Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Every muscle in my body is shaking. Please let Griff be safe.
I can’t be alone. He’s my only family.
He’s too young. He’s too vital.
Lies. I know anyone can go.
An accident. An illness. A force of nature. But I can’t imagine life without my over protective brother.
I still don’t have my phone, so I try his number again on Scout’s.
“God. I’m scared to death.” I close my eyes. “Why can’t these stupid phones work?”
As he drives, Scout passes me a satellite phone. “Try this phone. His number is in the call log.”
Tears blur my vision as I try to operate a phone I’ve never used before .
Scout sees my distress. He rests a hand on mine, “Here, sweetheart, let me.”
“You’re driving.” Sniffling, I try to push his hand away. “I’ll figure it out.”
The truck lurches abruptly as he brakes hard, coming to a stop in the middle of the road.
When he pulls the phone from my hand, he leans over and brushes a fast kiss against my cheek. “Try to breathe, babe. I know you’re worried. But don’t let your mind get the best of you.”
I dissolve into wracking sobs. He holds my hand as he tries to call. It must go to Griff’s voicemail because he leaves a curt message with the time.
When he starts to drive again, he keeps my hand wrapped in his warm, tight grip. He tries to comfort me. “I don’t think Griff would dive. It’s just not like him.”
I nod, and wipe angrily at the tears streaming down my cheek. “He’s too smart for that. But if Keith didn’t come out…”
“Why would that asshole dive by himself?” Scout grunts. “That’s the first rule of diving.”
I sigh as I press my hand to my stomach where my insides are twisted painfully from worry. “He’s a loose cannon. He likes attention.”
Scout drops the truck in drive and looks at the road ahead, but continues to hold my hand. “How long did you work with that company?”
Too long.
It takes effort to get my mouth to work because it’s pinched to keep my crying to a minimum. “About eight months. It was a mistake. But I didn’t know if I could work with Griff when he got out of the army.”
“So diving runs in the family?”
“My dad owned a dive business. He was an instructor and we both grew up in the water.”
“But your brother didn’t want to become a SEAL?”
“My dad was Army.”
Scout’s expression is stony.
“What about you?” I dare ask.
“Older brother. That’s it.”
“We’re alike.”
He glances at me. After a moment of silence, he speaks quietly. “You don’t want to be like me, Aria.”
That’s the last thing he says for the rest of the drive. His thumb circles over my knuckles. I take comfort in the touch. All of his touches.
We crossed a bridge, but I’m still not sure if he wants me to touch him. But something about the sad way he said his last remark makes me want to hold him fiercely.
Maybe it’s to anchor me as much as him.
I can’t help but tighten my hold when we pull into the road where we parked earlier. The scene makes my blood run cold. There’s an ambulance with several people in paramedic outfits standing nearby.
The number of vehicles on site has tripled.
When Scout parks, he slides his hand up to my wrist and turns to face me. “Would you wait here?”
“I… I can’t?—”
“I don’t want you to see anything.”
I reach for the door. “If it's Griff, I need to know.”
He releases my arm, and strides to meet me at the front of the truck where he takes my hand again and helps me down the steep incline. The entire way down to the staging area I pray as bile burns my throat and my heart skips unhappily .
It’s impossible to tell what’s happening. There are so many people.
Scout stops abruptly. “Jesus,” he mutters and turns to face me, putting his body between me and the chaos at the bottom of the hill.
My heart falls. “What, Scout?”
“I’m not okay with you seeing a body.”
He tugs me roughly into his arms.
“Is… is it Griff?”
“I don’t know, but they are working on someone in a wetsuit.”
My toes tingle and spots dot my vision. But the need to get to my brother is stronger. “Let me go. I need to be with him…”