the night. While it was beautiful at first glance, it was also very violent and unpredictable, much like Emir. I would not be swallowed in its depths any time soon if I had anything to say about it.
I glanced up at him when I walked into our room, and something in his eyes made me pause just inside the threshold for him to join me. He closed the door, then pressed his forehead into it. I could see the rise and fall of his shoulders thanks to the light we’d left on in the entryway. He seemed to forget I was there until I placed my hand gently on the center of his back.
“Are you okay?” I truly wanted to know. A lot had just transpired, and it was like the ocean had stolen his voice.
Instead of replying to me, his hand balled into a fist before he beat it against the door. Without a word, he turned and walked out onto the balcony. Unsure if I should just leave him alone or not, I remained by the door, nibbling on my lip. Eventually, my concern won over, and I followed him outside. If he didn’t want to be bothered, he would just have to tell me.
He was sitting down with his fingertips touching. When he felt my presence, he looked up at me. “Come here,” he demanded in a voice that made me forget what free will was. Without budging, I shuffled forward. He dropped his hands to give me room to sit on his lap. I was not supposed to feel so comfortable sitting on my brother’s best friend’s lap like this, but the truth was, I always felt safest when Dior was around growing up.
Like magnets, his arms went around my waist while mine circled his neck. Like we’d done this before . . . because we had. We held onto each other like letting go was a sure way for us to lose our sanity. His breath on my breasts tickled me, but I welcomed the sensation. It was a reminder that he was still here. God had indeed kept him protected on his rescue mission.
“Do you remember my brother Quamain?” It was at that very moment I realized this was much deeper than what happened tonight.
“I do,” I replied, tightening my grip on him. At that very moment, my heart began to bleed right along with his.
My fingers dug into Lo’s soft and plush frame. Her vanilla scent was the only thing keeping me grounded right now. Since I made it out of the water, everything around me was a blur except for her. She glowed with a bright white aura I couldn’t help but to gravitate toward.
Everything in me was aching right now. I had to soothe the pain, or else I was going to lose my mind. “You remember what happened to him?” A chill ran down her spine when I used my finger to trace it from her shoulders all the way down her back. She nodded slowly, and I could see the tears in her eyes. “It’s okay. You can say it.”
She gulped, then spoke the truth. “He drowned . . .”
I sank deeper into the seat, bringing her closer to my chest. My grip was so tight there was a possibility I was leaving a bruise on her. So, I loosened up because one thing I never wanted to do was hurt her. She placed a hand on my cheek, forcing me to look at her. “Don’t,” she urged because she immediately detected the difference in the way I held her, and me pulling away was the last thing she wanted.
